Roll Bars

[Toller]

Had phone call from a future TDR member who is looking for advice on installation of two roll bars for his car. He has a FF MiGi on a 72 VW chassis. Only roll bar I recall seeing is the roll cage that Bill has for his hill climbs which is not on a VW chassis. Anyone got any experience with bars like those found on AC Cobra for a VW chassis

David B Dixon
Port Perry ON CA
Sabine

[billnparts]

Gabe had built his car with a roll bar. He accompanied us to VA Beach a few years ago. Should be photos in here somewhere.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[billnparts]

Gkesseru…build thread “Building Alfred”

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[edward ericson]

That one is also a front-engine car. And Gabe built his own chassis for it. He’s way skilled and much missed.

I’ve been contemplating how to get a usable roll bar on a pan-based TD. Best Way I can come up with would be to build the main hoop off the rear torsion housing. A couple of 1.5-inch tubes welded to it at the corners, with a couple of flanges on the ends, just below the “shelf” behind the back seat, to slide in and bolt the main hoop to.

The rear stays could be built off the shock towers. It would be best to connect them together and triangulate to the transaxle, as with a kafer bar. Again, flanges with threaded inserts to make it removable, as a usable bar would have to be higher than the roofline.

A single petty bar could bolt to the main hoop just to the right of the driver, and meet a plate welded to the floor perimeter in the passenger footwell. That would tie the chassis together well enough to make the car almost road-worthy.

To make it race-worthy you’d have to copy the MG chassis and put a hoop bar under the scuttle. Diagonals forward to the perimeter just behind the front wheels could work, if the perimeter were beefed-up sufficiently. Then attach two side braces on each side from the top and middle of the main hoop to the top and the bottom of the hoop bar. Make an X with them. Then brace the main hoop with a diagonal from the top of the driver’s side to the bottom of the passenger side, and brace the rear stays with a diagonal going the opposite way.

To pass SCCA inspection you’d probably have to extend that front hoop to the windshield height at least. Then add two more bars from the top of that to the top of the rear hoop, at the edges.

And at that point you’d basically have Bill’s Jungle Gym Special anyway, so you’d need to install an LSx in the back to push it….

[Author]

Posts