How to install bars from cage to frame.

[SS_Sean]

**This article is work on a 78 Malibu drag car, but will absolutely equate to our Turbo Regal's, as well.**

I'm rebuilding my 454 this winter after four years of campaigning the car. The only updates will be a new UD Harold solid 271/279, .656/.656, 108 LSA cam, extensive port work on my Edelbrock RPM heads, 2.25 valves, and port work on my Victor intake. All else will remain the same.

While the motor is out we're taking the opportunity to install some bars running from the front bars in the cage, through the firewall, and to the front of the frame. I had to take the window out to get the dash out. And yes, next time I build a car I will make sure the front bars on the cage follow the window line and drop down right against the firewall. Having the dash pinned in front of the down bars is priceless. The cage is currently cert'd to 8.50 so I didn't want to screw with it too much at this point.

This will be a fun project and I've been learning a few tricks from my friend Kevin, from Baker Performance, and http://www.refinis h i t.net/ (run that together)He's real good with the fabbing, and was kind enough to come over to my house and give me a hand and his knowledge.

My buddy Kevin and I attempted to pull the windshield ourselves. We got 98% done and I cracked it. Oh, well. Another $200 down the drain. :roll:

Dash came out with some finessing. Even with the heat/air box out there was lots of wiring left over. This is the first time the dash has actually been out of the car, even though I put a dash cap in the car a couple years ago, I did it with the dash in the car. After looking at that birds nest of wiring it's pretty clear I have my work 'cut out' for me! We are going to try and reduce that mess down to a managable amount by removing all unnecessary wiring.

Windshield out and preparing to measure/cut holes through firewall for new bars.

Here's the dash. The stock dash is pretty light when you pull all the BS off the back of them. I'll do a little cleanup on this, make sure the dash cap is secured better, and stuff her back in once the wiring is done.

More updates as I go. I'll take a little more detailed pics as we get into this project. Hopefully this will give some folks some ideas. Thanks.

 

[SS_Sean]

Here's the update for today. I got motivated this afternoon and hit the garage. The first thing I did is determine where I wanted the bar to attach to on the frame, and on the roll cage. Once I had that I taped a string to the location on the frame and ran it through the window opening, and tied it to the bar. This put the string above the location on the front bar, but I was more interested in the path the bar will take, and not being exact.

Unfortunately there isn't any way I could think of to do this but free lance it a little, so I used the string as a reference and drilled a guide hole through the a/c block off place. I then ran the string through the hole and tied it to the cage exactly at the location on the cage I intend to weld the bar. The alignment was almost perfect.

I then cut the bar down a bit at the frame side and at the cage side, making sure I had plenty of meat left to work with on either side. I laid the bar down on the frame and put it up through the window. I just wanted to start eye-balling the situation.

I needed to make sure the location on the front of both frame horns was exactly the same. The firewall is completely different on each side, and so is the frame. I used the lower rear control arm bolt on both control arms, and crossed the tape measure over to the opposite frame rail to ensure the locations of the bar on the frame would be equal. My measurement will be 38.5" to the center of the 1 5/8" bar.

Here's the mark on the front of the frame.

Since I measured a guide hole through the block off plate I cut a 3x3 hole out of the plate, going 1.5" on either side of the hole, top and bottom. I cut the square using a cutoff wheel, and saved the plate. It will be welded in later.

I then slowly cut down the bar at the front of the frame until I had the height I wanted. I decided I would angle the bar outwards slightly and this caused the bar to tilt towards the outside of my 3x3" hole in the firewall, as the bar passes through. Not a big deal. That's why we cut extra space for manuevering.

Once the front frame portion of the bar was fitted properly, with the proper angle cut on the bar to give it the tilt I wanted, we then focused on the cage side. It took some time and a lot of grinding and test fitting, and grinding and test fitting, but we got the fit we wanted. It is MUCH easier to use a tube cutter to cut exactly the angle and fit you want, but we did it the old fashioned way.

This is the final fit for the passenger side bar.

Tomorrow I'll tack weld the bar in place and move on to the other side.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Looking good!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[SS_Sean]

Thanks, Rick.
New update!

The birds nest of wiring in the passenger compartment has to come out. I ended up unplugging everything, unbolting the fuse panel and cutting a few wires that had to be cut. All in all I will probably end up permanently removing about 85% of the original wiring.

After looking at what was left, I decided I was going to rewire the entire car, but's another project for later this winter!

I then took my grinder and scuffed off the paint around the areas I'm going to weld.

Here's my brand new Millermatic 211 with Autoset and 110/220 capable. This is a hot little power plant that came out earlier this year. This will take care of all of your automative fabricating needs!

Here, I've tacked my pre-fitted bar into place.

Now that the wiring is out of the way on the drivers side I cut a hole in the dash, after using the same methods as previously described. This side is very difficult because of the angles in the firewall, and the fact that the firewall is double-walled. I ended up having to cut more, and then some more again. The hole will be bigger than the other side because the firewall lays down on this side, and because of the angles. I'll have to fab up a patch panel. No biggie. All part of the game.

