Right, pretty soon ill be getting a full cage for my mk1. Now i thought that if thers anything im going to go all out on its this, to make my shell solid, handle well, and also be able to handle any power i throw at it. My dilemma is, im not decided yet out of the two maunfacturers i realy like which one im going to go for. The first one is a full on space frame from 'AW Tracksport' which includes their own custom engne bay frame that eliminates the subframe and inner arches, making the car lighter, stronger, and also creating loads more space for the engine to be worked on, or for difficult conversions etc. This frame also includes custom front and rear strut braces welded in. No doubt with this my shell would be top notch! But this is very expensive ive been quoted pretty much 2000 fitted. The other option is a multipiont cage from 'Custom Cages' which i know will be a superb cage, as they are meant to be one of the best apparently? This of course goes thru into the front struts etc but wont come with any strut braces and the like. But the kit is around 550 i think and im pretty sure i could buy and get the whole thing fitted by someone i know for less than a grand. So please give me your opinions and any comments if anyone has used or seen either of these? Please help me decide, the more expensive and 'special' 'AW Tracksport' one-or the much cheaper but still great 'Custom Cages' multipoint one? Cheers.
do you really need a space frame style set up? what do you plan to do with the car? the tiny bit of extra strength could well be null and void due to the masses of extra wieght, esp at the front. (plus the mk1 has no subframe to get rid of...) plus you would need to consider what would happen in the event of a shunt, I would consider just a rear or full cage but with a lower cross between the b pillars behind the seats and a dash bar to help with side impacts, then run with a upper and lower strut brace's on the front.
Thanx for that mate, you do make a good point, the space frame is meant to reduce weight at the front though? I want my shell to be strong as possible if im going to be racing it on the track regularly, so just sumthing that will tie the whole thing together, and take the load off the body. Also sumthing that will allow the car to cope with big bhp if i decide to go down that route. What you say is true though, even Andy's 'Ak Bodycraft' Punk & Disorderly' 600bhp mk1 just had a full cage. What do you use mate, is it a half cage?
there isnt that much wieght at the front really... you have two chassis longitudionals that hold the inner wings and the suspesion mountings, then you have the outter wings, the grill and slam pannel and the bonnet... if you change the bonnet for a fiberglass one that will save about 5kg or so... but you cant really go chopping the front off unless you go the full hog and make a whole new subframe/space frame, but you then have the prob of how do you mount the new space frame to the original shell.. plus the new space frame will have no energy absorbtion, well maybe some if its been very very well thought out and fea modeled..but I doubt that...so this will lead to isses if theres a crash, plus the extra stell will wieght more than the stuff you remove, so you will be adding wieght at the front, where as you really want to take a bit off to balance it out closer to 50/50. when you say racing...what kind? if its pro you will need to see whats allowed by the regs, if its not then tbh its a waste of dosh really. also taking load off the shell... the space frame will potentially overstress areas if its not throught about, the body will normally flex a little..this is ok, if the chassis is too stiff it can be not so good to drive as if the suspesnions not sorted too it could be a bit of a handfull and un forgiving. In mines its only a rear cage, the idea being its enough to keep the roof off my head in a roll over and also acts to stiffen up the rear of the shell where the box is biggest and most likely to distort, I will at some point be going for a full cage but not for a while.
The one key thing to note with the AW front spaceframe is it is not MSA legal for a lot / most events. Or it'll put you up a class in hillclimbing. So if you put a 1500 custom cages cage in, you can sell the car with a purpose if you don't hack the shell about too much - and a racer will have it off you with a CC ticket on it, though it won't be legal in the Mk2 Golf Championship - they're bolt ins. But an AW spaceframe will prevent you fron offloading it into that market / or make it trickier, as & when the time invariably comes. So it would be worth less, yet you've spent more.
Thanx chaps, that does make lot more sense, i didnt realise that AW's space frame wouldnt measure up to certain race events or even be mutch use in a bump to the front. Not to mention its a hell of a lot of money. With a purpose built full cage i can leave the shell as it is, dint like the thought of my lil golf being hacked away at the front to be honest. Thats what my mate said also, with a proper cage it will be more desirable to a racer wanting to buy if ever i sell it. Cheers very much guys youve helped me see sense
I'm sure AW will spec you a normal cage btw, just ask them to stop at the turrets. Any tube beyond the turrets, front or rear, is where it becomes an MSA problem. And hacking of the shell, eg inner wings, some floor areas.
the above is right, with a front end space frame you could be forced to run against proper space frame race cars. atom, caterhams, radicals etc. it's a very cool front end andy would build but to keep it within a competitive class i would just go with it stopping at turrets. it would then be eligble for just about anything. if you still like the space frame front end have a search about for the 'ruby racer' pictures. love that car, need to find out where the hell it's went. probably sitting in andy or rob's garage somewhere!
Yeah isnt that the mk2? They got pics of it on the website,awsome thing that is. Well i think unless i go for the front spaceframe route, ill order my cage from sumone else and have it fitted down here, as i would have had to have took the car to Andys place to get it done-which is 3 and a half hours away apparently. All food for thought tho.
There's always Protection and Performance near Skipton, West Yorkshire - they did a great job on my cage, shame i've just cut it out and scrapped the car!!!
