Mr P: Planning on putting a 12 point C/M cage on top of my frame. Will probably add a funny car cage to cert to 7.50's. By then, I hope to have the hydraulic setup.
Monte: I appreciate the concerns and inputs. Yes, I'm starting smalltime, but plan on growing as my desires and demands increase. I can't honestly say how hard or easy this is going to be. But I'm not afraid to try and I will figure it out soon enough. I've built engines in my bedroom, transmissions on the kitchen table. I backhalved my car while still on the trailer. I built the whole frame and set up the body to be bolt on with no physical help at all. You just got done saying you've built plenty of cars with a hand bender. Let me have this experience, I'm sure I will enjoy it, regardless of effort needed.
Since the main hoop is the first thing you bend
you will figure out right away if you want the
hyd unit or not... plus those are the biggest bends
(degrees) in most cars... also what radius will you
buy... MOST of my bends I used a 6" and a few 4" but
very few.... the biggest thing on bending is where the
tangent is when you start the bend.. if you screw up
a bit early in the bend you can move it... so check each
bend after you start to make sure its right... when I
was working in the exhaust lab I learned a ton bending
every day.. 35 years of that stuff(along with fuel lines)
since the lab was fuel & exhaust.... have fun with it
and take your time... also... I would rather sneak up
on a bend then over bending.. yes you can bend it back a
few degrees but it can be a PITA.. specially moly
EDIT
For a 7.50 cert. buy the SFI cert book.. I think
its $35
