Grassroots Motorsports

DEC 2014

Issue link: http://grassrootsmotorsports.epubxp.com/i/397024

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 77 of 187

Grassroots Motorsports 78 The Miata would make its road racing debut with the ChumpCar World Series, one of these homes for low-buck endurance competition. To be legal, our Miata needed a full roll cage. While it's possible to stitch a cage together from scratch, the Miata's tight cockpit doesn't leave much room for experimenta- tion. We needed a solution that would maximize that interior space. For more than a decade, MiataCage has specialized in cages for–you guessed it–Mazda Miatas. Their standard Spec Miata cage features 0.095-inch DOM tubing and retails for $965. They also offer a LeMons-legal kit that uses 0.120-inch wall tubing. Since we'd like the opportunity to run with that group as well, we went with the thicker tubing. The entire kit comes in one box. It's a nearly 100-pound package, but it can easily be delivered to your door. 1. The frst step of installing the cage is rather unglamorous: Make room for it, meaning pull out the seats and dashboard. In our case, we also had to remove our roll bar. 4. good as its foundation, right? The MiataCage kit doesn't just sit on the foor of the car. Instead, the tubes ter- minate at boxed land- ing perches that tie the cage to the car's rocker panels, strengthening the structure. Each perch is made up of several laser-cut parts. We found the ft , but even so, there's a lot of welding involved. The instructions contain tips to put together each per a signifcant amount of time and frustration. Don't forget these vital pieces of equipment: a welding jacket to fend off sparks, ear protec- tion to knock down the sound, gloves to protect keep the fabricator cool. 2. Check that all of the cage parts are present. The MiataCage kit includes CNC-bent tubes plus all of the required laser-cut gussets, brackets and landing perches. The kit also comes with a thor detailed and informative instruction book. Read it. 3. Cleanliness is next to godliness, so we cleaned the foors–like, r cleaned them–r ocess. The goal is to provide clean, metal-on-metal mounting points for the cage's feet. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Grassroots Motorsports - DEC 2014
loading...
Grassroots Motorsports
All Grassroots Motorsports subscribers must register to receive access to the digital editions. Click button at bottom for a free 11-page preview (not available on mobile devices).

If you need to register click here: Create Account
Subscribe to Grassroots Motorsports: Subscribe
Renew your Grassroots Motorsports subscription: Renew
Retrieve Password click here

 or  free preview remember me