(weld-in) Roll Cage with headliner?
Turbo Mini Forums

I've got a little bit of a concerned streak about me, having seen the after effects of an XE-powered mini I know very well going sideways into a hard post. He has a (bolt-in) SD 6-pt cage with door bars, which clearly took the brunt of the impact and allowed him to walk away.

I do recall how heavy that cage was when he was fitting it many years ago, so I'd like to go for a much lighter 4130, and fully weld it, also tagging it to the A and B pillars.

The one thing I'd really like to do however, is keep the headliner. I know this sounds odd - but I have my reasons. Simply put, I just prefer having a headliner...
I don't mind if the headliner has to weave around the cage, or if I have to have the cage a little lower than ideal to clear the headliner, I'm just trying to figure out if this is even feasible - I guess it is because I've seen the SD cages with headliners

Anyone have pics of welded in cages and headliners?
Also looking for opinions based on first-hand experience of diameter and thickness for cages welded from 4130.

Edited by TurboDave16V on 2nd Nov, 2014.

You could ditch the standard liner and fittings, and glue in some felt and stretchier fabric. Even if you didn't cover the roof strengthening pieces at the sides, I'd imagine they'd look fine and mostly obscured by the cage.

Just have someone make the cage. They can do whatever you want.

I had a local guy make a cage for my Granada ( strangely nothing was available off the shelf )

One thing I insisted on was leaving enough clearance for all trim, and the headlining had to remain in place.

Although around the edges/doors etc I did have to peel it back to allow access for welding.
I presume you'd need to do the same with the mini and apply protection during any welding.

Many "shelf" cages do tend to have quite a bit of clearance from bodywork anyway, a lot of cages this guy makes he can literally weld the cage to the bodywork without the need for gusset strengtheners ( although he uses them in places too ). He makes them amazingly tight fitting

If you find somewhere good, they will make you anything you need.

Other option is remove headlining, install cage and then try and re-install a new headlining around the cage.

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202mph standing mile
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