Hi all... I have removed the floor insulation, I leaved only the black carpet, I am doing a plug and play stereo, amplifiers, sub etc., I will do bonnet, tailgate and doors in fiberglass.

Now I am thinking about reinforcement, for now I have no money to buy roll cages, but I saw in a roll cage site, that in addiction of a roll cages their mount a central reinforcement, take a look:

http://autoweldchassis.com/rcinstruct.ivnu

What you think about this tuning?

(I have a front and rear strut brace)

Cheers

OK, first up, Roll Cages are HEAVY. I fitted a weld-in cage from Custom Cages to my Felicia, and it was almost too heavy for me to lift on my own (and I'm not weak). So if you want to offset that extra weight, then you'll need to do some serious lightening to the car. However, the extra stiffness is hugely important both to the car's handling and also its overall life if you're using it hard. The difference in handling between a weld-in cage Felicia and one without is unbelievable (I have done a back-to-back comparison with my new and old cars, with the same suspension on them).

FavoritKen is the man to speak to about weight loss on a Fav though, his Fav (Kermit) is seriously light. By contrast my rally Felicia is around 980Kg.

Don't underestimate the amount of hard work needed to put a weld-in cage in yourself. I am a competent fabricator and can TIG weld well, and I would never do another one - there is SO much fine adjustment needed to the tube ends to be done that each tube takes around 2 hours to do. And there were 40 in the kit. If you want a look at what I did, then it's here:

http://www.skodarallyblog.com/?p=334

There are other entries showing what I did (all of them older, that's the finished article!)

Ok for now I have not money for roll cages, your experiment with equal car is interestig... what you think about the central reinforce that is visible in the site that I posted?

Thank you for your blog... but it was better if you did some photo while you mounts the roll cages... :-D

Sorry for my terrible English... :-D

There are plenty of older entries showing all the work fitting the cage -

http://www.skodarallyblog.com/?cat=5&paged=5

http://www.skodarallyblog.com/?cat=5&paged=6

Lots to see there.

I don't think the floor on the Felicia/Fav needs as much reinforcement as is shown in the link you put, and putting strength in there will not solve the problem, it will still bend elsewhere. That is why cages add so much to a car's strength, and why convertible cars always handle badly.

Your english is fine!

There are plenty of older entries showing all the work fitting the cage -

http://www.skodarallyblog.com/?cat=5&paged=5

http://www.skodarallyblog.com/?cat=5&paged=6

Lots to see there.

I don't think the floor on the Felicia/Fav needs as much reinforcement as is shown in the link you put, and putting strength in there will not solve the problem, it will still bend elsewhere. That is why cages add so much to a car's strength, and why convertible cars always handle badly.

Your english is fine!

WONDERFOUL... wow your motor reinforcement, are very interesting, How I can do that? what material did you use? steel?

p.s. it is one piece with the roll cage?

Edited 23 March, 201016 yr by Act a fool

The roll cage kit I fitted was from Custom Cages - http://www.customcages.co.uk/Rollcage/LoadRollCage.castle?manufacturer=Skoda&model=Felicia&type=Multipoint

It was about £200 cheaper then (May 07)

I'm not sure what you mean by "re-enforcement" (because there are several possible meanings):-

1) Increased torsional rigidity. The easiest and best way of doing this is to get a proper roll cage like the one in your link, designed using "finite element analysis". The alternative would be to strip out and seam-weld the bare shell, using typically 25mm lengths of arc weld (any form) separated by 25mm along the seams where the chassis rails meet the front inner wings and floor pan, where the front inner wings meet the front bulkhead, where the rear inner wings meet the rear quarter panels and floor pan, where the B-posts meet the floor...

2) Increased shell crush resistance, particularly when hitting something side-on or rolling. You need a roll cage to do this. End of.

3) Increased dent resistance on the floor pan. You can do this by welding in extra sheet steel panels.

is it really worth it on a road car anyway? like darren says above, there is a lot of work in building a roll cage, and the weight it adds is a huge penalty too, plus you need to use seamless tubing too for rally applications.... i would suggest just stipping everything out and using it like that. you wont notice the extra rigidity of a weld in cage if you are only using it on the road

And just to add my thoughts, it's not exactly fun to install a so-called bolt-in cage to a felicia either, particularly if you are doing it properly (e.g. welding in the reinforcement plates that are needed if you want to use the car for motorsport - though from reading the OP, I'd guess that's not a problem.) I too would never do another one - I'd pay custom cages to weld one of theirs in - it would be cheap at twice that price!

I think your pair of strut braces would be a reasonable half-way measure on a fast road car.

Hi people I wont to condivide an italian experience with you... I wrote in an important Italian forum, I posted the same question of this post! 3 page no advice but I recived insult for my Skoda, do you know what they told me when I ask for a roll cage? Here I found djaychela that post me an important blog, in the Italian forum after insults etc the response is:

A: is an auto builted for low cost, so the chassis is not a marvel, assembly is done with the ass, brakes too, the engine is a lung etc... is a car for daily use non-sport.

B: putting their hands on that car also results in a break now, I think at least 2 months, with the changes that you want to do the chassis and the mechanical stresses are down as a house of cards ..

If you would take a look visit here:

http://www.elaborare.info/forum/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=51236&page=80

You can use google translator...

So I am asking am I dreamer or are Italian people not informed not experimenters?

Well, we do expand FIAT as Fix It Again Toni!

Well, we do expand FIAT as Fix It Again Toni!

Fix It Again Tomorrow

the favorit is a very capable car and with a bit of thought and careful work can be made into a quick nimble motor, yes the shells do flex a bit but not as bad as a ford or vauxhall (GM).

remove all the excess weight including the sound deadening on the floorpans and get it seam welded around the floor pan (no need to do the door pillars)

jim

F.I.A.T = Found In A Tip