In these photos Rad Rides demonstrates the importance of mocking up as much as possible before final weld and well before paint. When we were planning to build the car for F.A.S.T. racing, I would have used a Chrysler 727 transmission. Now that we are going the pro-touring route and using the GM 4L80E & Gear Vendors Over Drive, the floor had to be cut to make room in the transmission tunnel. Once we did that, the NHRA rules require adding a few more bars to the roll cage. We have to put in one connecting the front bars that follow the A pillars. We also have to add in bars that run on the interior of the car along the rocker panels.

It is common to leave the front connecting bar exposed, either on top of or below the dash. In this build, Rad Rides carefully found a way to conceal it entirely behind the dash. Note in the pictures how it clears the Vintage Air unit, gauge cluster and wiper control, wiper linkage, and radio.

After going that far, Troy really liked the idea of adding the bars connecting the front of the roll cage to the front sub-frame, just above the engine K member. This will add that much more stiffness to the chassis to resist warpage from engine torque. It will also make a more stable platform for the suspension to be able to do its job. It definitely won't look stock, however as Troy pointed out, the cage is in the car is going to be pretty obvious to begin with. Also, they will do a nice job of blending the bars into the engine bay along the inner fenders.