has anyone installed a 12 pt cage in their maverick or comet. Since I cut the towers out I am figuring that a cage will add strength and it looks like the 2 bars that come throught the firewall would add a whole lot of strength. When you installed the cage did you have to cut the dash or just take the package tray out. Any pics are appreciated
First look at some of my images in my Gallery and then shoot me an email at mav1970@yahoo.com and I can supply more photos of the detail spots. I didn't go "through" the firewall at all. I did it with external and internal plates with the firewall sandwiched in between. I'll help you in any way I can. Bob
I wanted the 2 front A-piller cage bars to be as close to the pillers as I could get them. Some pictures of my route through the dashboard were posted in the thread link below. I used a dummy dash to get it to mount around the cage bars. This way I can make a cardboard template to transfer marks over to my original 70 dash for the final install. I got the bottom dash mount brackets and the package tray to mount with minor notching. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=71322 I looked at different routes through the firewall to the main cage and it just got harder and harder to figure a way in just simply use a hole saw. I'm still keeping things like my heater box system, radio, wipers, switches and guages so these all had to be cleared. I chose points on the firewall somewhere near where the shock towers originally met the firewall. I made 1/8 inch steel plates and mounted them to the outside firewall and duplicate plates on the interior side of the firewall. The driver's side plates also covered up the original square fuse block hole which I'm not using anyway so that was a bonus. Now all I had to do was bend and weld up 2 identical bars going from the top of the frame rails, at the point where the original strut rod crossmember was, to the plates on the firewall. Once all of my under dash parts are remounted (not done yet), I will weld 2 more short bars from the inside plates to the main cage mating everything together.
When you build the cage, take the dash out(it will unscrew) run the bars as far forward as you can, then just notch the dash around the bars and put it back in.. that is by far the cleanest looking way to do it, and the bars are out of the way..Then its a straight shot thru the fire wall....
The cross bar in this photo between the 2 uprights - where does that lie within the dash board? I can't see it in the photo with the dash installed.
It is curved and follows the body exactly under where the dash is screwed to, then it is tack welded about every 8" to support the body there...
Understand now I see part of your cowl is missing - did you have the problem of clearing a wiper motor and arms, heater box, pedals or anything else still mounted in it's stock location with that cross bar?
What I'm up against is finding a route between the 2 uprights while keeping all the stock stuff including the heater box. I see a route but I think it will cause me to bend up 2 pieces of tubing and connect them with a welded sleeve. Going between the underside of the cowl and the top of the heater box and then across the dash missing the wiper parts and then behind the gauge cluster and above the pedals/column to the other vertical bar. It will be interesting
