Re: [alfa] Re: installing roll bar on Spider

[Benjamin Kaupp <bkaupp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was expecting to hear from you...

On Jul 19, 2004, at 5:00 AM, Brian Shorey wrote:
> I don't see where the stiffness is added with a roll bar of any height.
I feel more stiffness. Maybe it's psychological, but if I'm more 
comfortable and the car seems to creak less to me then I'm fine with 
that.


> I think Skip is right.  Further, technically you really don't want to 
> be
> bolted in with shoulder harnesses if you've got a rollbar that doesn't
> protrude above the top of your head.  If your rollbar isn't going to 
> keep
> your head from hitting the ground when you're upside down, then you 
> really
> don't want your body held firmly in that upright position.
I know on this one - but it was much easier than trying to retrofit 
3pts, I figured it would do a better job in 99% of the wrecks I might 
experience, and... my mom made me do it.

> >
> I'm not an expert, but there's a couple of things I'd consider 
> changing.
> First, I'm not sure of what the effect is of bolting a bar on top of 
> carpet
> is.  It might seem nice and snug now, but over time, as the carpet
> deteriorates, the result might be some slack in the base mounting 
> hardware.
> I think the common practice is to raise the carpets (or rubber mats, or
> whatever), bolt the rollbar metal against metal, then cut the carpets 
> to fit
> around the base of the bar.
That part has changed... it still looks like it's through carpet, but 
that's just because the carpet got crushed around it. Bare metal all 
the way.

> Second, I don't know what the effects are of bolting the harness to 
> the bar.
> I think it's considered acceptable to use the bar as a guide for the 
> belts
> (you absolutely want to make sure that the belts don't pull 'down' on 
> your
> back), but I think you really want to make sure the belts are secured 
> to the
> base of the vehicle, not the bar.
I was told by a couple of people that the best way was to actually weld 
in a harness mount that crosses at around the right level and bolt them 
in there. Because I couldn't do this, I did what I felt was the next 
best thing.

Keep the shiny side up
Ben Kaupp
'78 Spider (rolls down the street, not off the street)
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