I got the 8 point roll cage out of summit racing and want to do bolt in door bars. has anyone done this I searched and couldnt find anything. Just looking for some ideas

 

You want swing out door bars. Kits are available.

 

also is it leagal to bolt in a roll cage? Thanks for the door bar info thats what I am going to do.

 

I believe so but you have to have like 1/4" plates welded to both sides of the sheet metal where your bolting it in anyways.

 

The roll bar/cage needs to be welded to 6x6x1/8" plates at each point in a unibody car. The plates can either be welded to the floor or a second plate can be on the underside of the sheetmetal and bolted together with a minimum of 4 3/8" bolts. Where the main hoop attaches to the floor it's not practical to sandwich the plates because of the floor shape under the car.

The cost of a rollbar/cage kit is cheap. Installing it is the expensive part. Typical roll bar installations are in the $100-$150 per point range. It'll cost more if someone else has to remove and reinstall all the interior to do the welding.

 

Well I am going to do all the work myself I am just woriied about keeping it leagal. I kind of want to bolt it in so I can take it out. Not sure for what but I have the option.

 

That's not going to be an easy option. Although the mounting plates can be bolted to the floor, the rest of the roll bar needs to be welded together. Once it's in the car, there's not really going to be a way to get it out once it's all welded together.

If you want a roll bar for safety then it's welded in. If you want a show bar then you can install it however you want but don't expect it to pass a tech inspection.

Roll bar is manditory below 12.0. Slower than that and you can have whatever you want.

 

Rules are slightly different for converts.

You'll need to Mig (mild steel) or Tig (c-m) any welds too. No old fashion stick welding.

BTW there are "Street roll bar" setups that are NOT tech legal but allow bolt in operation on some of the bars. Also they move the side bars to the rocker allowing OEM look. Basically it's just a fancy street racer add-on if you ask me. I think Kenny Brown makes it.

Basically with any legal roll bar you're gonna have a ship in the bottle effect like Steve mention'd. It'll go in but it's not coming back out without cutting.

 

Its ok I am going to weld it in. I have the cage already and I ordered the swing out door kit to. I was planning on mig welding it in. The reason I wanted to bolt it in was in case I ever needed to take it out. Wictch I dont think will happen but then I would have the option

 

If it's just the door bars your wanting to remove, then you'll have no problems with the swing out door bar kit, there's just a bolt at the bottom joint and a quick release pin at the top. If you pretty decent at fabing I'd just make your own, the door bar kits they sell are pretty simple.

 

They're almost so cheap that it's not worth the effort to build your own.

 

Did you get the 2 piece attachment for the door bars? Or the Comp Engineering 1 piece?

Make sure you follow the instructions carefully. My 2 piece swing out design said in the instructions to place a bolt through the holes so it would not distort from the heat. I still had to take a little out of it with the die grinder to make it so the pin lined up properly. Also I had to sand acouple mm's off the back side of the door bar itself.

Also depending on how tall you are you might consider realocating the main hoop. My S&W kit wanted me to mount it right before the rear seats. My OEM seats could not go into the last click which restricted my leg room. I moved the main hoop onto the rear seat hump after I flatten'd it out with a big hammer. That allowed me to beable to adjust my seat all the way back.

Another point is the rear bars. Some members mount them in the well, because of the overall length of the rear supports and the fact that the gas tank is extremely close on the hump. Others mount them on the hump either remove the tank for safety or lightly stitch weld them slowly to keep the heat from penerating the sheet metal.

Have fun stripping all the interior out of the car. It's well worth it in the long run though.

 

Just be glad you don't have a system like mine. I have a removable steering wheel to help get in and out of the car easier. The window net disconnects at the top front and folds back out of the way.

 

I would gladly trade you.

grover85: Have you decided what color you're going to paint the roll bar?

 

Well the car is black and so is the interior. So I think I will stay black. The car looks bone stock on the outside so I dont want a brightly colored cage to attract atention.

 

I used gloss black Por-15 paint. Worked out very well. It's been highly durable so far, no chips at all from slamming the swing outs.