Dual Roll Bar

[IndyCobra]

Okay, just a quick question before I go home tonight and start drilling 2" holes all over my body. I suspect the answer is "Just git er done" but I wanted to check with you first.

When I measure for the location of the hole, 1/2" back from vertical from the plate, I am no where near the right location for the hole. It is too close to cockpit wall. When I measure the angle of the bolt on the bottom of the roll bar, I get a rear deflection of about 2" which would put it in a better postion from the cockpit, but I'm concerned it will be leaning too much. Should I just drill a hole far enough to clear the cockpit wall and forget about it?

[Brian]

1st, start out with a 2" hole saw which should will just let the roll bar slide in but at the same time allows room for wallering. The roll bar bezels will cover a preety fair amount of waller. The hole should be as close to the front wall as possible with out interferring with it and the third leg should be close to the trunk wall but not critical as the front legs. The point is that you want the front two legs as close to the cockpit as possible.

Brian

[T Jacobs]

Randy,

I agree with Brian, close to bulkhead is a key.....but your doing double paper clips right?

Hints I would offer (My $0.02)....draw a center line down the body to make sure you get the bars correct left to right.... draw lines 2" apart across the body as close to the bulkhead as you dare...mark the four holes, make a small pilot hole, then check to see any interference with the trunk walls/etc......small holes are easy to fill!!!

Measure the separation of the roll bars where they will be going through the body, mine were "sprung" a bit so your hole placement should be centered basis the final location, not the end of the legs....but you have to make sure you can get them in!...that’s the fun of it....

I would suggest once you get them close to what you want I clamped the four front legs together with two 2x4's to make sure they were in a "line" when you look across all of them(holds them at the same angle as well).....then shim as needed and bolt them (so a bit of waller room on the bolts are good as well...)

Hope it helps...and feel free to call if you get into it and want a sounding board...I don't type that much but happy to talk if you (anyone) can catch me...281 536-5340

[Lakeway Cobra]

Just a thought. I seem to recall others having to "think ahead" regarding the visual of the second roll bar location with regard to the stripes. Basically, making it all symmetrical. You may want to do a faux stripe line with tape to keep things in perspective.

Kenton may be your man to talk to on this one. I think his was perfect.

Also, there may be some pictures in my CD I sent on the steps I took to install the rollbar. Let me know if not and I can send you some.

[Lakeway Cobra]

Here are some of my old/rough notes from my build. May or may not be of help to you. Also, do a search on rollbar. There are some threads on installation with pictures.
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Before I did any cutting, I did a mock up using tape and marker on the top side of the body showing where the trunk, firewall, mounting tabs, and trunk hinge crossbar were located. This allowed me to have a much better visual idea of the hidden area before I drilled. This was accomplished by measuring/eyeballing, etc. I suppose I could have used a strong magnet and metal filings or a BB to find the lines.

I wanted to have the rollbar as far to the left (driver rollbar only on my application) as possible without it going off the mounting tab. Since I had measured and marked the edges of where the tab is underneath the body, this made it easy for me to determine how far I could go over to mark the hole. Using this marked estimation, I then marked the other “forward” hole. Note that when drilling the holes, it is VERY important to drill the hole that is above the driveline 1st. The 2nd hole is the one towards the fender, and the 3rd is the rear leg. I placed the holes fairly far forward to leave room for the 3rd leg and the trunk hinge bar.

I first drilled very small pilot holes in Hole #1 and #2 where I had estimated. This allowed me to look underneath to verify all my earlier markings and measuring were correct. I was not worried about a small pilot hole being off because they were in the area that would be removed anyway if it was off a ¼-1/2” here or there. Luckily, I was very close where I needed to be so I proceeded. To drill, I used a 2 1/8” hole saw and then filed out larger by hand with dremel grinder and ½ round hand file. After drilling hole #1, I lowered the leg into the hole to determine exactly where hole #2 should go. It is important to keep the rollbar level (left/right angle) at this point. I had a level taped to the rollbar to help. Marked hole #2, drilled it, then placed rollbar back in and lowered to determine where the 3rd leg goes. I had to first drill into the frame tabs up front to get it lowered enough to mark the hole on the body. Marked 3rd hole, drilled.

[IndyCobra]

Excellent help. Thanks.

FYI, I am installing a single dual roll bar. I was measuring from the tabs but I think the advice about centering on the body so the stripes are centered is excellent advice. I hadn't thought of that.

Going downstairs now to start drilling.

[Skuzzy]

Hehe, why is it I am picturing this mad man with a drill, standing next to a Cobra body that is now riddled with a thousand holes in it?

[AggieJack]

Because you've seen mine,Skuzzy

AJ

[Skuzzy]

ROFL Jack!

[Lawler]

to insure you get the roll bars inline with the center of the body so your stripe looks centered, i suggest the following

1. install the body where it will be permanently mounted.
2. place blue painters tape on the nose, where the windsheild mounts above the dash, above the rear firewall and the top of the trunk.
3. Measure from one side of the body to the other side at the locations of the tape. you will need to make some large squares out of lumber or something and mount them to the ground and up against the body. At least I did.
4. Mark the center from each side of the car. The body isnt perfect so always double up on the measuring from multiple references rather than just one.
5. Once the center points are marked, snap a chalk line from nose to trunk. I did this and shot a laser line to insure the marks all "jived".
7. Use this line to locate the distances of the rollbars from each other and leave the lines on for the body guy to use for the stripes. To add, it wil be usefule for the mounting of the windsheil as well.

Note:

when installing the rollbars into the holes, clamp a straight edge along the front of all four legs before you mark the legs mounting holes for drilling. Measure out what the distance will be between the rollbars and make a spacer to be clamped in position keeping this distance while you drill and install. keep it clamped after drilling and move it around as a assembly. Before tightening the bars into position, make sure the spacer and straight edge are installed.

My $0.02.

Kinton