Roll Bar question to those who have them...

[LunaticTaskbar]

I am now at the stage of moving ahead with having a roll bar made. This is because there is no where I can find relatively local to purchase one and have it shipped.

So I have found a very respected welder/fabricator. He is fine making the roll bar, I am waiting on his guestimate which I should have Wednesday. He will be making it out of 1 3/4 mild steel. His only concerns are. (having never seen a spider before mine) is where to mount it/afix it to the vehicle.

He is thinking of making supports and bolting it to the car, as opposed to welding it. He wanted to know where is the best place to mount it. This sounded like a very fair question, and one I would rather ask those more knowledgable than myself.

So would any of you with roll bars, be able to post, or email (ian@1974spider.com) any photos of where your roll bar has been mounted and how. Also if there is anything you have learnt from living with it for a while, that you may in hind sight of changed.

Also Would you say welding is better, or bolting?

I am also toying with the option of mounting the seat belts on the roll bar, to give us a "normal" 3 point seatbelt. Has this been done, how does it work?

Many thanks for any and all help.

Ian

[Daniel]

I purchased 1 from these guys auto power years ago for my raced out 131 and have
seen a couple of people mention them about 124s as well. http://www.autopowerindustries.com/rollbars.asp
The advantage of bolting it in place is you can take it back out if needed.

[LunaticTaskbar]

The advantage of bolting it in place is you can take it out.

This is very true.

Would like to see some images that are bolted in. Its more for the fabricator to get an idea where he is going to build it into.

Wish I was talented enough to even think about tackling such a job.

Ian

[LunaticTaskbar]

Thanks Daniel, thats the exact type that I am wanting him to fabricate.

Would be great if they showed it installed.

I can verbally articulate how I want the top to look, ie the part from the floor up. Its the fixing it to the car locations that he & I am a little stumped with.

Its little things like, does it fit to the floor behind the seats, or to the step up where the rear seat is? do the support arms extend to the cabin side of the trunk, or do that also fix into the raised part of the seat. Do the support arms attach to the wheel arch... are all options valid, or is one design/location better than another.

If someone had it installed in say location "a" but wished it was in location "b" because of "insert reason". that kind of info could be very useful in finalizing the finished location.

Ian

[Daniel]

It would have a mounting plate in front of the back seat on the floor board and mounting plate on
the side wheel well next to the back rest area.

[So Cal Mark]

if you research roll bars, you'll find they should be mounted at suspension mounting points for maximum effectiveness. The hoop should mount as close to possible to the lower link mounts, the rear bars should located near the top of the shock towers. Of course this negates the back seat, so most installers/builders mount the rear bars into the wheel well. This keeps the back seat intact, although it's still not useable

[vandor]

>It would have a mounting plate in front of the back seat on the floor board

Ack! Definitely not on the floor board! It's just a thin piece of sheetmetal, it would just shear if the car rolled over. There is a brace running across under the front part of the rear seat cushion. Where this meets the sides is where you want the front legs to sit.

On a '74 there should be a seatbelt mounting point on the rear wheelwell, this should be a good place to mount the rear stays. Just be sure it does not interfere with the top when it's down. The rear stays should NOT attach to the roll hoop behind the headrests, as your hear could hit it if you are rearended.

When I made my rollbar (on my previous Spider) I made it was tall as possible, so it was safer and also that way I did not see the bar in the rearview mirror. The top mechanism actually slightly scraped it while being put up/down. It did look a bit weird being tall, but I was OK with that. I did mount the shoulder belt to it by drilling a hole and welding a sleeve into the bar.

I've seen people who also put a removable brace in that went forward at a diagonal to the map pocket area.

[Daniel]

On the bars Ive seen they mounted more or less like I mentioned except for custom made race cages in 124s not sure where you can find one like mark or csaba are talking about premade but your builder can make it to your liking, mark said if you link the rear portion of the roll bar to the shock towers no more back seat so if you want to keep it that option is out if not then no problem.

[LunaticTaskbar]

Many thanks guys. Does any one have any photos of the mounting locations. As the old saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. Something I can print to show.

Even a link i gave missed.

Many thanks.

Ian

[81SPIDERMATT]

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/ro ... llbar.html

might help a little

[LunaticTaskbar]

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/ro ... llbar.html

might help a little

81SpiderMatt...

That is exactly what I was looking for, how the heck did I miss that one. Thank you. that makes it clear, and is already printed to show him tomorrow.

Thank you again.

Ian

[LunaticTaskbar]

Many thanks to everyone, My fabricator almost had a light switch on over his head when I showed him the image. After taking out the rear seats to get a better look, he is now off designing something and will get back to em in a day or so.



Many thanks again for all your help..
Ian

[81SPIDERMATT]

sweet... would love a roll bar someday .... dont forget the pic after

[LunaticTaskbar]

sweet... would love a roll bar someday .... dont forget the pic after

Oh for sure. He is working out the price, When I saw him Wednesday he was just off to the hospital. When its done I will post pictures for sure. Unless it looks crap in which case I will still post pictures but from very far away lol

Ian

[LunaticTaskbar]

Ok the steel has been ordered, fabricator is ensuring that he can make the desired bends on his machine.

Will keep you posted. as this little adventure unfolds.

Ian