Roll cages

[beav73]

Does any one have any suggestions on what company makes the best cage kit. I am going to put one in my 73 dart and have never done it before.

[Crazy68Dart]

I'm pretty happy with S+W, it is a 10 point.  I want my bars to go through/behind the dash, and did not think about this earlier so I had to order another set of pillar bars.  Where are you located?  Shipping costs may be a factor.

[beav73]

I am located in southeast iowa, do you have any pics of your cage

[chryco]

I am located in southeast iowa, do you have any pics of your cage

Is that anywhere near Sigourney or Oskaloosa ?
     Chryco

[496dart]

Im in Des moines   

I have a 8 point CE cage. It went in pretty good . Heres a pic .


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/solrizzo/cage1.jpg

[B1Valiant]

I woudl suggest you dont get an Alston kit..I did and the only part left of a 12 point cage from them is the main hoop and it sucks...

[drew54]

You must be pretty close to me, I'm as southeast as you can get in Iowa.  I used a comp eng. 8 pt and it fits ok w/some mods. 

Drew

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[mopowers]

I woudl suggest you dont get an Alston kit..I did and the only part left of a 12 point cage from them is the main hoop and it sucks...

Did you supply your measurements, or did you buy their off the shelf kit for a dart?  I was thinking of going to them for my 66 just because they local for me.  I wouldnt have to pay for shipping.  I was planning on giving them my own measurements based on the diagram the have.  How did you do yours?

[beav73]

I am close to burlington thanks for the info

[Capt Jack]

back in the day (yeah, Im relatively old) there were tons of 4 point kits available. I know since it was just a loop and two braces, they were mostly for show...but I havent seen those in a car bigger than a 'yota or Miata in years.  were they deemed unsafe/pointless or just fell out of fashion? 

[9secride]

Just my 2cents. I would'nt use a kit. I'd heave it custom bent to your car. It will fit tighter & fit you better. Im here in Northern Il. & we have 3 shops here that do great work, were only probably 4or 5 hours from you.

[Crazy68Dart]

Just my 2cents. I would'nt use a kit. I'd heave it custom bent to your car. It will fit tighter & fit you better. Im here in Northern Il. & we have 3 shops here that do great work, were only probably 4or 5 hours from you.

It will also cost you at least 3 times as much.  At least from my checking around...  The kit that I have is not a bad piece.  However, it is not just a "bolt on" part.  It takes a lot of tweaking and fitting to get it right, especially if you want a nice fit.  My kit came with bars to go in front of the dash, which I did end up and order another set to go behind the dash.  Other than that, it really is a pretty nice fit, but I am spending a lot of time on fitting it.

[west]

this is the kit i got from chassis egineering not comp. engineering.(often confused,different companys)
  it fits very well in my 72 dart
http://chassisengineering.com/shopDetails.asp?CatId=10&SubCatId=47&ProductId=895

[440dstr]

go with the comp eng it has bent front bars. i have s&w kit and my buddie has comp.eng kit and i like his bars a lot better an S&W's kit (i'm also in iowa)

[B1Valiant]

I woudl suggest you dont get an Alston kit..I did and the only part left of a 12 point cage from them is the main hoop and it sucks...

Did you supply your measurements, or did you buy their off the shelf kit for a dart?  I was thinking of going to them for my 66 just because they local for me.  I wouldnt have to pay for shipping.  I was planning on giving them my own measurements based on the diagram the have.  How did you do yours?

Mine was one of thier design bars for a Dart. I used only the main hoop and it is not very good. The fit is crappy and it does not follow the contour of the B pillar at all. But it also fits Demons and Dusters and would probably fit them fairly well. HGowever having said that, the rear strut bars were to short, the front cage struts interferred in ingress and egress a ton and the snout bars would never work with a stock dash. I ended up having new bars bent for the rear struts and front snout bars and adding two bends to the forward cage struts. All in all I should have just had it all bent up like I usually do, I was looking to save some time. Normally I juts use brake line to rough out the shapes I need and have a local shop bend it up. One of a few new things I tried this time that did not work out well. 

[4spdfury]

custom roll bars and cages fit better than a kit. b1 thatsnot far bashing an alston kit when you said your self that it was for a duster to begin with. a valiant has a differnt cab design .thats why i will be doing my own roll cage. cutom is better.

[B1Valiant]

custom roll bars and cages fit better than a kit. b1 thatsnot far bashing an alston kit when you said your self that it was for a duster to begin with. a valiant has a differnt cab design .thats why i will be doing my own roll cage. cutom is better.

