I'm very picky about my cages.

I have some basic tips;

1. Dont use any type of bolt in or NHRA cage. USE DOM ONLY! Bolt ins are illegial for everything but drag, including drift- so why waste your money?
2. Dont use buddys that know how to weld to build u a cage. Chances are they'll do something illegal then your totally screwed- use well know race shops, especially those that build road race cages. Any SCCA approved cage builder will work fine.
3. Do through dash, nascar (into the door) bars. The added room will help immeasurably for several reasons.

Both my cages are from Kirk Racing. They are pre-bent cages that come fully labelled, and are available however you want them- wall thickness, with or without nascar bars, pass side with nascar or without, etc. I paid $830 plus shipping. It took them a month to bend and ship it to Cali.

The first cage was welded in fairly well, there were things I did differently on the new car. For example, the hoop now lands on the stepped area of the back seat area (the ledge where the backseat lower cushion would be. I copied this from many Griggs road racing cars. That area is stronger than the floor due to the crease, and we have plate connecting that area to the subframes. It also allows a lot more room behind the seat (my old car has the seat butted right up against the harness bar, not optimal.
The old car has an X for the pass side- whic actually works really well for retard passengers who have never climbed in and out of a cage. The new car however has a mimic nascar bar- not actually nascar bars, just dual parallel bars that have the same profile as the nascar bars, without actually protruding into the door.
I absolutely recommend NASCAR (into door) bars. Yeah, this means you no longer have a window, or you have a permanent fixed window, but the space you gain for your elbow is amazing, not to mention the safety barrier you gain. I would not do this any other way considering the likeliness of a T-bone style crash during tandem, or even just a spin near another drift car.
My old car has the C-pillar down tubes landing inside the trunk over the rear frame area landing on plate. The new car is a direct copy of Griggs cages; There is a lateral bar connecting the ride side shock tower from left to right. The C-pillar down tubes land directly on this lateral bar, triangulating the cage without the added weight of another diagonal or X. This is by far the best setup for a hatch.
I dont believe adding any additional Xs or diagonals is necessary, with this cage setup and an subframes. Plus, with any additonal tubes you'd add considerable weight and lose precious storage/wrenching area.
My new car is currently getting some added structure too- some plating connecting the a-pillars body work to the cage a-pillars, and the same thing on the b-pillars. Although this isnt 100% necessary, it looks sweet and further ties the body into the cage instead of just a floating cage inside a body.
Additionally, I am adding bars from the back of the Front strut areas to the fire wall, where it will have a plate. On the inside of the car, there will be a matching plate with another tube connecting to the cage. This is how I am strengthening the strut tower area without breakign the FD rule of running cage tubes through the fire wall.
Run your tubes through your dash. If you run them through the speaker holes, you dont have to cut the dash at all. It looks way cleaner, plus you'll thank yourself everytime you climb in and out of the car (which is frequent at a drift event). This makes a huge difference once you get a race seat- you wouldnt believe what a big deal it is when you're cage blocks your feet from an easy exit. By going through dash, you're also forcing your front tube further forward, bracing more of the actual drivers compartment (which is a big deal in the case of an accident).

Dont tie your front strut towers together. I'm a firm dis-believer in strut tower braces. The biggest influence has been first hand experience watching all my buddies crash their cars. If you munch your left side strut tower, and have a strut brace, I garuntee you you've bent your right one too, which means your car is toast. If you dont run a strut tower brace, but reinforce the frame work behind the strut tower areas you'll be fine. This is why I'm not running tubes in front of the strut towers either- its so likely to crash sooner than later in drifting, you need crumple zones- and you dont want to sacrifice the entire car for one crash when you can usually get away with just a pull.

Hope this helps!

I dont know how to post pics, otherwise I would.

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Thanks you very much!!!

Once again...you have gone above and beyond with answer one of my questions.

1987 Ford Mustang

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