Sneak Peek: COBB Tuning’s 2012 Ford Focus – Part 1

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Built entirely in-house, the roll-cage shows that COBB has grown quite a bit in the last decade.  The cage is very well constructed, with care and time taken to ensure proper mitering on all joints.  The small details that often set the men from the boys when constructing a rollcage are apparent everywhere in the car.  Tubes all meet near each other to prevent failure of the main hoop, despite the added complexity of notching for multiple tubes.

COBB Tuning 2012 Ford Focus Roll Cage Tube junction

The door opening areas have been reinforced to protect against rollover and vehicle intrusion with triangulating bars reinforcing the front and back sections of each forward leg.

 

COBB Tuning 2012 Ford Focus Roll Cage reinforcement

COBB Tuning 2012 Ford Focus Roll Cage Details

Again, the devil is in the details with roll-cage fabrication.  When contracting out a rollcage, it's always best to stop by the fabrication shop often to ensure things are going as planned, as well as make sure the driver will fit with proper clearance in the seat before everything becomes permanent.  Small things like cleaning up tube ends where welding will occur is also a good thing to check on.

COBB Tuning 2012 Ford Focus TIG Welding cleanup x-brace

Since mild steel is coated in oil to prevent corrosion, each tube must be cleaned and any corrosion must be ground off to ensure the strongest weld.  This is especially true with TIG welding, since it is extremely difficult to weld dirty metal without contaminating the tungsten rod in the welding torch.

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