rollbar x-bar....home made effort paid off

[Whaler]

What do you think?

I wanted chrome to match the rollbar I will be using.

Tunred out great.

Tim

[kountzecobra]

looks nice!

[SSSnake]

Very nice work. By the way, what are the prices like for chrome plating. Like, about how much do you think it would be to chrome an FIA roll bar (single hoop with the forward brace)?

Thanks
Glenn

[Tom Kirkham]

If you ever back up into a wall on a race track or have some one hit you from behind think where your head is going. You have two eye bolts (read spears) aimed at the back of your head. I know Shelby American has used the same set up. But it's still not safe. If your cross brace is big enough why not just loop the belts over the cross bar and get rid of the eye bolts?

[A Snake]

That is a nice piece of work! Tom's comment makes me think too, but depending on how tall you sit in the seat, I'm guessing here, but if your brace is just at shoulder level, the "spears" will get you at the base of your neck, not in the head.

If anything, your head could go between the legs of the hoop and the brace bar would act as good leverage for neck snapping.

Tim, this is not intended to take away from the great work you've done, just to offer some thoughts .

I never did have the shoulder belts, because I didn't do enough on the track to warrant it. I always figured if I stacked it up, the belts weren't going to do much but keep my corpse or parts of it in the car.

Al

[Whaler]

Hello Everybody

Chrome for it was $80 CDN......To have my rollbar done at the same place was $375 CDN it was the conventional single hoop rear brace type.

In an old thread we kicked around the idea of padding on one of these puppies.

Mr. Hudgins of JBL showed me a pic of the pad they use or at least try to persuade clients to add....

As for head strike....I know the danger is there. It's my only choice as mounting the eye bolts through the rear bulkhead is impossible because of the rollbar being directly in the way. My passenger side is done that way.

I have and am kicking around having a nice FAT black pad,,,did I say FAT.... made similar to what you see on the front crossbar of most dirtbikes ( on the handlebar) The square stock on the cross bar I made is about the same circumference.

As for height , we know for a fact the bar will usually mount above the body on the rollbar itself. But I have thought that if it fits, get it down below the body and just above my seatback.
We also know because of the way the bar is mounted in the car, the seatbelts still sit too far to the right side of center shoulder. Thats why these braces offer the ability to mount on the left or right side of the bars vertical legs. BTW if mounted where it traditionally goes, I would guess it may be lower than higher on the back of my head.

I basically modelled it after the bars we see Shelby use becuase going thru the bulkhead was not an option for me with the rollbar in the direct way. I have 5 points in each seat

As we discussed in a previous thread on safety and headstrikes.....these authentic lowback bucket seats are half the problem.. We know on a track there would be headgear....but a rearender on the street by a rubber-necker is another scenario altogether.

Thanks for raising the possibility guys

Tim

Link to the old thread

[Mr.Fixit]

One really shouldn't chrome rollbars or other critical components beacuse it causes "hydrogen embrittlement" NHRA prohibits chrome rollbars, I believe, for that reason.

[JOHNNYCOBRA]

Hey, looks great , Do you have plans for this
I need to make something like this! Was it
made with off the shelf parts?

[Whaler]

I had no plans......I made it to fit my rollbar's OD
The clamps....Basically used pipe with an ID close to my rollbars OD. From 2 pipe sections, I cut both in half and made them to clamp the od of my rollbar. But make it clamp just slightly shy.
The actual cross piece is simple squarestock to whatever length you need. I think I have seen them with roundstock too.

The four spots ( 8 pieces) where the bolts run thru is simply larger 1" or 3/4" bolts cut off to 3/4 inch lengths then drilled out 3/8" for the bolt to pass thru. The shank portion of a large bolt without the threads closest to the bolt head.
Each clamp will get 2 of these guys at each side.

Tack it all together, then bolt it together as seen in photo, then weld it solid. I had a friend TIG the whole thing.

My rollbar wasn't std. 2 inch od....slightly larger. So buying the one from Enzo for the 2 inch bar wasn't an option either.

Pretty easy to build.

The eyebolts and fasteners are SS...polished too

Tim

[scratch]

Has anyone tried the "Kirkey" type of aluminum racing seat?

It has a decent headrest and might be low profile enuf to make it palatable for us Cobra folks.

I worry about popping me head on the roll bar.

scratch

[Bill E]

To miny people take this for grated, all of these cars should have a head rest of some kind. A lot of the fatal accidents in theses cars are from head and neck trauma. If you can touch the roll bar with your head it is in the wrong place.

[Whaler]

If I touch nothing with my head you can sure as hell bet I am going to get some neck trauma

Since last week I had the bar pad made up. It looks good and is quite functional in terms of foam density and give. Beats a plain piece of steel square stock to the back of the noggan.

So how many of these cars in an original form do offer head support?



Tim

Series 4000.......

[Whaler]

getting better??

Tim