Roll cage tubing

[marshall_mosty]

I'm going to pickup some roll-cage tubing from Jorgensen's in Dallas this week, but don't know what to ask for alloy-wise.

I know that I'm going to get 1 3/4, .120 wall, but I don't know what alloy. What did everyone else ask for when buying sticks of tubing?

[AI#97]

I'm going to pickup some roll-cage tubing from Jorgensen's in Dallas this week, but don't know what to ask for alloy-wise.

I know that I'm going to get 1 3/4, .120 wall, but I don't know what alloy. What did everyone else ask for when buying sticks of tubing?

It's just STD DOM. consider .095....most of the welders I think you have access to are going to struggle with .120 wall. Mine was border line on Jeremy's tubing and required a steady hand to keep heat in the parts. It's also easier to bend and meets the rules requirements.

[TJ Bain]

What we use for roll cage tubing is commonly called 1020 DOM by the steel houses.

Matt is correct about the wall thickness. I'm not sure what you're building, but you can use .095 for the entire cage, but most use .120 on critical items and .095 for other required bars, then .063 for non-required brace tubes.

On non-required bars (non-safety bracing, bumpers, etc), I use seamed tubing because it's cheaper.

[mitchntx]

If your car is under #3000 dry and has the minimum safety gear, then .095 is allowed.

The older Mustangs and 3rd gen F-Cars can get there pretty easy, it seems. The 4th gen cars can, depending upon the level of prep. I don't know about the later model Mustangs. They very well could have similar issues to the 4th gen F-car.

It would suck to have to drain fluids and remove "extras" if you had to prove weight at Annual Tech or Nationals Tech if you were close to that max weight.

[marshall_mosty]

This is for my AI car, so weight is not a problem, as it will be 2750 dry this year without any fluids.

I'll grab the .095 since I'm just beefing up the current .120 wall cage. Should be cheaper to boot.

[marshall_mosty]

What we use for roll cage tubing is commonly called 1020 DOM by the steel houses.

Matt is correct about the wall thickness. I'm not sure what you're building, but you can use .095 for the entire cage, but most use .120 on critical items and .095 for other required bars, then .063 for non-required brace tubes.

On non-required bars (non-safety bracing, bumpers, etc), I use seamed tubing because it's cheaper.

TJ, thank you very much for your info.

[AI#97]

This is for my AI car, so weight is not a problem, as it will be 2750 dry this year without any fluids.

I'll grab the .095 since I'm just beefing up the current .120 wall cage. Should be cheaper to boot.

You are shooting to be heavier than me?!

The POWER corrupts!

[mitchntx]

This is for my AI car, so weight is not a problem, as it will be 2750 dry this year without any fluids.

I'll grab the .095 since I'm just beefing up the current .120 wall cage. Should be cheaper to boot.

Yeah, I knew that. But it wasn't 100% clear for someone new and did a search.

What would REALLY suck is if with a basic 6 point, CMC/AI legal cage, dry you came in under #3000.

But once you add bracing, passenger side door bars, gussetts, etc., you went over #3000. Those are items you can't easily remove, nor want to in order to be checked.

Also consider 1.75" DOM tubing is a tick over #2.1/ft of .120 wall and ~#1.6/ft of .095. So if you use 50' of tubing, that's a difference of ~#20 of steel.

[TJ Bain]

TJ, thank you very much for your info.

No problem. Gotta help out the other lightweights in AI vs. the 3400lb rocket ships. :lol:

-TJ
3rd gen Firebird, 2925lbs without ballast :wink:

[AI#97]

TJ, thank you very much for your info.

No problem. Gotta help out the other lightweights in AI vs. the 3400lb rocket ships. :lol:

-TJ
3rd gen Firebird, 2925lbs without ballast :wink:

2620 Dry and no ballast! Pretty damn light SN99!!! Damn Driver weighs half what the engine does! :lol: