An actual Roll Bar!

Jrichards20 · June 11, 2014, 16:55

Im now tired of searching, I am looking into a Roll bar. The car is my daily, but I am worried about the safety aspect of the MR2 if it rolls over with the roof down. There doesnt seem to be much in the way of stopping you head hitting the floor. s:shock: :shock: s:shock: I dont want a full cage for the obvious reasons. I saw some posts about a hard dog bar, but at 1K. Farrrr to much money to ever dream of that.

Is there anything available, that has a bit more of a cheaper price, that doesnt make the car look out of the ordinary to an untrained eye. I dont want anything flaunty, just wondering if there is something OEM looking, like the style bars, but actually have a purpose?

SteveMK3 · June 11, 2014, 20:37

There aren't really aren't many other options. I contacted Hard Dog myself recently to ask about direct shipping and it was 525 USD door to door or about £315! What was interesting though was that shipping 2 bars only cost 100 USD more so shared between two buyers you could potentially get one shipped over for about £190. On top of the starting price for the basic bar which is about £360 that would be a total of roughly £550 which if you could fit it yourself too (as I would) I don't think is too bad? Import duties could be the killer though I guess. Steve.

Jrichards20 · June 13, 2014, 09:57

Yes, import duties could be alot more. I havent heard the best thing about them though, aparently fitting isnt the easiest of jobs.

Thinking out of the box here, the Lotus elises have a standard roll bar (i think) fitted. How difficult would it be to use one of them, I wonder if it would fit.

Anonymous · June 13, 2014, 12:23

Import duty about £70

Rob988 · June 13, 2014, 20:37

You're welcome to look at mine and find someone to weld you one up. It would be very simple to do. Its a half cage which works with the soft top. I'll get some pictures up when I can.

SteveMK3 · June 13, 2014, 22:39

Quote from: "Rob988"You're welcome to look at mine and find someone to weld you one up. It would be very simple to do. Its a half cage which works with the soft top. I'll get some pictures up when I can.

Thanks Rob that could be an option, would be great to see some pictures. s:)

s:)

steve b · June 15, 2014, 07:32

You loose the folding ability of the soft top for basically any design that is different to the hard dog. Cheapest way if you do loose the soft top is a CL2 custom cage but you have to weld and do lots of fabrication / chopping stuff up to get it to fit.

Infamous · June 19, 2014, 00:00

Does anyone have pics of how the harddog is fixed in place and maybe measurements of it as well?
I'm thinking of making up my own version.

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 08:14

There's a thread on spyderchat called "club harddog" (I think??) that has loads and loads of pictures of peoples harddog bars before install, during and after. Should be quite useful.

Jrichards20 · June 19, 2014, 09:24

Rob988 any luck with those pictures? s:D

s:D

I havent heard great things about harddog, or is that just me? Im off now to have a look for that on spyderchat!

EDIT: WOW! They do look good! If done correctly, they dont look too out fo the ordinary. Still loose the rear bins and drilling ALOT of holes. I think I am lokoing at a pipe dream at one that doesnt really effect anything but some holes at the bottom. I dont think the harddog it suitable for me just quite yet. s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 12:59

Just got it back from being powder coated so will take some pictures tonight. FYI it would be easy and relatively cheap (in comparison to shipping from the states) to recreate. Probably shouldn't disclose it at the moment but it's being looked into by a well known mechanic to the forum!

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 14:16

Quote from: "Rob988"Probably shouldn't disclose it at the moment but it's being looked into by a well known mechanic to the forum!

Go on...! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 19:10

Well heres the item in question. Just back from being powder coated. It works with the existing soft top. Technically you lose the bins but i'm going to try and cut the bottom section of the bins to fit. All I can really say about reproducing it is if theres a market for them and people are interested, its very likely to happen.

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 20:14

Very interesting. If it compares favourably in terms of cost and quality to the proven Harddog bar, is think there would definitely be a market. I'd certainly be interested!

I note there's no bracket for the hood latch - is this something that could be worked into the design to make it more "complete"?

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 20:29

Currently it keeps the bar for the hood. The additional bar I had added as it's at a better angle and obviously much stronger for my harnesses. I think the angles for the hood bar would be a pain to incorporate. This way it sits infront of all the plastics around the bar and looks as OEM as a big metal hoop can look...

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 20:37

Does the retained hood bar not foul the harnesses when fitted?

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 20:53

No, it sits just forward of it.

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 21:01

Really looking forward to seeing pictures of it fitted. I guess it's a bit soon to say, but do you have a rough idea as to what this would cost?

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 21:05

Can't help with that unfortunately as it wont be coming from me, its just going to be based on mine assuming all goes well once fitted. I've placed it in without the bolts in place and it looks great and all works fine, surprisingly you cant even see it in the rear view mirror when its in which situ is nice. Like I said, its still only a possibility at the moment as its solely going to be down to the feasibility of having it made and whether its financially viable to produce.

mr-ed_smt · June 19, 2014, 21:17

Got any pics of when you test fitted it? Keep as updates as to how you get on with it!

If the price point was right, I'd think there would definitely be a viable market for it - people are consistently interested in the otherwise very good Harddog bar, but are always put off by the cost of shipping it here.

SteveMK3 · June 19, 2014, 21:36

That looks great Rob - just the sort of thing I'm after. I'd definitely have one if production could be sorted out. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Rob988 · June 19, 2014, 21:50

I don't unfortunately, as soon as its fitted, i'll get pictures up. Hopefully will be in soon as I hate driving round with my harnesses just attached to the hood bar, its sketchy as hell.

steve b · June 20, 2014, 13:57

I looked at the hard dog as had one in my mx5. Also spoke to a roll cage company and they said if you want the soft top retained then hard dogs design is the only way - however he didn't rate it at all said it's too close to your head & the supports are too vertical and so didn't advise bothering with trying for for a bar at all unless you were going to loose the soft top.

Anonymous · June 22, 2014, 20:05

Steve I know you've had problems with the custom cages one, so what would you recommend ? I don't need to retain hard top.

steve b · June 23, 2014, 09:29

All the cages will go under a hardtop ok, it's keeping the soft top that's an issue for most. With the experience I have had I'd just stump up and take it to any respected cage builder tell them what I want and leave them to it. Nickson did a great job on my MX5 he has seemed to get a lot more expensive in the last few years though.