RRH

Martin, my cage is the same as yours but I also have the harness bars. I have occasionally caught my ankle on the mounts but never knees. I did, however, have hack the dash to bits to get it in.

Just out of interest how far forward did your steering boss bring the wheel? I fitted one to mine so i could fit my suede sparco wheel, but had to remove it as it made the wheel to high and too close.

Also, do you find that the strut brace has much effect? I haven't bothered with one as the cage stiffened it quite a lot already, but would be interested in your opinion. Mine isn't used on the road, on track.

cheers,
simon

ps. a word on cages- the SD cage goes in quite nicely although you need to weld in the front mounting ledges. We fitted one to blue's car, think it was either momo or OMP- and we had to jeck the feckin' roof up to get it in, then get the jack under the door bars to get them to locate. and remove the sunroof!

Gutmann pug

RRH ...I had the same problem with my suede sparco steering wheel, the boss is huge and comes too far out.

I have the safety devices cage in my car and its an easy afternoon fit for 2 of you. Well when I say easy it goes in with a bit of gentle persuasion .......I didnt have to cut the dashboard, the only place its tricky is around the glove box. That now only opens about an inch.

I have both front and rear strut braces in my car and it does feel better. It tightens the cornering up and has slightly reduced the understeer. How much difference it has made over and above the cage im not 100% sure though in all fairness.

Dream Weaver

I have a Snap Off boss kit and Momo wheel, which brought the wheel about 2" closer to me.

At first I hated it, but now absolutely love the position - make it easier to drive, just annoying that you cant reach the stalks

Think I will just got for the rear SD cage for now, can add the front on later if I fancy it.

Gutmann pug

DW .........i cant reach my stalks either but as you say you get used to it.

The only problem with doing the front cage after the rear is that you will have to take the whole bloody thing back out to do it again. Bearing in mind you have cut holes in the floor etc to fit it that may be a bit of a pain in the ****. Access really isnt a problem with a front cage, its like the steering wheel affair, you get used to it.
Its harder trying to close the drivers door from the inside when you have taken the heavy door handle off

Dream Weaver

How hard is it to fit the SD cage Gary?

The OMP one looks a nightmare from the 205gtid main site.

Any welding required?

Gutmann pug

Its not too hard mate .......... From memory i built the cage outside the car to see how it went together. Then stripped it down partially and moved it into position in the car. It takes some getting in, as its a stubborn ******* (as it needs to be). Once it was in position I marked all the holes which needed to be made. Took the cage back out again and it was out with the hole cutter etc. Cut the holes for the captive nuts in the back (make them too big is my tip) then stick the cage back in and bolt her through the floor. I then tack welded it after for good measure. Will get it fully welded when i get the chance but havent done it yet. It took about 4 hours all in all including unpacking etc

Its a bolt in cage so doesnt NEED to be welded .....I just wanted to do it for additional safety

Dream Weaver

I know, I just read somewhere that they never really bolt in as planned, so usually need to be welded in certain parts.

MartinM

A few thoughts....

Strut Brace..
Fitted at the same time as the cage, so no real idea of its benefit standalone. As it was FOC, I had nothing to lose

Wheel...
My boss is actually a Nardi boss, with a Nardi-Sparco adaptor (the PCDs are different!), the latter being about 10mm thick. Overall I'd say the wheel is less than 1/2" further out than the original - no problem with the stalks at all. Will depend on the dish of the wheel I guess - mine's a Sparco Lap 5 from this auction
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=7932590854
I made telephone contact with the guy and he couldn't have been more helpful - he's been selling steering wheels for 30 years and sorted out the Nardi boss and adapter for a very favourable price

Cage...
My impression is that SD is the easiest to fit and probably the best fit. It's a ****** tight fit though! Also it's nicely constructed and finished - I *think* you're invited to paint the OMP one yourself. There are two types for the 205 - challenge spec and non-challenge spec. Mine's the latter - it doesn't and can't have harness bars IIRC - and it fits without removing and modifying the dash.

Although it's a bolt-in one, you HAVE to weld in the plates with the captive nuts on since they are INSIDE the car. You need real welds, not tacks, for it to do it's job properly if ever needed.

Don't go for the rear only and fit the front later - you'll never know if you've fitted the rear in the right place - fit it to far forward and you'll not get the front in at all. Same with door bars - get the down leg of the rear (on the B post) and the down leg of the front (on the A post) out by 1/4" either way and you'll never get the door bars to fit

You need all the bits (rear, front and door bars) all bolted up, in-situ plus the feet bolted to the plates and it all positioned in its final location. Then mark the plates on the floor, take it all apart and out of the car, weld the plates, clean and paint them, and then put it all back in again

The driver's side front leg is a complete pain - I had to push the rear cage about 2" back from its correct position to be able to get it in the car. The rear cage is, at that point, a VERY tight fit - but I managed to do it without jacking up the roof or removing the sunroof.

I dispensed with the glove box lid, couldn't refix the visors (not much trouble with the sun on night-time road rallies) and had to chop 1 inch off the leading edge of the interior light unit. Also had to make some minor 'easements' to the rear pax 'door cards' to get them to fit. Other than that, no major surgery.

Any more Q's, just ask
Martin

:edit: I'm still not an accomplished FWD driver, but giving it some round a big damp roundabout last week, the predominant trait was definitely oversteer even under power - not LOOS at all. Is that a sign of a well-sorted shell or something else?

Gutmann pug

The worst thing which happened during my install was that somehow i managed to get a washer or something in the rear cage upper. Hard driven round a bend the bloody thing rattles from side to side across the roof and drives me potty.

Other than that it was the rear captive nuts which were the biggest pain.

MartinM

Mmmmm...my pipework (oo-er, missus) is completelly enclosed - no chance of getting anything inside it...

Gutmann pug

Mine is enclosed as well, but obviously it wasnt when i put it together, and thats when a little bleeder got in there.

Dream Weaver

Has someone recently nicked your rear tyres?

Gutmann pug

Did you mean Oversteer or understeer martin???

MartinM

Definitely oversteer. Like tail-out opposite lock oversteer

Nope - I was using the four brand new Toyo T1-S Proxes I got off eBay - you can see two on the front on the piccies - the two back ones are on different coloured wheels (don't ask) in the garage at the moment - they don't look so good in a photo opportunity

RichardPON

A decent diff makes all the difference in the 205.

Our rally car can be seen in the gallery on our website:

www.jamesnathan-motorsport.co.uk

Redkop

Glad to see James doing well Rich Has he still got his Sapph?