I beg your pardon? The kit was purchased for a 67 Plymouth Valiant NOT for a Duster did I say that somewhere I missed? I asked for a kit for a 67 Valiant, which of course they dont list, but they told me they had one for a 67 Dart instead. Point being they were asked if it was made for a Dart or is it a DUster Demon kie as well, they replied it was a Dart specific kit. I found out after the fact that they use the same kit number for ALL A Body Mopars. Believe me they are different. In fact I would not be surprised if it fits an Early Nova better than a Mopar. I live not far from Chris Alston Chassisworks and would not buy anything else Mopar there, does that tell you anything? I have owned enough A body Mopars to tell you it would not have fit a Duster very well either, well except the main hoop would be tighter with the B pillar. The rear strut bars, front snout bars and front hoop struts would still need to be redone. I had a Chassis Engineering kit in the S/G Duster I recently sold and it fit much better than the this does in there. No doubt custom is better, mine is all custom now except the main hoop. I should have redone it as well. It would look much better. The post was about roll cage kits and I stated my experiences with Alston. DONT USE THEM.....   

[duster-dan]

I'm doing an 8 point right now in my Demon from Competition Engineering, for a pre-bent kit its pretty good. The main hoop was not flat when you laid it down on a surface table, we needed to tweak it a bit. I'm having the rear strut bars bent so i can keep the back seat in it. Other-wise its a nice fit. I'm happy. I just have it tacked together right now till i get the rear bars bent. 

I know the side door bar should be mounted up higher, but I want to be able to roll the windows down with-out opening the door & keep the arm-rest in it too. Plus it makes it easier to get in and out of the car.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[mopowers]

custom roll bars and cages fit better than a kit. b1 thatsnot far bashing an alston kit when you said your self that it was for a duster to begin with. a valiant has a differnt cab design .thats why i will be doing my own roll cage. cutom is better.

I beg your pardon? The kit was purchased for a 67 Plymouth Valiant NOT for a Duster did I say that somewhere I missed? I asked for a kit for a 67 Valiant, which of course they dont list, but they told me they had one for a 67 Dart instead. Point being they were asked if it was made for a Dart or is it a DUster Demon kie as well, they replied it was a Dart specific kit. I found out after the fact that they use the same kit number for ALL A Body Mopars. Believe me they are different. In fact I would not be surprised if it fits an Early Nova better than a Mopar. I live not far from Chris Alston Chassisworks and would not buy anything else Mopar there, does that tell you anything? I have owned enough A body Mopars to tell you it would not have fit a Duster very well either, well except the main hoop would be tighter with the B pillar. The rear strut bars, front snout bars and front hoop struts would still need to be redone. I had a Chassis Engineering kit in the S/G Duster I recently sold and it fit much better than the this does in there. No doubt custom is better, mine is all custom now except the main hoop. I should have redone it as well. It would look much better. The post was about roll cage kits and I stated my experiences with Alston. DONT USE THEM.....   

Just curious... Is there a reason you didn't take measurements yourself according to the chart they have on their site?  That way they'd bend it to your specs.  This is what I plan on doing.  Their order sheet makes it seem pretty easy.  Maybe it would have been a better fit for you.  Just a thought. 

[MyCreation68]

What are the advantages of a rollcage in a streetcar? Sorry to hijack. Is there any way I can keep my rear seat with a rollcage?

My car I plan on doing a little bit of everything drag, road course, etc. Or can I get away with frame connectors and torque boxes etc.

[duster-dan]

What are the advantages of a rollcage in a streetcar? Sorry to hijack. Is there any way I can keep my rear seat with a rollcage?

My car I plan on doing a little bit of everything drag, road course, etc. Or can I get away with frame connectors and torque boxes etc.

The advantage to any roll cage is it keeps everything tied together, less flex, even if you do some road coarse racing. Some Saftey on the street too, from a hit in the door...

I'm doing my roll cage right now, I'm making it so i can keep the back seat in it. I need to take the rear bars in to have them bent at a 45* angle.
So I went Home Depot, bought some conduit to mock up the rear bars.

hope this helps you.

[MyCreation68]

thanks for the info. I'm hoping to keep this car forever so rear seat use is a necessity for me. When you get your cage done send me a couple pics if you wouldn't mind so I have a reference for my cage Racerbynight@NOSPAMhotmail.com(just remove the NOSPAM from my email)

[Ace]

Im in Des moines   

I have a 8 point CE cage. It went in pretty good . Heres a pic .


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/solrizzo/cage1.jpg

Where at in Des Moines are you?  I'm sure we've had to cross paths at some point at Eddyville or Porky's or someplace?

[MyCreation68]

So would I be able to modify a 8 point kit from Competition engineering(or some compairable company) to fit my stock 68 Dart bucket seats and rear bench seat and still be legal? I want to keep everything as Original as possible(no gutting of the doors, full interior paneling, etc.)