F80 Fully Custom Roll / Half Cage

[F80munchlax]

F80 Fully Custom Roll / Half Cage

Having a half cage in my F80 has been a dream since the day I purchased the car. Five years later and I finally pulled the trigger. This cage was built from scratch from a local shop out in Socal that does a little bit of everything, but specializes in amazing fabrication and welding. This half cage was built by Black Cat Racing Garage. Down below is a quick run down of my experience with the shop and the half cage.

What I was looking for from the Half Cage

After doing hours of research figuring sizing, designs, colors and more, I finally decided that I wanted to keep the double "X" look similar to the F82 GTS cage. I love how aggressive that cage looked while maintaining a harness bar for possible plans down the line. I was also looking for something different than all the off the shelf cages as I wanted the "X" and the harness bar to all meet in one point. I was not a huge fan of the harness bar sitting lower or higher than the "X" on the main hoop. I wanted everything to connect into one spot. For the legs of the second "X" I wanted it as straight as possible. On top of all that, the main priority I had with this cage was for it to be bolt in cage and removable for the event I need access to my rear seats!

Why I choose Blackcat Racing Garage

Besides following this shop for the last 2-3 years on Instagram, I recently had BCRG install some Bayoptiks headlights, adjusted my steering wheel trim, modified my EL midpipe from rubbing on the brace and a few more small imperfections that I had with my car and needed correcting. After talking to August (The Owner) more, I knew that I would want him to make me a completely custom cage. Seeing his welding/ fabrications on his personal cars and the previous work he did on mine, it was no brainer to go with BCRG.

Similarly, there are a ton of other bolt in cages and I have worked with some of these shops before. I have a ton of respect for all of these shops as they spend a ton of time on R/D and make great products. I will always have love for these other shops, but I personally wanted something different and to make the car fully mine. Having a Alpine white F80 with sakhir interior is already blending in with the crowd so having a little different cage made me feel somewhat special

Build of the Half Cage

I really don't know anything about cages, welding or anything else besides the obvious that we did. After talking to August about thickness, look and color, we decided to do a 1.75 inch diameter while maintaining the double "X" and all points meeting in the middle. See Picture Down Below

This where BCRG started the main hoop



Here August made the first "X". Welded all the way around




Test fit the main hoop and figuring out where to drill into floor




Finalizing the locking mechanism for the two pieces of the cage

Attachment 3665780

And then finally with everything inside of the car!

Conclusion

The final product came out way better than I even expected. I had high hopes and it totally surpassed my expectations. BCRG did an amazing job with the welding, cleanliness and how symmetrical the cage came out. This was the perfect guy to tackle on my project.

This post is to share my project with everyone in the forums as there has been so much information that I gathered for not only the half cage, but also for any questions I have encountered over the last few years. I am hoping to become more active in this forum and especially the Socal sub group.

I also wanted to post to show the amazing work I got done through BCRG and August. He patiently helped me figure out multiple questions and concerns that I had with the cage. He also helped me install a fresh set of NGK 2 step colder plugs, Macht Schnell Stud Kit with new Motorsport Hardware lug nuts, Mosselman Oil Thermostat and an Ultimate Clutch Pedal. Everything came out perfect and I am enjoying all of these little mods!
This is my first actual post on here so sorry in advance if the format ends up looking funny!

Thank you for the read and If anyone has any questions or would like to get their car worked on, hit me or @ blackcatracinggarage !

[b_w.]

Nice. I have the fall line cage sitting in the garage to install. Looks good.

[F80munchlax]

Originally Posted by b_w.

Nice. I have the fall line cage sitting in the garage to install. Looks good.

Thank you! That sounds awesome. Fall Line makes some great cages. Definitely keep me posted on your install and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

[S55 BMW]

Looks great man. Good review