i was thinking about getting one. And was wondering is really worth it? Also how hard are those things to get in there? The main reason for getting one is that i have t-tops in my TA and I don't exactly feel the safest when one looks at the clearence of my head and the roof being about 2 inches. And i would really like to have a chance of survival in case of a rollover. And for some reason i don't trust the roof of my 84 TA about as far i can throw the car.

 

First a 8 point is usually a roll bar. A cage has roof halo and a pillar bars that connect it to the floor.

I have a 8 point bar in my car. I put it in last spring.

I had the S&W race car mild steel 8 point kit. I ordered the clearanced bars for side armrests (straight ones in the kit won't fit unless you rebend the bar or remove the arm rests). I also ordered dual swing outs. That way on the street I just leave the pins out of them and I can swing them out and swing them shut. For a street daily driver (like mine) it's the only way to go in my opinion else you would be stepping over the side bar all the time.

I have noticed after the bar MOD the car is a lot stiffer and handles better in the turns. I talked with Steve Spohn and he recommend'd I do an autocross X brace in the rear bars since I had the regular straight sidebars left (included in the kit even if you order the clearanced ones). So I had them cut and notched out to form a rear X. It's positioned so I can see over it. There is very little if any rear view lose.


I prepped the car before taking it to the welder. I had all the interior removed except for dash (removed the pad), shifter, driver seat was in but not bolted down, and seat belt was kind of there but not bolted down. I cut the main hoop down to size before taking it in and also have all the plates formed out. I worked with the welder for about 1 1/2 weeks. End'd up only costing me 300 bucks to have it all migg'd in.

 

here's some pics

just links due to the mass size of the pics:

http://members.fortunecity.com/blueformula/sidebar.jpg

http://members.fortunecity.com/bluef...driverside.jpg

http://members.fortunecity.com/bluef...earrollbar.jpg

This would be a good time to add. I MODD'd the kit from what it was suppose to be. I moved the main hoop back to the where the passenger seats mount, because if I put it on the floor where it was suppose to go I couldn't get my seat to go all the way back. I'm 6'5 and I need the seat to go all the way back to beable to fit in the car comfortably. Why have a car if your not comfortable?

The rear X brace is suppose to help in corning autocross (I need'd to find something to use the bars for). The rear bars are not migg'd in currently, because they would have be migg'd on top of the gas tank area. I didn't feel like pulling the tank out and putting it back in only to pull it out again to drop the fuel pump out of it when I switch TPI to Carb. I used high strength industrial epoxy on them for the time being. Latter I plan on having them migg'd in.

 

Looks good fireturd!

I am happy with mine. I had a chassis shop make it from scratch out of Chrome Moly and it's welded to the subframe connectors in 3 spots also on both sides. Pics on the website here: www.denny.cz28.com



I feel a lot safer with that above my head for sure. The cloth isnt too solid feeling

 

hey chris the bar looks good. i took a peak the other day on my way to class. looks good.

 

Yeah, I got some minor spots that I'm going to touch up with POR-15 this winter.

 

heres a pic of my competition engineering 8 point rollbar i installed last winter. there not hard to do. but it does help to have a tubing cropper.

 

I used the 6x6 steel plates that were included on the kit. Then I cut two more to the contour of the transmission tunnel bars. I didn't like the idea of just welding them to the floor with out any plates.

I had to hammer out the floor a little bit to get to shaped right, because I put the hoop back a little further.

Yeah, Chrome moly would have been nice. Mine should be good to 11.0 or 10.0 I forget. I think if you don't cut the floor (over a 1 foot sq total) you can run a bar to 10.0, but not totally sure on that. I doubt I ever go that fast anyways.

 

ya you got to use the 6buy6 plates it wouldnt be safe without them. I think we are good to 10 sec with the 8 point.

 

Yeah... I was talking about the the cross support bars that from from main hoop/crossmember to the transmission tunnel area. S&W doesn't send enough plates to fit on these. They probably figured it wasn't need'd but I figured I might as well cut some out anyways since I was doing floor plates to weld my harness hook ups on.


I looked up the rulebook online... it said any cars that do not have a mod'd floor, firewall, or body (wheel tubs permitted) can use a roll bar in place of a cage down to 10.0 seconds. Now who wants to donate a 10.0 sec motor to me?