[Ben]

Originally Posted by Horhay

racecar meaning what class?

Club racing in SCCA and NASA. Not sure exactly what class yet. It will mostly be for my own track days and HSPN track days, as I host private events at Willow Springs and Buttonwillow about twice a month.

Originally Posted by Xman

I would seriously look into a Custom Cage weld in. Much safer and actually approved by FIA.

The reason I went with the autopower cage is because it is SCCA and NASA approved and when I am ready to sell the car I can remove it somewhat easily without DESTROYING my resale value. Also, according to autopower (and I'm sure there is some BS here) it is just as safe as a weld in cage and their design may be FIA approved, although they do not design their cages for FIA, just SCCA and NASA. They are using some SERIOUS bolts and it's not like they just drill threads in the frame, they are bolting it to a backing plate. If there was enough force to snap a bolt of that size, a weld in cage would just go through the floor anyway.


So...here was my thinking:

If you are running 4, 5, or 6 point harnesses in your car and you do not have a roll bar, it is extremely dangerous for track use. If you to have an accident and roll your car, you are left with two options. One, press the quick release button and try to survive the accident with NO seat belt, or two, keep the belts on and hope you don't get crushed to death because you cannot DUCK with harnesses on. Neither of those options appealed to me, and to think that I've done well over a hundred track days going 140 mph without a roll bar scared **** out of me.

As such, I decided it was time to invest a relatively small ammount of money in the interest of potentially saving my life. I was originally just planning on getting a roll bar / half cage but then decided to get a full cage for a few reasons. It's only a couple hundred bucks more, it's safer than just a roll bar, and it provides some additional rigidity as well as some rear balast (added weight in the rear is always good in the STi, if you can't take some out of the front).

So now that I was in the market for a roll cage I went looking around. If I ever wanted to sell my car, a weld in cage was out of the question, so I did some research on bolt in cages. From that research I found AutoPower, and talked to them on the phone several times. Not only have they been specifically making cages for the STi for a long time, they are about 3 hours away from me and can install it. I discussed sponsorship opportunities with them and in return for running their logo on my car I received a significant discount on the cage and that finalized my decision.

They are building the cage right now and it should be ready to go in my car next week. I'll let you know how the install goes

[Xman]

All due respect Ben, but competitively racing your car pretty much destroys your resale value, provided you are honest in representing the history of the car.

The moutning bolts and backing plates are typically not the area that is usually of concern with bolt in cages, it is the bolts that hold one tube to another or a tube to a boss. The bolts are certainly stronger than the tubing and these bolt together points is where shearing of the tubes and tearing of the material can occur rather than the tubes remaining welded together and bending in their middle as intended.

I'm sure that you are definitely safer WITH a bolt together cage vs nothing and I'm confident that you will be happy with it, I was just curious why you would go with a bolt in on something you plan to race competitively but your decision is completely understandable.

Good luck with the build up, I hope we get to a trackday together and have some fun with our toys.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Xman

All due respect Ben, but competitively racing your car pretty much destroys your resale value, provided you are honest in representing the history of the car.

That is very true . Atleast I can still take it out if I want though. A weld in cage seemed too permanent and I wussed out.

Most of the actual tubes are welded together. The "bolt in" part of the cage is simply how it attaches to the car, not how the cage is constructed (atleast with the AutoPower cage). The only peices of the cage that bolt together are the two side bars (by the doors) so that you can remove them.

If you would be interested, I can put you on my mailing list for the private track days at buttonwillow and willow springs. We limit the buttonwillow events to 12 cars, and the big willow events to 15-18 cars. It would definitely be fun to go to the track together!

[AndrewSS]

wow.... good luck with this car, have fun with it (its somewhat my dream in the FARRRR future to do this to my STi) but anyway, good luck with it, what are you gonna do time trials or whatever? What actual clubracing class would you be in with SCCA clubracing or NASA since you are modded? This is for fun right, not like real amateur club racing? What exactly is your plan, im interested. Goodluck, thats gonna be really fun, i like it

[Ben]

There is no real plan at this point other than to have fun and be safe. For now it is a full time track car for my events, and then I may race it in NASA next season. Not exactly sure what class just yet. For now I am just a track junky that likes to drive fast and an instructor that likes to teach others how to drive fast (and safe!) .

