In some cases, it is possible to reuse a cage without even using sleeves. I have a cage in one of my current cars (an ITS Nissan 200SX V6) that is in its third tub and it is indistiinguishable from when it was in the first.

Here's how you do it - cut the roof of the old car, then carefully remove the old cage. Cut it into two sections - with all the cuts flush with the front of the main hoop (i.e., the top hoop and door bars). This leaves you with two parts - a) the hoop and everything back and everything forward. Detach the cage from the floor using a sawzall or torch around the mounting plates.

Then you clean everything up - grind the ends of the welds off the main hoop, grind the extra material from around the mounting plates (welds and old floor), renotch the top tubes and door bars. Then stick everything into the new tub and reweld. The only possible problem is that the front section may be so large that you can't get it into the new tub without removing the roof. If so you either have to do that or else cut out and replace the door tubes. Whether this is a problem is mostly a function of how far behind the door opening the main hoop is located. (Farther back = longer door bars = harder to get in the door) Other factors include how close the cage is to the shell and how low you bottom door bar is. The easiest way to check this in advance is to not cut the roof off the old car - if you can get it out originally, you can get it in the new tub.

When you're finished, the only difference is that the cage is about 3/4" shorter than when you started.

As I say, it's worked for me twice.

Tom Lyttle