Here I start to work out how the roll cage will go together. As much as possible it has to fit within the belly tank dimensions with just the part for my head sticking out.
The Vintage Hot Rod Association (VHRA) requirements are pretty basic to be honest, i.e. a single hoop with a diagonal brace running up to the top of it.
However, I have worked in both a trauma centre and a major burns centre in my previous life and so my roll cage is going to be more of a crash and roll structure!
Light weight is not so much of an issue with cars like this as the acceleration and cornering speeds do not really matter. Some say a bit of weight is better for traction.
Also if I make it over-strong now, I will not have to change it if I ever decided to use a more powerful engine.
I looked at buying a hobby level tube bender such as the modern versions of the JD21 for example but the cost if you included the dies was more than having the main tubes pre-bent to my patterns by an outside company.
I have a simple hydraulic ram type tube bender but that is probably not good enough for bending roll cages as the shape of the tube in the curves has to be accurately preserved.
The cage will all be 2.6mm thick cold drawn steel (CDS) seamless tube, i.e. it does not have a weld running down the length of it like some cheaper tubes have.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PTEGOYc_ezM/maxresdefault.jpg)