Basically all I'm doing is shedding weight from places you wouldn't normally on a street car, and putting in seats you would never want to daily drive along with 6 point harnesses designed for the HANS device. I decided to put in the cage just for my own safety, not for any requirements.

My car is all about suspension, brakes, tires, weight reduction, and safety equipment. A slightly different approach than most people who usually upgrade their engine and turbo. I may go down that path later, but not for a good while.

[Ben]

After looking at the NASA rules, even if I didn't do any full-out racing, I would definitely do the NASA TT (time trials) and my car would be in Class B or Class A. Right now the car is right on the border line, but I would probably be able to make it in to class B (which would be domination ).

[stituner420]

Good luck with everything Ben, sounds like a nice project.

[AndrewSS]

very cool, good idea with the hans system, good luck with your project and have fun, its gonna be so fun i bet!

[Ben]

The roll cage is going in tomorrow! YAY

I have just finished stripping out the rear interior and have some numbers for you:

Rear seat bottom: 8 lbs
Rear seat back: 10 lbs
Rear door panels: 3 lbs each
Rear seat belts and the 7 plastic panels you need to remove to get to them: 12.5 lbs

Total: 36.5 lbs

Taking this stuff out takes about an hour and when combined with the spare tire removal (another 30+ lbs), makes a very noticable difference. Of all the things to take out, the door panels are the least important. The only reason for taking them out was because I will not have access to the back seats with the cage and very limited use of the rear doors.

You could take this stuff out of your daily driver, although it would most likely drive you insane. I went to get gas about 30 minutes ago and couldn't help but laugh. I can see my trunk through the rear view mirror and the noises this car makes with no sound deadening is unbelievable.

You can hear the water in the IC sprayer bottle swooshing back and forth, some ungodly suspension and chassis noises, and just about every pebble on the road (and that's about 100 pebbles per second with R compound tires haha ). On top of all that, your exhaust gets about twice as loud, which could get somewhat obnoxious (or intoxicating...depending on how you are) at times.

All in all, I would say this and removing the spare tire is the easiest -- and of course, cheapest -- way to drop almost 70 lbs from your car, but it's certainly not for the weak hearted.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow or the day after when the cage goes in.

Goodbye until then!

[Swine]

Most peopel go engine and power becuase it doesnt take skill to drive it. For the majority of the people who owns sti's, the stock suspension is more then capable for their skill level. Which isnt a bad thing, the sti is quite a capable car in stock form. Coming from a wrx which was supposed to be a great handling car(which it was and of course was more capable with the mods i did to it)...the sti for now is quite an impressing machine. Hell, the right camber and caster on the stock suspension and nice meaty tire to compliment and i would probably be set. Plus, power is much easier to upgrade...and you can feel your gains without having to drive fast.

Of course for a full time track junkie im sure every little bit counts as far as suspension, and i perfectly understand why...just explaining.

[Ben]

The best thing about dropping weight is it makes your car accelerate, brake, and handle better. Adding HP just does one of those things .

The goal with this car is to get it to 2900 lbs with the cage and without doing some crazy WRC type things like drilling holes in the frame. I think it's a realistic goal, but it will take some time. I was just getting in to the high 2900's recently but the car is going to gain 110 lbs tomorrow .

You can see the weight savings and power to weight ratio information here:

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/vbpicgal...hp?do=view&g=1

Just scroll down a bit.

[Swine]

While i understand what your saying...most weight saving inherently give up some daily driving characteristics that most all of us appreciate, wether that be the loss of sound deadning, stereo, or ac and heat. <-Is that a compound sentance?

Question about your wheel/tire set-up...why do you choose to go one size smaller in width then "recommended", better steering response? Tom Hoppe, who was a very successful auto-x, would run a size or two wider then what is "recommended". Especially with the sidewall the r-comps have, i would think wider would be better in just about every situation.

What i presume is normal or "recommended"
8"width-235
8.5'width-245

Just curious.

[Rosspbig]

Did you take the A/C system out or are you planning too?

[AndrewSS]

keep us updated

[Deviancekicksin]

Post pics asap!!!!