I'll finally do my write up for the cage and other things this weekend.
This is how the eBay cage comes after unwrapping it. Obviously it needs painting as the raw look doesn't do it justice.
My initial impressions are that it looks well built, the welds are fairly shoddy in places but it's mig and it will never look as beautiful as tig.
20160528_132902 by
dann2707, on Flickr
I cleaned it all up with P800 wet and dry first and degreased it, thenetch primered it with a few tins first.
20160528_135803 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Then two tins of matt black. As I went straight from etch primer to paint it looks like it's been anodised. Really happy with the outcome doing it that way.
20160528_144431 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160528_144438 by
dann2707, on Flickr
And
@Matty1303 came over to help with the build. He's currently in the back.
20160529_121340 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_121348 by
dann2707, on Flickr
If you look closely you may be able to see his shaft because upshotcrotchshot
20160529_121411 by
dann2707, on Flickr
The harnesses are out as are the seats
20160529_122258 by
dann2707, on Flickr
We then slid the cage in, it's pretty f**king tight and the subframes do have to come out to give better access as we found out.
20160529_123440 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_123445 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_125747 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_133155 by
dann2707, on Flickr
The cage was then offered up to the rear arch after the fabric was pulled back etc
20160529_133207 by
dann2707, on Flickr
The feet were also offered up to where they were going to be drilled.
20160529_133210 by
dann2707, on Flickr
At this point we needed some nuts and bolts.
The holes in the feet are M10 so we got:
10 x M10 x 40mm bolts
10 x nyloc nuts
10 x M10 washers for the nuts
10 x M10 ID, 40mm OD washers for the spreader plates
20160529_145009_HDR by
dann2707, on Flickr
Drilled the holes
20160529_154134 by
dann2707, on Flickr
And fed the nuts through. These absolutely have to be with the thread coming through the car
20160529_154137 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_163745 by
dann2707, on Flickr
I made some spreader plates out of 2.5mm thick steel. Matty marked them and I drilled and cut the plates out with the grinder
20160529_163753 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Ignore the loose threaded bar in the background, thats for my subframes that I had to loosen earlier.
20160529_163756 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Then using
@bashracing 's trick I sealed them with silicone
20160529_165402 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_165405 by
dann2707, on Flickr
My fingers looked tasty
20160529_165455 by
dann2707, on Flickr
We then fitted the seats back in
20160529_165410 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_165419 by
dann2707, on Flickr
After removing my runners to make them fixed the seats were consequently lower so I got some aluminium 10mm thick plates made up to raise me so I fitted them inbetween the subframe and the seat side mounts
20160529_180538 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Then fitted the cage back in
The harnesses were then looped around the cage and all secured and shortened to my preference. I have some boot mats from
@debussetti that i'll be fitting this week too! Cheers man
20160529_194452 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Cable tied up of course for neatness.
20160529_194506_HDR by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_202718 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_202726_HDR by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_202742 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_202748 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160529_202748 by
dann2707, on Flickr
Then today I cleaned Boris and Abi rinsed. My headlight condensation has come back so ill be fixing that asap.
20160530_131318 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_131325 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_131341 by
dann2707, on Flickr
I love how you can see the cage from the outside :smiley:
20160530_131350 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_132043 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_132051 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_132102-1 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_132127 by
dann2707, on Flickr
20160530_132149_HDR-1-1 by
dann2707, on Flickr