Good company for putting in a roll cage?

[capri71]

I'm looking for a company to fit my capri with a roll cage and a watts linkage kit and would be grateful for recommendations thanks.

[Vista]

Recommendations would have to be based on location but for me it would have to be Gary Martin of Gary Martin Motor sport of Brentwood in Essex. Whether he'd take on a job like that though is a different question as he's more about full shell builds

[jamie956]

Again depends on location and budget if in East Anglia area Lea Atkins or Alan Dent.

[capri71]

I don't mind trailering it to wherever I can get the best job. I hope theres ppl who do loads of this stuff and can do it eyes shut.

 

Links, emails or phone numbers would be great.

[meXEco]

Where are you?

[jamie956]

As Vista said Gary Martin has to be one of the best in the country,

 

Lea Atkins 'Atkins Motorsport ' is very good and just completed a mk1 Capri for the Peking to Paris rally.

 

Alan Dent 'www.alachi57.com' is again good a little more towards the budget end but can't knock his cage work, he did my Cortina cage and front space frame and regularly builds full tube chassis stock rods.  

 

[capri71]

I'm in Aylesbury.  About 30 mins from the M25 at Watford.

 

I'm not looking for the cheapest or the most expensive. That work on the Cortina looks good to me  -  I'll email him Cheers

 

BTW - what colour is that?? Worried it might be mine lol

[jamie956]

Its a BMW colour Sparkling graphite.

[colr6]

That's weird, was just looking at an earosol can in the garage and thought that might be a colour for my stripe

[capri71]

Its a BMW colour Sparkling graphite.

Reminds me of my colour on my Capri which is also a BMW! "Dark Silver Metallic" from the Mini Cooper S and Mini Cooper "Graphite" special edition! 

 

I liked it on the Minis and asked an owner the code and gave it to the bodyshop. WELL happy how it turned out. Gun metal/graphite/dark silver is the only way to go... mean as hell but doesn't hide the lines and shape. My other choice would have been black (Mercedes Obsidian black) but black almost reduces a car to silhouette in many lights. 

[classicwhitey]

crystal palladium grey for me from the merc slr

[jamie956]

Z German's do know how to do a nice grey. 

[capri71]

Alan Dent is doing my cage on the 25th Cheers Jamie

[jamie956]

That's cool tell him big jamie recommend him to you might get a little discount on my next project i doubt it though, don't let his work shop put you off when you get there he's a very clever man when it comes to old cars.

 

Just spend a little time with him working out exactly what you want they tend to default to race car mode which is ok if that's what you want  but dosent aways make it easy getting in and out of a car, im 6'6'' and a big chap so had the door bars lowered and a few bars inside made around me so i dont bang my head on them.

[capri71]

Will do

 

Ive already asked him for a few customisations regarding foot protection and rear seat access and he's been accommodating so far  

 

One funny thing was I asked about T45 tube. He was so adamant it was completely unnecessary, he refused to make it from T45 LOL

 

He basically said unless your planning to drive into trees, its a waste of money. I was only interested in the weight saving but he said it would amount to 5 kg! 

 

It was refreshing to have someone NOT try to sell you stuff you don't need! Seems like a great guy indeed. Thanks again.

[mk2 mike]

Got my cage from Alan dent. Fitted awfully. Had to have it seriously modified by someone else to fit how it should have in the first place. On top of that I thought his (and I use this term loosely) 'customer service' was appalling. I wouldn't touch him again with a barge pole.

[capri71]

Blimey, thats not good. I will have to email him with a link to this to explain why I'm cancelling.

 

I don't care how many good jobs he's done if he also does shite jobs. Never no smoke without fire.

 

Thanks for the heads up Mike.

 

Think I'll get an "off the shelf" cage from either Safety Devices or Custom Cages. I know brilliant Welder/Fabricators to put it in for me.

 

Decided the 4 link/coilover is a winter job but also going to buy stuff off the shelf and get my own guys to install. 

[classicwhitey]

theres a company called Custom Steel Inovation at Matching Green airfield, Essex. i havent used them but have seen their work. they do alot of custom race cars/hotrods.

[capri71]

Thanks, there a company in Royston call Fabricage - apparently good reputation. The guy was at safety devices and custom cages in the past. I'm going to give him a call this week. I'll see what they say and look up Custom Steel Innovation for a quote. I'm googling everyone first though lol 

 

The off the shelf, fit your self cages don't convince me and they don't have the customisations I want. I want low door bars as I'm disable with leg and spinal injuries that make it hard enough to get in a car anyway. I also want to be able to remove the X on the rear stays so ppl can go in the back. I also want a bar going across behind the dash and bar s from the front legs to the struts. I got how I am because I got hit head on by a person coming the other way who lost control. I'm paranoid now. this is why i won't take chances with who does it. Any sniff of a stink and I'm outa there.

 

Oh and before there a panic... it wasn't an OSF I was in, don't worry about that just an OF (mondeo v6 ghia I had JUST put new widescreen and new bumper on)

[Danish]

 

Think I'll get an "off the shelf" cage from either Safety Devices or Custom Cages. I know brilliant Welder/Fabricators to put it in for me.

 

 

That's what I did - bought a basic Safety Devices cage. I made up steel webbing to weld it to the B-posts, added a horizontal bar to the rear for the harnesses, and added custom door bars.  Safety Devices did all the bending work, the stuff we added was all straight tube.

[jamie956]

Thanks, there a company in Royston call Fabricage - apparently good reputation. The guy was at safety devices and custom cages in the past. I'm going to give him a call this week. I'll see what they say and look up Custom Steel Innovation for a quote. I'm googling everyone first though lol 

 

The off the shelf, fit your self cages don't convince me and they don't have the customisations I want. I want low door bars as I'm disable with leg and spinal injuries that make it hard enough to get in a car anyway. I also want to be able to remove the X on the rear stays so ppl can go in the back. I also want a bar going across behind the dash and bar s from the front legs to the struts. I got how I am because I got hit head on by a person coming the other way who lost control. I'm paranoid now. this is why i won't take chances with who does it. Any sniff of a stink and I'm outa there.

 

Oh and before there a panic... it wasn't an OSF I was in, don't worry about that just an OF (mondeo v6 ghia I had JUST put new widescreen and new bumper on)

Its a shame you have let one persons comment put you off Alan, i would think he would have been ideal for your project as he struggles with mobility him self so should be able to relate to your needs and has spent 40 years building cars that's sole purpose is to crash and keep going.

 

Alan's race cars always had the reputation of being the only cars to back out of 70mph head ons and carrying on racing.

 

Im guessing you will have a shock at the cost difference as well going else where. 

[mk2 mike]

Its a shame you have let one persons comment put you off

Isn't that the point of asking on a forum? To get other people's experiences? Bad as well as good? I might have been the only negative response on here but I'm far from the only person to get a bad service from them.

 

Im guessing you will have a shock at the cost difference as well going else where.

Get what you pay for in my experience. As I found out with my cage. Buy cheap, and then pay someone else again to fix it. [emoji849]

[colr6]

There is always two sides to every story, nobody will please everybody all the time. I've had a couple of so called proffesional cages and to be honest fitted like a square peg in a round hole. So don't bother any more went and got a hydraulic bender bought the drawn tubing and make my own. You've only yourself to blame then! Yes I know that there are people who can't make there own so it's a pick up feed back from both sides and make your own decision. The best thing Imo is take the car to them to make and fit as against getting one and fitting your self then any tweeks required can be done.