What Roll Over Bar Have you got

[felters]

Good idea to go for a RAC bar but if you are tall it is worth checking that it'll protect you.

Take the bonnet off, taping one end of a length of string to the front of the cylinder head and the other end to the top of the roll bar. Sit in the car and now measure the gap or otherwise between the top of your helmet and the string.

If there is less than 2" between your head and the string you should get an extra hoop on your bar.

BTW Procomp also do very nice cages as well...

[chappers]

I have just changed from a bolt on chrome bar to an RAC one and it certainly makes you feel safer. As for the boot box, I can vouch for the simple piece of string method (since I didn't have a laser pointer - damm). Just cut away a bit of the tub itself so that the stays fit, then use this cut-out to give you a place to drill a hole through the boot box so that a piece of string can be tied between the top and bottom rose joint mountings, while making sure (as best you can) that the string is along the exact longitudinal axis of the stay, otherwise your holes will be slightly in the wrong place. Then it is just keep enlarging the hole until the stay or a cardboard tube passes through. As for my boot box lid I couldn't see an easy way of getting the left hand edge to fit under the diagonal but above the left hand base without having to cut off more boot box than I wanted, so I made a cover with carbon effect plastic to match my rear lights, that sat on top of the outer tub as well as I needed to cover up scratches left from the locking lid.

Also, with regard to the weather gear, I would have thought whether you can use the frame depends on how tighly the weather gear was fitted originally. Even after cutting out the center hoop on mine, the hood would need to be extended to reach the poppers. Therefore, since the roof fits O.K. at the rear (although slightly tight over the top rose joint bolts) without a frame, as the RAC bar is between where the rear and middle hoops would be, I am just making a single U-shaped hoop (from the old tubes) that can be fixed to the bottom upright tabs and strapped to the rollbar to prevent it from falling forward. This will stop the roof touching my head, and since I am going to make it in four parts, I will be able to easily store the four separated tubes in a hood bag, without an unsightly frame having to be left visible.

If you want your hood to be perfect though (which I don't since I don't particularly intend to use it unless I am caught in a torrential downpour), then I think a trip to a local trimmer is the only option.

Cheers.

Kev.

[Mark B]

Kev,

You could always glue two pieces of vinyl to the underside of the hood where it touches the bolts for the stays, this would help stop the bolts from damaging the hood long-term.

Nice to hear someone elses findings though, like you I don't intend on using the weather gear much (especially as you need to be double jointed to get in the car with it fitted) but would like it to fit reasonably well, if I have trouble with the fit of mine I'll keep your idea in mind.

Nutter,

I'll keep you posted reg weather gear when I fit the bar.

cheers,

Mark.

[Jam]

just a note to say i fitted an RAC bar recently and if anything the hood fits better than before. In fact it's perfect now and there's no rattle from the crappy old frame.

It was quite tight at first (oo-er missus) but i left it on in the sun for a few days and it's fine now.

[McSpreader]

At the risk of taking this thread off in another direction...

As well as a RAC roll bar, I thinks that I could do with getting lower in the car as well.. Currently I have the WF padded sports seat (the usual I believe) on runners, so how much lower can I get with a different seat?  Any thoughts?

Cheers

Si

[neilwillis]

Taking off the runners will give you an extra inch, changing to other seats can yield another 2.

[pistonbroke]

Taking off the runners will give you an extra inch, changing to other seats can yield another 2.

Might I enquire ?

Which "Other" seats would they be ?

[adhawkins]

Neil has Cobra seats, not sure if those are what he's referring to, or the more 'race' style seats.

Andy

[neilwillis]

Cobras are a tad lower, but I was thinking in terms of GRP shell seats, or the Westfield race seats.