Who has a first gen with a cage?
 

and competes wearing a helmet? Need to see how the space is. Im 6' even. Curious what sort of clearance there is. Obviously no stock seats.

my first fb had a cage it was an 83 and I never raced but I'm 6'1" and i seemed to fit fine- It was an oddly designed cage though only a 6pt that the main top cross bar was about 6" behind where I had the drivers seat so I never had any head issues.

You will want to go with a custom weld in rather than a bolt in or standard kit. Most of the kits have he main hoop sitting on the floor in front of the rear bin structure. This will end up giving you clearance issues.

Kirk has a weld in kit and they leave the tubes long for you to trim. This works out well. What you want to do is put the main hoop legs on top of the rear bin cross tube. Then angle the rear hoop back 1 to 2 degrees. This gives you the most clearance available. Also remember when you install the tubes from the main hoop that go over the drivers window to put these as close to the roof as possible.

-billy

this is for a potential rally project as im stuck between the Merkur which has a good engine and far more room inside and the rx7. So the cage work is somewhat extensive. Running the hoop in the rear is a pretty good idea. Ill have to make sure it legal. Also i found out i can lower the floor.

Yep, no reason it would not be legal. The crossbar is a stronger place to mount than the floor board.

Here is a good example of a min hoop mount from Izzy's. Never met him but he does good work. This moves the hoop back a good 6 inches from a standard floor mount style.

http://www.izzyscustomcages.com/MJYP2CageInstl.html

Not to thread jack, buut, Billy, Who would you reccomend locally for a IT7 cage on my FB. Ga local not NC;)

PM Sent

so you think i should be able to clear the bars coming forward? (the name escapes)

The biggest problem in the 1st gens is the side/lateral bar clearance to the helmet. With the rake and lay in of the A pillar it gets very close.

If it's allowed, 1.5" tubing is the way to go. 1/4" can seem like a foot worth of clearance over 1.75"

If you're allowed to modify the seat mount, that'd be the way to go. Get rid of the factory cross bars that the seats mount to and you'll probably gain 2-3" at the front, less in the rear IIRC. Get the seat as far into the tranny tunnel as you can. This gets your head away from the lateral bar and also moves your weight more towards the CG.

A kit just doesn't cut it when you're dealing with head issues. You need all the room you can get up there.

Oh, thanks for the nod BW!

No prob. We have never spoken but I have watched your progress over the last few years. Looks like you have built a quality company.

-billy

i think i have to use 1.75 tubing, ill have to check the rules...Moving the seat over a bit could probably be worked in addition to lower the seat as far as possible. Even an inch laterally would be a huge difference.

what are some legal methods to attaching a seat for maximum clearance?