[touge miata]

so, who has either of these? and if you do lets see some pics of how you installed it and the aftermath.

(personally i am looking for pics of cages in particular the Hard Dog cage.)

should this be in here? or interiors?

 

[LagunaMiata]

Not if you want to use the top...

The bar across the windshield header will block the latches. You might be able to cut the latches to make it work.

Somewhere I have a shot of a car from the Gap a few years back with a cage... Couldn't find it on any of my web pages. I'll dig through photos sometime and scan 'em.

 

[Matt [exz3owner]]

if someone can host pics, I can show you my cage.

 

[freedomgli]

Flickr is the best free photo host in my opinion. You don't need someone else to do it for you. Does your web page not have much bandwidth? I'd think you'd want to host them there, no?

 

[timallen]

]if someone can host pics, I can show you my cage.

Try our Garage section!!

Click on Garage at the top of the page and then look for Create Vehicle. From there you can add pics of your car and add mods, along with pics of those mods.

 

[Matt [exz3owner]]

Flickr is the best free photo host in my opinion. You don't need someone else to do it for you. Does your web page not have much bandwidth? I'd think you'd want to host them there, no?

lol. i need to find the password to make changes on my own website. Not sure what it is right now. hahaha.

 

[touge miata]

ok so I emailed Tom Beroth at Bethania Garage, Inc / Hard Dog Fabrication and asked about the fitment of their cage. he said
"The hard top with the stock latches and soft top both fit with our cage. Spec Miata rules require the hard top to be bolted."

does anyone have any pics of the hard dog cage installed?

 

[Matt [exz3owner]]

you're in costa mesa. You should really see my cage before you have something shipped across the country. It was done in San Diego. If you are willing to bolt the hardtop on, you gain soooo much more room by allowing the roll hoop to be moved around...

 

[Greg G]

^ Wanna see wanna see!!! :twisted:

 

[touge miata]

where are you located matt?

im not a fan of the hard tops.... thats why i want a cage that doesn't require the removal of the soft top... i like to drive topless :lol: 8)

 

[Matt [exz3owner]]

ok. then this cage is out. I figured here in socal there would be a season when the car had no top at all. (not to mention windows) But there is something to be said for cages that are made in the car. Fitment is much better than the bolt in ones...

I am just south of you in Irvine. But I work at the intersection of Bristol and the 405.

 

[OneSimpleRoadster]

Just got my Boss Frog Clearview Double Diagonal...will post pix when I install that sucka..

 

[JGraves]

I would suggest sticking to a roll bar if you drive the car w/o a helmet. There is no way to get the front cage structure in a Miata far enough from your head to be safe and still fit under either top.

I build the cage in my roommates '90 with a bolt-on hardtop. The tube above the side window is less than 3/4" from the top, my race seat is practically touching the floor, the side of his helmet touches the roll cage padding (1/2" thick) in a normal driving position and he's 5'8". I could have gained a little more clearance by using 1.5" tubing and tucking the tube tighter to the roof but not more than 3/4" (most likely 1/2"). His car is almost strictly a track car and usually trailered although he occasionally will drive it to events less the 2 hours away.

Edit: I can't find any pics of his car with the top removed.

 

[touge miata]

i found a really cool cage id install if i was gonna go full race... but i think i have settled on just a bar and butterfly brace...

i think i found that cage at this web addy: www.miatacage.com... i can't remember off the top of my head

 

[JGraves]

i found a really cool cage id install if i was gonna go full race... but i think i have settled on just a bar and butterfly brace...

i think i found that cage at this web addy: www.miatacage.com... i can't remember off the top of my head

That is a nice kit for a really good price compared to what it would cost to buy the tubing and have a fabricator bend all those tubes as a one of. I'd guess you're still looking at 50+ hours of labour to install and weld.

 

[touge miata]

cheese & rice! :shock: :shock: uh damn... i emailed the guys at that place and they said depending on what form you dropped your car off in it would be about $2500 i think? including labor and the kit. ill check my email again but i think thats what he had told me. basically the more stripped your car is apon drop off the better :wink:

 

[freedomgli]

$2500 for a cage sounds about right for a small 2-door roadster like a Miata. A friend of mine had Piper install a cage in his stripped out FC shell and it was $3500. RRT fabricate cages popular with the BMWCCA crowd. I believe they start at around $3500 and go up from there to $6000+ for club racing depending on class and owner's preference. Cages for top-level production based racers are even more expensive than that. I know the guy who made the cages for the new teamlexus IS350s racing in ALMS 2006 and I bet they easily exceed $15,000 each.

 

[roadsternut]

Labour rates must be way too high in the US. the total price of a custom cage in the UK, installed and in stainless steel tubing, about £600; $1000 or so.

 

[touge miata]

Hello Kevin,

Thanks for your inqury. Installation prices vary widely depending on how prepared the vehicle is when you bring it to us. If we have to take ot the dash, interior, gut doors modify fuel filler neck etc, then that all gets billed @50.00 per hour. $1,650.00 is the where the installation with cage kit prices begin if the car is ready for cage install. Remember that not only does the cage have an impact on safety, but it also has an impact on the rigidity of the vehicle, and since we have a dash bar, and our door bars go behind the dash we believe our cage kit is the best on the market for stiffening the vehicle as well as being safe.

We have over 10 cars locally that you can see and we also have a show car in house that you can see, touch and sit in to see our products quality and fit and finish. We can also provide you with reference customers throughout the country on any of our products.

As an FYI.... most cars leave our shop right around the 2K range once we do all the other cage related items that need to occur such as:

Flatter rear stock seat mounts
Fit seat
Fire Plates
Steering Shaft Adaptor
Install Window Net and Mounting Kit.

If you would like to come by and see the in house vehicle, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks.... Sean

Sean Hedrick
www.miatacage.com - President
360-606-7734



thats the email i got back when i asked about the cost.


and about labor rates... well there are a lot of tuner shops but they all are more specialty and people wanna take there miata to a miata shop... not a Chevy tuner shop.... so you pay for their knowledge of the car and the confidence they'll do it right the first time (at least that's how i see it... but yeah we kinda get jacked) i asked the welder at my work if hed wanna take on a cage install and he thought i was nuts... not that he can't do the work but because he has no experience with a miata or cars really... but then again a real craftsman should be able to apply his skills to anything #-o :roll:

 

[Bryan]

I still side with Jeff...unless this is a track-only car (where you'll be wearing a helmet at ALL times), a cage is a really dumb--and downright unsafe--idea, at least if you want one that will allow the use of the soft top.

I'd say install a rollbar and FM's butterfly bracing. You'll have all the stiffness and none of the safety issues. It should even weigh less than the full cage, too.

ps - Didn't you ask about this on Miata.net? I seem to remember someone recently being quite stubborn (and IMHO, a little naive) about running a cage on the street.