If you are a regular watcher of Mike Finnegan’s YouTube channel then you are probably familiar with the name Centurial. It’s a tool company that makes tools that help you fabricate roll cages and other parts on your project vehicles with really simple and easy principles. In this video, from their own YouTube channel, they are working on putting a simple roll cage together in just one day using their tools, some great tips, and a few tricks as well.
Video Description:
In this episode we show you how to build a cage in a day. Using our best roll cage fabrication tricks and tools. The car we are installing the roll cage into is a Hyundai Genesis 2013 3.8 V6 GT BK2.
When fabricating a roll cage it’s important to have a reference in the car. We used Blue painters tape and then center mark the tape. The roll hoop for our cage is based on this center mark. Then we use roll cage templates, which you can buy off our website links in the description, and begin cutting and fitting the templates to the inside of the car.
The roll cage templates tell us how long each straight section is and the angle for each bend. From this information we can determine the length of the tube and cut it. Once we have the template built we tape it to the floor and take a few measurements to make sure the roll cage template is not crooked or slanted on the floor.
Now we can start bending with our pro tools tube bender. We follow the roll cage template by marking each bend point and then bending the tube to the degrees we got from the roll cage template. As we go we double check our progress by placing the roll hoop over the roll cage template to make sure we are not making any mistakes. If everything went well at the pro tools tube bender then the roll hoop is now done.
Now for the cross tube. We have a perfect tool just for this very purpose. The string line tool, links in the description, is our go to for any straight tube we need to make in the roll cage. The kit comes with magnets to hold the string to the roll cage. Pin the string on at the beginning and end of the tube. Then attach your gator clips to mark the start and stop points of the roll cage cross tube. You will need those later. Now that the string is in place use a digital protractor to measure the angle of the string at each end and write that down. This angle is the angle the notch or cope needs to be to fit the roll cage hoop bar.
It is now time to cut the roll cage cross tube and notch or cope the ends with the tube notching machine. Take the string out from the car and use the magnets to hold the gator clips apart on a fresh piece of tube. Mark the cut and trim the tube to length. We are using our DIY Tube Notching machine to notch the tube for this roll cage links in the description. Now we need our angle measurements that we took earlier. Set the machine to that angle and make your notch or cope. Flip the tube and pay close attention to how you do this. Make sure the notches or copes are correctly positioned or you will scrap the roll cage cross bar.
Fit the tube up to the roll cage main hoop and we use our magnetic tube positioner to hold it in place while we tack weld it together, links in the description. Now remove the whole roll cage hoop and cross member and weld it together outside of the car. Now that is done, you will need to fabricate some floor plates and fit and weld those. Put the cage back in the car with the floor plates and tack weld them into position. Then drill the mounting holes and put in some bolts.
It is now time to make the back bars. The process here is mostly the same as before with one change. The back bars must bolt to the roll cage main hoop not be welded on. To do this we used some bolt in roll cage joints. We linked ours in the description but you can google “roll cage bolt in joint” and you will find many different types for many different purposes.
To do the back bars correctly we made sure the interior was in the Genesis so we could then fit the roll cage templates around the interior as best we could. Then, where the bolt in joints go, we simply made a small tube with a cope on it to be welded to the main hoop then the bolt in joint welds to that and then on the back bar the other side of the joint gets welded in. You will need to account for this in the length of the back bar. The roll cage template makes that easy. Once the back bar is made, add up the length of the complete bolt in joint assembly and subtract that from the back bar length. Cut that off with your scissors and your ready to go. Cut some tube to length, bend it and trim it and begin welding in the bolt in joints. You are now ready to put that in the car and make some mounting plates where the back bars attach.
