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| Since I am putting in a regular amount of time each year at the track and road racing events I figured it was time to get a roll cage installed. I reached out to S&W racecars. They are experts in racing Roll Cages. They have a new website dedicated to the Mustang market. You can find this Mustang roll cage there on that site. I am very happy with the install as well as how the car feels with the extra stiffness of the roll cage. |
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I took the Mustang to VRN Welding for the instal. Vince has a shop and a racer himself. He and his crew did an amazing job of welding this roll bar in. |
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The first step of this massive project is of course is to pull the interior. The back seat is very easy to pull. |
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Then the heavy part, the front seats. |
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Here is a shot of the bottom of the seat. |
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Then to pull up the carpet. |
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You need to pull up the doorsill plates. |
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Then you can pull the interior panels. |
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Then long holes need to be cut into the rear deck. This is to accommodate the long tubes. |
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Here is the drivers side. |
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And this is the passengers side. |
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Here are the rear bars as they came from S&W. Notches cut. |
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Here they are getting test fitted |
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The floor is prepped for the bottom of the main hoop |
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the Main hoop is test fit. |
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Primer and paint. Flat black of course. |
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Then the welding can begin. |
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The rear mounting point is prepped. you have to remove all material that is not metal. |
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The guys at VRN took the extra time to shape the base plated to conform to the shape of the Mustang body. This offer extra strength. |
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Then the mounting plate is welded. The tube is used for grounding. It is later removed. |
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The rear bars are slid into place. |
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Then they can be welded in place. The part of the body is much stronger than welding the rear bars to the wheel tubs. Plus it will offer more rigidity. |
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Here is the rear drivers side welded in place. |
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After welding you need to primer the bare metal. |
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Then you can touch up the black on the bars. |
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Same process with the front hoop. |
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The bars are welded to the hoop before the hoop was welded to the floor. |
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Vince at VRN again went the extra mile to come up with a convenient away to install a removable pin for the hoop’s center bar. |
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Most bar kits have pins on the inside but then they leave a huge notch that is very inconvenient. So Vince drilled and sleeved the main hoop and the fabricated a bracket for the center bar. |
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Vince also put a small extra bend into the main hoop so that it follows the contour of the car. So from the side you can not see the roll cage. |
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Notice top right we placed some clear 3M tape so the seat belt would not rub off the paint. |
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Here you can see the two top bars going all the way back. |
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Here is the rear mounting point passengers side. |
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Here is the rear mounting point drivers side. |
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We had to cut holes in the carpet and the gripper trunk mat. |
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I love the gripper trunk mat. |
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The rear bars are ultra clean but would not be safe for an adult in the back seat without roll bar padding. |
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With the rear window tint you can hardly see the black roll bars against the factory charcoal interior. Overall I am very happy with the install and then feel of the car with the extra rigidity. |
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