Roll Cage

[Bartman]

After a long wait  of 7 months for Caterham to ship a cage to me for my track oriented 7, I decided to wait no more and cancel the order. Thanks to a fellow poster I had previously been  put in touch with Dan Liperini or Racelabz, Dan and I had talked when I first was looking at options and for ease I had decided to go down the prebuilt Caterham route for my cage, this turned out, in our current world order, to have been a mistake. The interminable wait prompted me to make contact with Dan again and thank goodness I did. I trailered the 7 to him just a few weeks ago and after taking measurements of me in the car and some discussion on what I was looking for Dan built the cage.

 

While cage designs are to some extent a personal choice and combination or being fit for purpose and aesthetics I am delighted with the look and the strength of what I have now. With no fuss, really great attention to the details and with a huge amount of experience from his own racing career Dan conceived and built me the cage pictured below I went back to haul the car back home over the weekend and I just wanted to let the community at large know that if you're in the market for a cage and the geography makes sense Dan's work is incredibly well executed and for me at least he exemplifies a business that understands the importance of great design, good work and strong ethics. 

 

I am still waiting on a wiring loom to arrive from the UK that has stalled this project for months, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it is not a train coming the other way. I still harbor hope that I can get this done for the 7 Event at NJMP........

 

Bart

 

 

[JohnCh]

That's a beefy cage!  Glad it worked out for you.  I'm curious, how did the price for a custom cage compare with the price of the Caterham cage plus international shipping? Were they reasonably close or did the custom cage land you in a very different price bracket?

 

Thanks,

John

[Bartman]

 

Hi John,

The Caterham Superlight style that I had ordered was $1600 plus shipping and duty so I guessed it would come in at +/-$2200 all in. Dan's was a little more, he also made me a rear bumper (another really great piece of fabrication). In total the cage plus rear bumper was $2800 so maybe $2600 had I just gotten the cage. At + $400 its reasonable bump in cost, but I now have it (bird in the hand and all that), it feels substantial, fits me personally and I got to work with a USA based engineer, which was a very good experience. 

 

Best,

 

[JohnCh]

That's good information for people to have.  A <20% surcharge to have exactly what you want and avoid any shipping/customs/fit issues seems like very good value.  

 

Cheers,

John

[panamericano]

I'd call that a good deal.  Great looking cage.  I especially like the little side penetration bars that do not interfere with entry/egress at all.

Congratulations.  

 

Good luck on the wiring.  How many have tried Painless?

[Croc]

Dan has helped out a number of USA7s members with their roll cages.  Good to see he has helped another.  

[w650gb500]

Good evening all, Dan Lipperini Jr here. I am the one who fabricated the cage for Jon’s car. I’ll give you a bit of info on how it was accomplished.
 

The entire cage is made from 1.50” x 0.125” DOM tubing. The mounting slugs which attach the cage to the frame began as 1.50” solid bar stock which are cut to 2” lengths and then have the center milled out 1.0” x 1.75” leaving 0.250” walls. The frame inserts are 3/4” OD with 1/2”-13 threads. I figure out where the cage is going to be located and on this case which original rivet holes were going to be used. I drill a 1/4” hole through both sides of the 1” frame tube as close to centered as possible. I then use a 1.5” hole saw to cut through the aluminum skin almost all the way and the piece of aluminum removed. Then a 3/4” hole gets drilled in the outer frame tube followed by a 5/8” hole in the inner frame tube. I take the frame insert and turn the one side down to 5/8”, measure it to length(approx 1.25” and cut/face to length. This makes a shoulder and a nice fit in the both sides of the frame tube. It then gets welded in place. Then repeat another 5 times. 

 

The main roll hoop uses the original mounting location threaded inserts(3 per side) onto a 3/16” plate. The rear down tubes now go all the way to the bottom rear rail instead of to the rear vertical support tubes. I welded a plate between the fuel cell mount and frame rail which uses 4 3/8” bolts per side to hold it as well as the new rear bumper.

 

Now comes the fun part, its time to grab some tubing, a tape measure, a Sharpie and figure out what it’s going to look like and where it’s going to mount. Then a bend here, a weld there and PRESTO, an SCCA legal rollcage is born. The nice thing about these cages are that they are totally removable in about 20 minutes. You just need to find someone else to help lift it off the car. 

That’s an overview of what’s done, but if anyone has specific questions, please feel free to ask. 
 

Thanks,

 

   Dan

 

 

[anduril3019]

Nice work!

[CarlB]

I saw your cage yesterday in the shop. I am more than impressed and want one. Really nice and the bumper is a great safety improvement for the gas tank.

[Bartman]

Hey CarlB

 

glad you liked it, I really thought that the job was well done. 

 

i have to say Dan was so good. Not just skilled but truly wanting to do the best job possible and was extremely thoughtful and kept me informed as to his ideas and allowed me to add my 2c. 
 

I am looking forward to getting this 7 on the track soon. 
 

bart

[CarlB]

I am very serious about wanting one. Hope Gus is able to get the car done for the event at NJMP. Please come even if your car isn't ready. You will have a good time meeting everyone.

[Bartman]

Thanks for the welcome I may come car or not, it would be great to meet everyone for sure.

 

Gus has all the parts there and ready but, as mentioned, I am waiting on the loom from the UK, its been a long process to get it first specified and then waiting for all the various connections and parts to become available. I am expecting the loom to be ready in the coming week or so but not holding my breath on that. We plan to drop the engine and gearbox in next week and check the fit for the gearbox oil cooler, accusump, the compressor for the paddle-shift, figure out the runs for the various oil lines and other odds and ends, then pull it all back out until we get the loom.  Hopefully this preparatory step will expedite the final assembly.

 

 

 

[Mark IV]

Do you still want the Avons I am holding for you?

[sf4018]

On 7/19/2022 at 2:45 PM, Mark IV said:

Do you still want the Avons I am holding for you?

If he doesn't are they A24s 13/6 13/8?

[Mark IV]

These: