By Dave (24.115.112.227) on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 04:38 pm:

Hey,
I am having trouble figuring out what is creating this loud clunk kinda bang in my front end. Every time I'm backing up with the wheel turned to the right and I hit the breaks and it makes this god awful sound. I checked my suspension, brakes, and control bars and all those seem to be fine but a ball joint was all messed up so I replaced that on one wheel. That made it a bit better and it almost stopped for a while but now its doing it again.... Any body encountered this problem before?
Also, my girlfriend is concerned about the safety of the civic in a big crash. Has anyone been in a pretty serious crash or seen pics or anything? How bad is it? I have been thinking about getting a roll cage installed too. Anyone have any experience with how much they help, cost, etc?
Thanks a lot,
Dave

By ray (203.97.2.242) on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 05:37 pm:

Dave, i have had a comprihensive rollcage fitted to a Ford Cortina that i race the whole cost was $950.00 New Zealand dollars.
If you hit anything hard enough it will be messy.
R

By Paul Krummenacker (216.26.39.192) on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 07:41 pm:

have you checked all 4 of your ball joints? could also be the front busings on the control arms, make sure they aren't thrashed.

are you wanting to race your Civic, or are you just wanting something to stiffen it up and make you feel safer? for a full 8 point, SCCA OK Rally cage, made out of 1.5" DOM (drawn over mandrel) CroMolly steel tubing, I've been quoted prices in the $900 - $1200+ range. check out my friends page of in-car rally movies - http://members.nbci.com/taborj/movies.html

the last two are from the Doo Wop rallies last weekend (March 3rd-4th) in Washington Stage. You can see Kristin and her mom roll their Nissan SE-R. The both walked away without a scratch, a little stiff and pretty rattled, but the car is drivable. It will take some work to get it fully up to snuff for the Oregon Trail ProRally in April, but I think they'll be able to do it. The very last movie is of Mark (split a brake line and lost all brakes) nailing a tree stump. That was in his '88 Mazda 323 GTX AWD Turbo. That car won't be up and running for a while.

It all depends on what you want for a cage, just a basic 4 point hoop with the legs going to the rear struts? that would do some good in a roll over, but not a lot in a hard roll, side impact and no good in a front on collision. a 6 point (two legs in front, but the front window, 2 legs behind the seats and 2 legs to the rear strut towers) are better in a roll over, provides some more protection for side impact and maybe a bit in a head on.

Once you have the basic 6 points covered, you'll want to start adding door bars, maybe an X brace between the top rails and the rear struts, a "Petty Bar" (a bar that runs down the middle of the head liner from front window to the middle bar) and there are lots of other improvements you can do. It all depends on what you want and what you feel you NEED.

Size doesn't always mean safer, I've seen people wad up big American made cars from the '70. They have a lot of steel, but also a lot more kinetic energy when they hit a solid object.

I'd say, make sure the car is in good shape, wear your 3 point seat belts, keep your headlights on, make sure your brakes are good, horn works and be aware.

this is just what I've found to be true, your mileage may vary.

By ray (203.97.2.242) on Monday, March 12, 2001 - 10:45 am:

another thing to remember is that a rollcage is only part of the safety upgrade for your car and can actualy make your injurys worse if not fitted properly with the corect padding etc etc etc you may also want to fit racing seats and full harness seat belts.In nz you cant have a full rollcage without the seats and harneses the reson for this is that your head is quite soft and when it hits a rollcage and you are not wearing a helmet then there is a chance that you may die. but without one, the soft crumpling nature of the civ can do its job and protect you. have a hard think about what you realy want to use the car for before you weld 50 feet of tube into it.
just as a side note i have rolled my car (not my civ) and having done so the rollcage was worth every cent!!! the car was a bit of a mes
www.aucklandcarclub.org (click racecar link)
but i walked away from it.

R