Cage opinions?

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January 09, 2009, 07:19:40 AM

What do you all think? Mild steel or chromoly for my 87 451 turbo Dakota project?

Pros/cons of each? Life expectancy of each?

Thanks

race/ moly, street /ms. If you have a budget ms, if you can afford it moly.

If you do not need it for weight or some other reason, just use Mild steel.

MS is cheaper, doesn't need stress relieving, and won't work harden if not welded properly. For the price & weight saving involved, if you're just doing a cage (as opposed to a whole, purpose-built car) I'd use MS.

just use MS. Unless $$ isnt an object. I'm sure all of us have seen cars that are sub 9's with MS cages.

I thought about this alot before making my decision too. what I came up with is this....

A) Cost is not as much of a issue unless your doing it yourself. I called 10+ shops in my area and got prices ranging from $1500 to over $4000 for a 12 point cage. Huh

WTF. It all depends on the shop you go to. I chose mine both on the price and the quality of work I have seen from him. And it was well under 2K for Moly and built on a jig.

B) If your going to have a chassis shop do it, They will know how to properly weld Moly if thats what they do. For many people, including me, not a good Idea to do it yourself....and even some shops.

C) WEIGHT Savings! 1/3+ weight savings using Moly over Mild Steel. 1 5/8 x .134(2.13 lbs per ft) for MS Vs. 1 5/8 x .083 (1.37 lbs per ft)for Moly.
Big difference when looking to go faster....because we all know, pounds start with ounces.

D) Durability, I don't think it is as big of an issue as alot of people do. There are many, many Moly cars that are racing full race schedules, every weekend, all weekend and making sic amount of HP, and having no problems what-so-ever. And they don't replace the chassis/cage for many, many years if at all. Inspections and updates are are always a good idea.

As everyone previously stated, it depends on what your plans are for your vehicle.

Good Luck.

If you are going to do a chrome moly cage, then you had better know what you are doing. If someone else is doing it for you, then you had better be a big part of every aspect of construction, including knowing the right questions to ask.

Top 5 points in moly cage welding;
1. Is the shop SUPER clean? When welding chrome moly, weld puddle likes to suck in dirt big time. Don't believe me, look at weld x-rays for furnace tubes in used in refineries.
2. Is the welder qualified to weld chrome moly? Let the shop prove that the guy has taken the right courses from local welding schools to prove it. And not all "certified" welders are really certified for anything useful. Has to be material specific.
3. What weld procedure/process is used? Does the guy make it up as he goes? What preheat, interpass temps are used? How is it checked?What stress relieve process is used, and how is it controlled? Some morons out there think they can do it with a cutting torch!
4. How are the welds inspected after completion both before and after post weld heat treatment? If its cracked before it leaves the shop, what good is the cage? It will fail, and you might die.
5. Will they put their name to it and serialize the cage/bar, like NHRA wants?

The shop I am looking at is a race chassis shop that has several cars with NHRA records as well as with his own cars. He also prefers Moly cages when he has the choice.