Discussion
Roll Centre bar from Tower View is the only one off the shelf not marketed as 'for cosmetic use only'. Roughly £1000 fitted, it clamps to the rear chassis and outrigger diagonal instead of using the factory rear rollbar mount and seatbelt mount as a lot of other bars do. It's practical in as much as you can put the roof up and down, and your head shouldn't clobber it in an accident. BUT it may be lower than the top of your head (although better than nothing) and may obscure rear view mirror vision.
I've got one which came out of a Griff, TVR factory one I think. It bolts to the factory mounts in the rear shelf/chassis and onto the ones behind the seatbelt. Haven't fitted it yet though as I'm not happy with how close it is to my head once in the car. I've seen other people with the same bar and they say that it's fine but they are always shorter than me so don't know what to do with it really.
Griffter said:
Roll Centre bar from Tower View is the only one off the shelf not marketed as 'for cosmetic use only'. Roughly £1000 fitted, it clamps to the rear chassis and outrigger diagonal instead of using the factory rear rollbar mount and seatbelt mount as a lot of other bars do. It's practical in as much as you can put the roof up and down, and your head shouldn't clobber it in an accident. BUT it may be lower than the top of your head (although better than nothing) and may obscure rear view mirror vision.
I have one of these. It doesn't meet MSA requirements because it is indeed, below the level of my head (but then, I'm 6'3"
. It also, as you rightly point out, obscures the rear view. But then, that was never anything to write home about, either with the hood up and the crappy plastic rear window, or with it down and the hoop getting in the way. But it makes me a lot happier, having seen the pictures of rolled Chimaeras, since they have exactly zero rollover protection. It also gives somewhere to mount full harness belts onto. I wouldn't have these without a bar, since being held upright without any rollover protection could give you a serious headache in the event of an actual rollover.
You can just see the bar here;
If anyone wants to see the mounting arrangements, let me know and I'll take some piccies, since the car is up on axle stands at the moment having its annual chassis fettling. There are plenty of pictures of the bar from on top if you search around.
This really depends on what you want to do with the car and how tall you are. I used the standard one in a Griff for hillclimbing and although it doesn’t comply strictly with the MSA regs it is fairly sturdy and I certainly felt happier with it fitted than not. It sat above and behind me as a short ass driver but was more of a problem for the passenger. Can’t see the point of the after market hoops that sit at shoulder height. If you want to enter any events in Mod Prod then you will either need a full cage or if you are short enough a hoop like the TVR one but with a diagonal across the hoop and better fixings onto the chassis. The blue book says if using a hoop (Q60) you must be able to draw line from the hoop, over the drivers helmet to a substantial mass ( top of the engine ). To do this I had one made that sits slightly further forward and higher that the standard one and fit a Sparko seat that is lower than standard. Caged did the work for about £700 or so. They were in Westbury but think they may have moved.
Just as a second point, the standard one is made of tube that met the requirements when made but the regs now need either thicker or larger diameter tube so the new one is quite a bit heavier.
Just as a second point, the standard one is made of tube that met the requirements when made but the regs now need either thicker or larger diameter tube so the new one is quite a bit heavier.
zumbruk said:
Griffter said:
Roll Centre bar from Tower View is the only one off the shelf not marketed as 'for cosmetic use only'. Roughly £1000 fitted, it clamps to the rear chassis and outrigger diagonal instead of using the factory rear rollbar mount and seatbelt mount as a lot of other bars do. It's practical in as much as you can put the roof up and down, and your head shouldn't clobber it in an accident. BUT it may be lower than the top of your head (although better than nothing) and may obscure rear view mirror vision.
I have one of these. It doesn't meet MSA requirements because it is indeed, below the level of my head (but then, I'm 6'3"
. It also, as you rightly point out, obscures the rear view. But then, that was never anything to write home about, either with the hood up and the crappy plastic rear window, or with it down and the hoop getting in the way. But it makes me a lot happier, having seen the pictures of rolled Chimaeras, since they have exactly zero rollover protection. It also gives somewhere to mount full harness belts onto. I wouldn't have these without a bar, since being held upright without any rollover protection could give you a serious headache in the event of an actual rollover.
You can just see the bar here;
If anyone wants to see the mounting arrangements, let me know and I'll take some piccies, since the car is up on axle stands at the moment having its annual chassis fettling. There are plenty of pictures of the bar from on top if you search around.
Can I see some piccies? Please?!
Oh, g'wan, then. Here's one I took earlier (when I was pressure washing the arches out);
If you follow the outrigger tube from bottom left to top centre (the one that goes from being black (underseal) to white (powder coat), the thing clamped around it is the bottom mount of one of the uprights of the roll bar. You can't see the other mount - I'll have to take some more piccies, but not right now...
If you follow the outrigger tube from bottom left to top centre (the one that goes from being black (underseal) to white (powder coat), the thing clamped around it is the bottom mount of one of the uprights of the roll bar. You can't see the other mount - I'll have to take some more piccies, but not right now...
I've got the RollCentre bar fitted by Offords over 3 years ago now.
There are some crappy pictures of it here:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.ri
but specifically this is what it does to rear view mirror:
There are some crappy pictures of it here:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.ri
but specifically this is what it does to rear view mirror:
ratbane said:
FG. Has it stiffened the chassis up notably?
Can you recall the cost of supply and fit, albeit 3 years ago?
Can you recall the cost of supply and fit, albeit 3 years ago?
a) yes it has
b) here you go from www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=28193&f=13&h=0&p=1
FunkyGibbon way back in 2003 said:
Just had the Rollcentre roll bar fitted to my chim, by Offord.
The cost was as follows...
"Aluminised" bar £450
Carriage £15
Fitting £200
+ VAT
= total of £782
I must say Offord did a splendid job with the fitting. It really does look the mut's nuts
, and hopefully I'll never need to test it's strength [/pic]
In recent posts there have been many questions regarding the positioning of the bar and whether your head can hit it etc. I can tell you that as long as you have the headrest in the correct position there is no way you can hit it.
Images now up
Here
The cost was as follows...
"Aluminised" bar £450
Carriage £15
Fitting £200
+ VAT
= total of £782
I must say Offord did a splendid job with the fitting. It really does look the mut's nuts
, and hopefully I'll never need to test it's strength [/pic] In recent posts there have been many questions regarding the positioning of the bar and whether your head can hit it etc. I can tell you that as long as you have the headrest in the correct position there is no way you can hit it.
Images now up
Here
Edited by FunkyGibbon on Wednesday 17th January 17:37
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