Question for those with cages...

My chassis guy would keep the cage down about 1/2" to 3/4" from the headliner, enough to get the MIG tip in there, he'd use a piece of aluminum to protect the headliner. He's since gone to cutting holes in the floor to drop the rollbar thru so he can fully weld the top, then he pushes it up against the headliner.

When he does my Fairlane, we're going to remove the top to finish welding.

i would think u would want to install the headliner after to make sure u can because if u need to replace it down the line, u can't just take the cage out

1320stang said:

My chassis guy would keep the cage down about 1/2" to 3/4" from the headliner, enough to get the MIG tip in there, he'd use a piece of aluminum to protect the headliner. He's since gone to cutting holes in the floor to drop the rollbar thru so he can fully weld the top, then he pushes it up against the headliner.

Click to expand...

I've only put in a handful of cages, but the way I was taught was to cut holes in the floor as your chassis guy. You can also paint the top of the bar and the welds easiest this way IMO.

As for the headliner I'd keep enough room to install/remove the headliner, but not too much room.

68FBJJ: That is a nice looking cage install!

Well, my chassis guy typically doesn't do street cars, and the only reason he does it this way is because some heads up classes require you to have the factory headliner. But how often do you need to replace a headliner? My '65 would still have the factory one in it had I not had a tread seperation at 60mph on the right rear that tore out the rusted wheel well and introduced a bunch of wind in the trunk which went up the B piller and tore out all the old headliner stitching. I actually could have just had the headliner sewn back up, but I took it out anyways.

My chassis guy likes to tuck the cage up as close to the body as he can. Sometimes, except for the rear downbars, you can't tell the car has a cage at first glance.