Protouring style 1966 Ford Fairlane

[SSLance]

Love the detailed pics and progress you are sharing. Keep it up.

I'm about to redesign my whole rear suspension as well, so this is inspiring to me. Did you have a good weight of the car before you started this latest round of upgrades? Curious how much weight the car gains.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by SSLance

Love the detailed pics and progress you are sharing. Keep it up.

I'm about to redesign my whole rear suspension as well, so this is inspiring to me. Did you have a good weight of the car before you started this latest round of upgrades? Curious how much weight the car gains.

I was wondering that exact same thing. My next car is going to be all about eliminating anything that weighs anything that isn't required.

[WSSix]

Welcome to the site, Tyler. This looks like a great build. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

What Chad is referring to on your roll cage is the point where the three bars on the driver's side come together at the main hoop. All three bars need to come together at one point also called a node. Currently, the main hoop diagonal is in the bend of the main hoop a few inches away from where the rear bars attach to the main hoop. I don't have a picture but I hope that helps explain the situation. Good luck on the build!

[Chad-1stGen]

Originally Posted by Tyler D

I'm sure they would disapprove of alot of stuff I do. I love to lurk over there but there is alot that goes over my head. Can you elaborate on this? possibly with a picture? I will pass it on and see what the fabricator thinks.

Originally Posted by WSSix

What Chad is referring to on your roll cage is the point where the three bars on the driver's side come together at the main hoop. All three bars need to come together at one point also called a node. Currently, the main hoop diagonal is in the bend of the main hoop a few inches away from where the rear bars attach to the main hoop. I don't have a picture but I hope that helps explain the situation. Good luck on the build!

As WSSix mentioned a "node" is where two or more bars in a cage intersect. Best practice in cage building is to never have a "dead load path" where a bar dead ends on another bar. Currently your main hoop diagonal dead ends a few inches away from the node created by the rear down bar and diagonal. Honestly, it's close enough that it isn't a huge deal (IMO). main hoop diagonals that dead end 5-10" away (which is surprising common) are what really drive the experts crazy.

Here is a pic of what I was referring to.


You could fix it by using the red line to have the main hoop diagonal terminate a little higher/sooner (what I drew) but ideal would be to move the rear downbar and diagonal over to meet the current placement of the rear hoop diagonal.

Another example of common dead load path mistakes are door bars. The harness bar should create a node with the door bar. I see that your harness bar isn't in yet but hopefully it will connect to the roll hoop in the same location as the door bars.

Please note that I've never built my own cage or roll bar. However, I've been looking to install one in my own car and have about 40 hours of research into it and while it took me two weeks reading the 45 page roll cage tech thread on corner carvers from beginning to end was a real eye opener.

[preston]

yeah I think its a bit of overkill to worry about that main diagonal landing point being right on the node. But not that much effort to put it in there. Of course when I say "not much effort" that still means an extra hour of fitting and time is your money at a shop.

I'm kind of blown away by the bracing on that rear end. that's not all .120 wall plate is it ?

speaking of nodes I always enjoy posting this picture:

[Tyler D]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

I was wondering that exact same thing. My next car is going to be all about eliminating anything that weighs anything that isn't required.

So I weighed the car a couple of years ago before quite a few mods. It was around 31xx pounds. Since then, I have taken out most of the interior, went from 17x7/8 wheels -> 18x10, went to wilwood brakes in the front, 8" to 8.8 rear, 289 -> 351 with alum heads, ditched the stock steering for abs power steering and finally replaced the bumpers, hood, front fenders, and trunk with fiber glass. I'll try to see how much the car weighs when I get it out of the shop.

[Tyler D]

I got some updates yesterday. They bent up some sheet metal to cover the gaping hole in the back.

[GregWeld]

Looks great!


Amazing what some simple sheet metal, a bead roller, and a brake can do in the right hands.

[SSLance]

Very nicely done!!

[MX145]

Very nice!