I got all of the cage cut and fit except for the dash bar and the door bars. The door bar will have to be swing out style otherwise it will take a contortionist to get in the thing.
This view is through the rear window and shows the tie-in to the A pillar hoop. Now working on the seat frame. The car is so narrow that I'm making a bench seat for it.
I haven't accomplished much as I am helping my younger (18 years) brother whom has cancer and is not expected to live more than a few months. Such a sad deal.
It took 22 pieces of 3/4" angle to make this seat frame. And a little 1/2" plywood. I might cut a big hole in the plywood and use those rubber bands you see in some chairs to provide more cushion without adding height.
Thank you for the kind thoughts regarding my brother. He has lived hard and fast and says he has no regrets. Says he has had two lifetimes' worth of fun. He's 56 but his body is probably over 100.
Hope your brother has a few more year of fun, good things come to good people!
Cage looks real sweet. I am sure you will like the swing out side bars, makes getting in and out way more easy. I ran a set on my 69 corvette S/G and loved them. You can remove them for street use and bolt in for those drag strip runs.
Better put in a fresh set of 5 point belts to hold you in those new seats when you hit the go peddle on that BBC.[cl
"Swing out bars are permitted on OEM full bodied entries running 8.50 and slower. They must be designed as follows: 1 5/8 diameter x .058 cm or .118 ms connected with a minimum of 3/8 bolts or pins affixed in double shear. Clevis or sliding sleeve connections permitted. All male brackets must be a minimum of 1/8 inch with the corresponding female bracket being 1/4 inch. Sliding sleeves must have a minimum of 2 inch engagement at the connection."
This is the only reference to swing out door bars I could find in the IHRA rule book. NHRA would be the same I'm sure. I'm not sure if the Bantam would be considered an OEM full bodied car, but I'm not a tech inspector.
As usual Bob your workmanship is looking great. Very sorry to read about your brother, especially at such a young age.
Out here on the west coast NHRA tech will let most full cage cars run them. Just make sure your size & thickness meets NHRA rules. Jeg's has a real nice unit with all the brackets and pins. Can be cut to size. Summit may have them also.
Bob's bantam might be considered a early OEM body. I am sure that with your nice (well built) cage that you will be fine with tech.[cl
If the Bantam was a true Altered with center steering I'm sure I would get hassled about swing out door bars. Since it is a "door car" and I'll only run at nostalgia meets where the rules are relaxed I'm pretty sure I'll be okay.
I ran a tube across the firewall hoop and mounted the Mopar steering box to it. Made a pitman arm and welded the splined hub from the original pitman arm to it. The steering shaft is left long til I get a steering wheel snd a quick release hub.
The drag link will protrude through the firewall and not the cowl. I'll need to put the front axle back on the car in order to make the drag link and determine where exactly it will come through the firewall.
I whittled on a chunk of 2" by 4" rectangular tubing until I had a lower mount. Made a small angle bracket for the upper mounting bolt. It's plenty sturdy.