cages who all has one

recently been thinking of purchasing a cage for my project as mk'1 are not the safest car sin the world. What are the pro's and con's of getting one and do you need to modify much prior to fitting.

Also prices please

What you planning to do roll the car ? Plenty available for track or road use , bolt one in or weld it in your choice .

Google MK1 roll cage 4,700 hits

I guess it depends on what you want. if it's to act as a roll cage then you need to be looking at a supplier like demon tweeks, or safety devices for a decent RACMSA cage.
Other option is an ally show cage. dunno who does them.

welding or bolting in a cage is a point of no return.

well i dont fancy being smacked side on in a mk1. Ideally like something in there for safety.

a cage can only do so much & if your worried about side impacts you'll need more than your average "roll" cage so it will be the high end of hundreds of pounds, maybe over 4 figures & still not a guarantee of total safety as mk1's are tin boxes esp around the doors so extra door bars will be needed and the verticals will have to be braced across the car to each other.

also even though some cage are called "bolt in" they still require plates/spreader plates to be welded to the floor.

My mate has a Rathbone Racing roll cage in his beetle, I think that cost around £1300.

It's a full RACMSA spec cage for race cars in the VWDRC ( vw drag race club ). Custom made to the car with all the bells and whistles including arm net on drivers side.

The car was away for about 2 weeks and still needs everything painting now it's back. The door bars make it interesting to get in and out of, especially with bucket seats.

They are designed to withstand a roll at high speed, protecting the driver while the car crumples around it. A side impact places different stresses on the cage and would still give a fair way. You'd end up with a bit of tube in your ribs as well as the door.

Side impacts are fairly rare even in motorsport.

I have a 6 point weld in cage, i got mine from OMP i think deamon tweeks sell them. To successfully install you need to loose your sunroof as race cars dont have them, I ended up dropping my cage 35mm to be tight to the sunroof cassett. I have no intention of taking the cage out and is still fitted to RAC MSA blue book regulations.

At Santa pod i wear a crash helmet, but on the road i dont.

My biggest problem was Insurance your current insurer will assume you are racing every weekend and wont cover you (even if you say its just for show use !!!)

As for side impact you are probably better off without a cage, you are more likely survive in a small car that is designed to crumble than a car with added strength.

It does make a vast improvement to handling. If you know my car then you will also know i dont use it every day. getting in and out may become a bit of a pain.

its a really bad idea to have a cage in a road car.

for a cage you also need a bucket seat (and not a reclining halfrauds special, a real one) and harness'. they all work together to improve saftey, one on their own will make it worse.

also bear in mind in racing you have a helmet. in a crash, your head will smack into the roll over hoop. not fun.

also its a pain to live with and im talking from expierience. this is the same cage i have in my e30 rally car:

go to custom cages u can get a full multy point weld in roll cage suplied for about £580 but u weld in ur self or it about £1500 and they will fit it for u they also do a collect and deliver so u dont have to drop it of then try and get home lol that wat im going to be doing