Cages! Built or bought?

#1

I’m almost ready now for a cage in my car but before doing so wondered how many of you guys did your own cages or paid to have one fabbed and fitted. I’ve been quoted $1,500 to have a 6 point with a roof diagonal, X door bars and a X diagonal tied into the rear strut brace.

The guy that quoted me that price builds pro mods for a living and his work is top drawer but I was hoping to see a cage ‘kit’ somewhere and weld it in myself (I can MIG and TIG to a good standard).

So, what did you do? Buy or build and does $1,500 sound abit steep to you?

#2

the price you have been quoted seems pretty fair. It is in line with the prices I have heard from the other guys on the board.

As for doing it yourself, I would be hesitant to try it with such an important piece of safety equipment. I’m not saying that you couldn’t do a fine job but I would think that there is more to building a safe cage than being a good welder. Good luck either way.

#3

price seems fair. Just make sure you and the cage builder understand the spec e30 cage rules (e.g. regarding your comment about tying in to the rear strut brace - only bolt-in rear strut braces are allowed)
cheers,
bruce

Rushman wrote:

[quote]I’m almost ready now for a cage in my car but before doing so wondered how many of you guys did your own cages or paid to have one fabbed and fitted. I’ve been quoted $1,500 to have a 6 point with a roof diagonal, X door bars and a X diagonal tied into the rear strut brace.

The guy that quoted me that price builds pro mods for a living and his work is top drawer but I was hoping to see a cage ‘kit’ somewhere and weld it in myself (I can MIG and TIG to a good standard).

So, what did you do? Buy or build and does $1,500 sound abit steep to you?[/quote]

#4

Pay the guy.
We did our own cages from a kit, and honestly it wound up costing us almost that much by the time we were finished. You will still have to cut and fit all the ends of the tubes which requires special tools to do it correctly. It is a long process, not a weekend job. Just make certain it is built to the rules, as finding out it’s wrong and having to fix it later will be difficult and expensive.

#5

That price is very comparable (even less) to what we’re seeing for custom weld-in cages in Norcal for those of us that pay "retail".

#6

Thanks everyone for replying. So it would seem that $1,500 is a good price and Im also confident that the guy building it is competent enough to do a good job.

Its now booked in to be done in the fall which is fine as my work commitments are stacked against me for the next few months and there was no chance I could get out to any events anyway.