Roll Bars part 3

Yes they're fitted, yes it was hard work and yes I made a hash of it !



I'm probably being a bit hard on myself but I don't feel this part of the build has been my finest moment. I basically followed the method shown on both Steve and Simon's site but just didn't make a very good job of it. Rather than simply rehash someone else's guide, I'll tell you where I went wrong and the pitfalls I found.

I chose to simply raise the rear of the car rather than all four corners. I believed that bolting the 12mm rod tightly into the chassis mounts would be enough to ensure it was perpendicular i.e. vertical in comparison with the chassis. Maybe it was, the problem is that I had no way of checking as I knew the car wasn't level so I couldn't use a spirit level to check. My advice, at least get all four corners off the ground even if you not sure the ground is level, it shouldn't be far out and a spirit level on the rods will give you a fair indication if they vertical.

When the roll bars are reversed with the third leg hanging into the cockpit, the weight of the third leg pulls the bars forward so when trying to bolt the first two legs in and your having trouble, it appears that you need to create more clearance at the front i.e. the direction the bars are naturally leaning toward. This is exagerated if you only jack up the rear of the car!

The bars (well mine at least) were slightly sprung and needed pulling apart to get the mounting holes lined up with the holes in the chassis. I'd worked this out for the main legs and made a wooden brace to fit between them inside the boot which held them apart at the right distance. I kinda overlooked this with the rear leg which caused me some problems. I took great care to open out the holes in the bodywork for the legs to fit though only to find than when flexed outward to fit the chassis mounts I'd enlarged the holes in the wrong direction. Yup, I did this twice !

The roll bars are now fitted temporarily but firmly bolted in place so I know they're in the right position. I still need to open a few of the holes out a little to create a 5mm gap around the legs for the grommets to fit but several of the holes will also need a little repair work. Fortunately, depending on your point of view, I've been here before and already have the materials I need !

This is the best, you can see where I've scored the 5mm clearance still to be opened out



And the worst, big enough to get my finger in !