Roll bar advice

What sets your Spider apart from the rest?
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124ADDHE
Posts: 365
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:19 pm
Your car is a: 1974 Spider Amalgamation with C40 Solex
Location: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

Roll bar advice

Postby 124ADDHE » Sat Aug 06, 2016 10:59 pm

Hello fellas. I've been lurking around here again, starting to get some real spider passion going again.; 3 years ago in 2 weeks was when my fully restored 124 was t boned, that event really left me defeated, so much work lost and we never get the dollars when a collision happens (I will do a full appraisal before she hits the road this time). Well I bought a 73 2.5 years ago and I've slowly gotten to laying the paint (2005 Maserati grigio palladio ) and having a large part of my custom stuff/wiring/rebuilding done and am now on to the roll bar and finally REASSEMBLEY !!

So I'm hoping that someone can share the measurement from floor crossmember to roll bar top. I would really appreciate it!
Regards,
Keith Cox
1973 124 Spider
1973 John Deere 500c backhoe
1987 Jaguar VDP
2013 passat tdi
2015 cherokee

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courtenay
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Posts: 1321
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:41 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000
Location: Courtenay, BC, Canada

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby courtenay » Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:20 pm

Hi Keith - I'm away from home 'til around the 23rd of August, but if no one has a measurement for you by then, I can measure mine.
Cheers,
Bruce
Bruce Shearer
'80 Spider Fi
'10 Volvo XC70
'06 GMC 1 Ton PU
'72 Spider a long, long time ago

User avatar
124ADDHE
Posts: 365
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:19 pm
Your car is a: 1974 Spider Amalgamation with C40 Solex
Location: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby 124ADDHE » Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:37 pm

Great Bruce!
Regards,
Keith Cox
1973 124 Spider
1973 John Deere 500c backhoe
1987 Jaguar VDP
2013 passat tdi
2015 cherokee

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v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby v6spider » Sun Aug 14, 2016 11:40 pm

The autopower rollbar is the best one out there.. I can measure mine of you like.. it doesn't interfere with the top action and looks sharp.

Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider

klweimer
Posts: 550
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:45 am
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Arvada, Colorado

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby klweimer » Mon Aug 15, 2016 10:30 am

+1 on the Autopower roll bar. I have an '82 and it fit just fine. Key item was drilling the holes for the lower mounts and not hitting the rear axle link mounts. It's no roll cage, but it looks darn cool and better than nothing if you rolled.
Kirk

Wagen
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:34 pm
Your car is a: 1978 CS1

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby Wagen » Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:45 pm

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have a question for those with the autopower rollbar - which models fit under the top? I need a harness bar and would like to have a diagonal brace (if not two), but am concerned the race bar will not fit under the top.

Do I need to go with the basic street bar and weld in my own bracing and harness bar?

klweimer
Posts: 550
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:45 am
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Arvada, Colorado

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby klweimer » Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:24 am

Hi Wagen,
I don't know the answer to this question, as I just have the basic street bar. If you want to get serious about roll protection, I would reach out to a shop that does this for a living. The attachment points on the street bar are limited, with the rear support legs just bolting through the inner fender wells. You could weld in additional braces, but until you have it really nailed to the frame, I'm not sure how much good that does. Let's see if some of the folks who have raced their Fiats will chime in.
Kirk

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Calman
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:52 pm
Your car is a: 1981 Fiat Spider 2000
Location: Northern California- Silicon Valley

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby Calman » Sat Sep 17, 2016 4:53 pm

Due Posh, Check out Hagerty or Grundy for agreed value Classic car insurance. I don't think the large insurance companies are just not set up to adequately compensate you for the loss of a classic.

A friend just told me about the time he worked as a fireman and responded to a call about an 850 spider flipping (went off the road) fatally crushing the driver. He recommended getting a roll bar so that's my question too- the Autopower only seems to be for "performance look and style". I know it's better than nothing and a cross brace would help but does anyone have other suggestions?

Thanks!
Calman

PhillySpider
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:51 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000
Location: New Hope, PA

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby PhillySpider » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:48 am

I have the factory option roll bar installed. I've got 28" from the middle top of the back seat bottom straight up to the top of the roll bar pad (pad is maybe 1/4" thick). The top of my back seat bottom is 4" above the transmission hump behind the center console. The roll bar top bar has about 1.5" clearence from the rear top bow with the top up. Hope that helps and makes sense :)

carl
Posts: 244
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:56 am
Your car is a: 1971 128

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby carl » Mon Sep 26, 2016 5:24 pm

I have the Autopower street bar in my spider and added a diagonal and a harness bar (between the rear braces). Any rollbar taller than the Autopower bar or even their own race bar won't fit under the top.

If you want a picture of my modified roll bar, send me an email

carlfriedman@verizon.net

User avatar
Sparky
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:53 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby Sparky » Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:35 am

That sucks that the Autopower race bar won't work with the top. I contacted them and they confirmed that's the case.

You got me looking 'tho and I found BossFrog doesn't advertise their double-hoop roll-bar for the classic Fiat Spider, but they've apparently made them before and will make more if you ask nice. I'm assuming they lasercut something other than the MG logo :wink:
http://www.bossfrog.biz/British_Rollbars.html

Also Paeco Imports will do their Race/Slalom bar in the shorter Street height if you ask.
You may specify slalom bars without the extra height to allow the top to go up and down for street use if you wish.

http://www.paeco.com/Rollbars%20and%20Cages.htm
-= 1978 Fiat Spider =-

User avatar
124ADDHE
Posts: 365
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:19 pm
Your car is a: 1974 Spider Amalgamation with C40 Solex
Location: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

Re: Roll bar advice

Postby 124ADDHE » Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:40 pm

Hey Sparky. I can send you some photos of my build. Just got to her last weekend, should have a few hours this weekend to maybe finish it (wife, kid's, job and acreage eat up all my time) ; ended up finding 0.12"x 1.5" or 1.75" tubing is uncommon and more expensive than .14" thick 1.25"(1.66"od) pipe and instead of bending tube or pipe, weld in 90's make her simple if you have a welder.

Before anyone says it., no, this is not cast iron :P
Same chemical and physical properties to the tube according to the metal shop/fab shop o/o
Regards,
Keith Cox
1973 124 Spider
1973 John Deere 500c backhoe
1987 Jaguar VDP
2013 passat tdi
2015 cherokee


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