I've loved tracking the Civic so far. With pushing the car more and more it has started to ponder my mind around safety concerns. I've seen photos posted of my chassis being rolled in the USA and the after photos, the roof is sometimes level with the top of the door.

Earlier in 2017 a friend unfortunately rolled his Honda Civic EP3 at SMSP on T1, luckily he was completely fine. He showed me the car back at his, he is a panel beater by trade and pointed out the structural frame and how it barely even buckled, I was amazed. He has a CRX and is aware how weak our chassis is, and at that point in time I decided I really should get a roll cage.

As I still want to drive it on the street, I decided on a 4 point bolt in cage. In Australia everyone usually goes to AGI, they are the biggest brand for making cages and reproduce for many chassis's to mass sell. I contacted them but they didn't seem bothered unless I had 4 or so others whom'd be in on initial investment.. With that I asked around and someone suggested to go to Kustomkraft Fabrications, whom usually do drift cars, and have done a lot of cages in the past.

I went to their shop about 40 minutes from me with the Civic, had a chat and they agreed to do the cage. Very nice people, can tell they care and take pride in their work. With that, we booked in for me to drop it off on 5th Feb! It will be made to CAMs regulations so it can be log booked in the future in case I want to do any serious competition.

When I dropped it off I did mention I wanted to get a new bucket seat with head restraints, they said it'll be best to get the seat so we can position the harness bar with the harnesses in legal spec, which could change depending on the seat. A bit rushed, I went about googling and found this Sparco Ergo, the good thing about this is you can remove the head restraints, perfect for the road! It felt pretty comfy, although I regret buying it as it was too small, but with the rush I kinda just said I'd deal with it later.. yeah silly mistake.

3/3/18

Nearly a month later I went in to sit in the chair so they could check where my shoulders were in regards to the harness holes. Having only sat in the seat whilst rushing the car back to them on the 5th I couldn't remember, but with the idea it was too small clouding my brain for the past mouth with a sour gut feeling, I knew they'd be able the holes.

You want the holes to be above your shoulders, otherwise in a crash the harness can pull down on your shoulders and snap bones. Sat in the chair it became apparent it was way too small, fkn idiot I was. They positioned the harness bar so I'd have some room to play with, and the idea I'd buy a new seat with the harness holes above my shoulders, so they went off that mark.

Was great to see how the cage was coming along. They had been busy with other work, and I did say don't rush I don't really need the car atm. CAMs fkd them around with complying the cross within the main hoop, and I then found out about the issues CAMs like to cause for smaller shops trying to comply different aspects on a car..

Anywho, KK said it'll be done in a few more days, they just need to weld that last bar in and paint!

4/3/18

Knowing I'd get the car back soon, I wanted to paint some EF9 door cards I recently picked up for free from some guy, iduno he just posted them up, someone come get them. Lovely!

5/3/18

And here we are, she's done! I'd firstly like to thank Mark and Dustin at Kustomkraft Fabrications for the amazing job they did! It looks great, feels solid, and they kept me up to date throughout the process, couldn't be happier!

The car feels REALLY stiff now when driving. Feels kinda cool driving it, getting a lot of 'race car' vibes haha.. Once I got home I cut holes in the rear interior plastics and fitted them, looks way better.

10/3/18

After driving the car for a few days, yeah this seat is annoying.. I've tilted it back as much as I can but it feels like I'm sitting flat/falling forward. I decided to notch the Bride side mount brackets to sit it a bit lower, which did help.