 

[charlief1]

Interesting change Sean. I'm looking foward to seeing how it looks when you're done.

 

[SS_Sean]

Thank you. I'll keep it going. Will include the re-wire of the race car, as well, since I'm into this project balls deep.

 

[SS_Sean]

Okay, another update.

I fitted and tacked the driver's side bar in, after painting the bar last night. When I say painted the bar I'm talking about everything but the last four inches. You have to save room for heat from welding but it sure makes it easier to paint with the bar off the car.

We got the bars welded in this evening, which only took a few minutes, and then it was miller time....

FYI-the bars have a 15* outward angle at the front, and on the top the bars have a 4* downward angle from the firewall to the frame. They are essentially perfectly aligned.

A little paint here and there, and viola! I'll update when we get back at patching the firewall. This should be interesting...thanks for letting me share the project, so far!

 

[gman7.0]

Looks good Sean!!
Do you think this would make the car react faster?
I would like to do this update but no time now. STILL trying to get a motor together.

 

[SS_Sean]

Thanks very much!

No, I don't necessarily think it will give me a better 60' time, but I do think it will improve consistency. If you've jacked a gbody up and suspended the frame by jackstands at the frame at the bottom of the front of the door you will know they have serious frame flex. The sagging frame will effect repeatability on the track. I was interested in getting the front end locked up so the only movement would be whatever I dial into the front suspension. Hope that makes sense.

I'll get back to patching the firewall in a couple weeks. I'm still trying to decide how to install the knee knocker bar.

 

[V6RACER]

Is this a MS cage?

 

[SS_Sean]

Yes. Don't sweat the MIG welding. I sure do wish I forked over the money for the CM, though. And funny thing is that 98% of the cage is TIGed anyway. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll build another car in my lifetime.

 

[SS_Sean]

I cheated and took the car to a fabricator and had the knee-knocker bar installed. There were some angles that had to be bent that I didn't feel like playing with. He did a nice job and tigged it in. Next step will be patching the firewall, and filling in the hole where the a/c box was.

 

[SS_Sean]

Update 11/30/09-

We started in on the firewall first thing Saturday. I had saved the pieces I had cut out of the firewall. We started smoothing the edges with a grinder and flapper wheel, setting the pieces in, shaping to fit around the bar, and tacking them in place.

Hit it with a grinder to bust down the welds...

I cut out the old bolt-in block off plate and used that plate as a template to make the new plate which will be fitted into the hole and welded closed.

Notice the notch was made towards the top. This was so I could get the grinder in there more easily, and bust those welds down.

Get 'er done....

Finished product...

I'll grind down the welds, DA, bondo, primer, and paint the entire firewall. This should come out really, really nice. I intend on keeping most of the wiring off the firewall this time. I'm NOT trying to create a show car, but a nice race car that represents well, looks good, and functions.

 

[SS_Sean]

Guys, it's been awhile. I've had the winter blahs for quite a while now, but I know March is coming and the opening of Woodburn Dragstrip. I'm hoping to have the car ready to make some test passes....so here's some updates....

The goal on the firewall was to fill the A/C hole with a welded-in plate, smooth things up a bit, and make it look decent without investing a huge amount of hours in it. It's a race car, and it's a firewall, so I wanted to get on with it and get it done.

Here's the firewall gutter, or the lack-there-of. I had previously cut most of the old gutter out, and wanted to remove the final little bit of sheet metal to clean things up. I borrowed a special drill bit from a friend and drilled all the spot welds. I also took a cutoff wheel and bucked the gutter off near the fender bolt, but left that portion of the bracket so the fender did have something to attach to.

Here's what's left of the sheetmetal.

I then focused on grinding down all the welds so they were as flat as possible.

I then started working the body filler in, sanding, and working the body filler in again. I laid the filler five times, and will end up with a sixth application to make sure everything was covered.

Here is almost the final product. Once I got the firewall in primer I found a couple of minor zings I wanted to work out with filler. No big deal. Once the 'eggshell black' or 'semi-flat' black is sprayed out the imperfections will disappear, leaving a really nice product. Can't wait to see the final results!!

 

[GNBRETT]

Seems like ur getten there. Looks good. Be ready by spring?

 

[SS_Sean]

Absolutely.

 

["Turbo-T"]

I like the smoothed firewall. One question though....why not weld the area where the bars pass thru the firewall? (i.e. weld the bars to the firewall where the pass thru at)

 

[SS_Sean]

I like the smoothed firewall. One question though....why not weld the area where the bars pass thru the firewall? (i.e. weld the bars to the firewall where the pass thru at)

The car was originally set up with poly body mount bushings, and there is slight flex. If I had gone with aluminum body mount bushings I would have welded the firewall to the bars. I'll seam seal the firewall, and it will look very nice. You wont even give it a second look.

 

[SS_Sean]

After spending a considerable amount of time prepping....

And laying some single stage out...she's done!
The paint will tone down as it dries out tonight. It will end up being just about a semi-gloss. Right now it looks really glossy as I took the photo after the paint was laid out.

 

[gman7.0]

That looks GOOD!!!