So I am looking to put an 8.50 cage in my Cuda street car, so it need to be a minimalist approach and it has to be comfortable.....

So I see some cars that have a bar that follows the floor from the front bottom of the cage to the bottom of the main hoop behind the seat. Is that bar required?

Second, do I run the front bars up thru the dash? Its a V-code car, and I have always cringed about doing this, but can the bar be mounted forward still anchored under the dash and then bend around the dash instead of thru it?

The front down bars don't have to go through the dash. They can be behind it...closer to the driver. That's how mine is done and it cert'd just fine.
Mine also has the rocker bars that you're asking about, but I'm not sure if they're required or not.

Full bodied Stock/unmodified floors, firewall and rockers do not require a sil bar. As for the down bars, they may pass in front of the dash as well as the dash bar

It's your car. V code or not. Do what you want with it. Cut it up. There is already too many boring restos at the car shows. Lol. Per some of the pictures I have already sent to you. I would go through the dash. It looks way better and makes for much more room getting in an out. Even though mine in a 7.50 cert. Everything can still be changed back to stock if ever needed.

Stock is boring, do what you want.
I really wish I'd gone through the dash w/ mine. It looks sooo much better done that way.

Seems to me the sill bar question would also hinge on what SFC might be at play. No matter what, the sill bars are a minor intrusion, not tough to install, and add a lot of personal side impact protection and cage rigidity at a low weight penalty, and not sure why anyone would exclude them.
I'm in the camp of, cut away, you only go around once, might as well make it your chosen path and not somebody else's.

If it has stock floorpan and firewall it just needs a basic 8 point cage. No dash bar, rocker bars, snount bars. Even though mine has a stock floor pan and firewall 15 nonrequired bars were added. subframe connectors, sill bars, vertical silll bars, snount bars, roof diagonal, dash bar, trunk bars, roof gussets. Not only is it safe. It's very stiff and repeats.
Doug

I guess we will go thru the dash....Still unsure about the sill bars...

I was going to do my snout bars like yours. I probably should have to clean up the engine bay more. They do make it tight with the Hemi. However, I can still get the rocker covers off with the engine in the car, just barely.

That looks nice.
Only thing I don't see I would like to see would be a main hoop diagonal, is coming or was it not in the plans?

My Duster with 1-5/8 CM

I'm assuming you mean the pictures of mine. Only added the single diagonal. My thought was to triangulate the corner around the drivers head. All 4 upper corners were gusseted with 3/4". This was the first cage I ever built. Bent it and fitted all the joints myself. Tack welded it. Then had a cowoker of a friend tig it as it's chrome moly. My own design after looking at a bunch of them. The car has been done and raced for 13 years.
Doug

Sweet. I'm big fan of CM.
Only reoccurring detail that concerns me often, most cages are well braced for roll overs, swiping the wall, hitting the wall or backing in, but one area that is seldom well addressed IMO that has big vulnerability and is a rather easy fix to improve with only a few additional bars/braces,
is concerning another car's contact anywhere near the driver door. in competition. I know a Nascar door crash set-up is overkill, but a few braces to tie in vertically all the drivers side front to rear bars and SFC altogether would offer a lot of driver protection.
Is it a likely collision, no ,but if it occurs, the outcome can be very serious. Not sure the pass side needs anything as distance is the solution there unless on the street is a concern for the passenger

Yes, the issue I was noting, the two lower L/R kickers are good for side impacts, etc, but the main hoop above the shoulder harness bar has no visible in plane internal triangulation I can see needed in a hard roll over.
You did, I repeat, a very nice design and install. You should be proud, Don't mean to be picky, but others on the side lines may want to take note for their own set-ups in the future.
And nice fitment on your nodes.

In addition. My car also has c.m. tubular frame connectors and all of the inner and outer under car bars that tie into the cage as well.

I think you are refering to a diagonal between the shoulder bar pass side to main hoop on the drivers side? To be honest never thought about it. But if I had it probably wouldve got it. My son (Dizuster) did a FEA on the vertical bars from the door sill bars. They were much better in a side impact. I wanted to X the sides. But I knew I'd be racing this car later in life and wasn't sure how agile I'd be.
Doug

The "D" bar has to be there when the cage is welded to the floor using plates. Recommended on everything.

The rocker bar has to be there if the stock floor and/or firewall have been fooled with, except for a 6 sq.ft. section of removable floor for a trans tunnel. The exception is cars with a frame rail on the outside of the cage structure. i.e. GM G bodies.

I much prefer using tubing, rectangle or round, to provide "outriggers" from the frame/frame ties to the inside of the rocker panel, front and rear, sectioned up into the floor, effectively making that structure part of the cage, and visa versa.

Do that and use X bars in the doors and the rocker bar can be deleted. It is there for side impacts and situations where the car could get into the air and come down on the wall in that area, folding the floor up into the driver.

I like the uprights to go threw the dash, gives more room and looks better if done right, plus the bar the welds between the uprights, I tie into the firewall to make the car stronger. Hard to do if it is in front of the dash. I would call whoever is going to tech the car. I read the rules that if the floor pans and rocker boxes have not been modified the sill bar is not required. The NHRA inspector that did my last car a 64 dodge NSS car insisted on a sill bar on the driver's side, it was easier to install than argue about it. Plus, it is safer, the stock rocker boxes may have rust on the inside so how can you really know how strong they are?

It was also my understanding if the car had stock floors and firewall with frame connectors the sill bars were not needed.

The X bars a sturdy for sure. Just tougher to get in the car. A few other tings on mine. The inner rockers are plated with 1/8" plate where the out riggers attach to them. The forward cage bars are welded to the lower windshield frame. The main hoop is attached with a plate to the B pillar just below the side window. The D bars are mounted on a plate attached to the ladder bar mounts. The subframes are hole sawed so that the ladder bar crossmember passes completetly thru them. The upper rear shock mount is that way thru the frame rails as well. The rear down bars and shock mount both are connected to a L shaped plate at the floor pan/rail junction.
Doug