Rollbars and silencers

[Bokonon]

Hi,

 

I've just/finally bought a 7 after many, many years of promising myself one. And naturally, it's ace.

 

A couple of things I'd consider changing though are the rollbar and silencer, albeit in different directions. It currently has the standard rollbar and the trackday exhaust, but I'd like an FIA rollbar for trackdays and, possibly, a peashooter at some point for the road.

 

What I can't seem to find after trawling this site and Google is where one would buy either of these things. Who makes the rollbars?

 

Also, is it straightforward to switch out the trackday and peashooter silencers? I only want the peashooter for childish pops and crackles, and I'd only bother if was easy to switch, and cheap :)

 

Thanks.

[ChrisC]

Hi

 

Welcome to Blatchat, and congratulations on your 7 😬

 

You can get the Rollbar from Caterham (or secondhand if your lucky). I think they are made by Caged these days.

 

Changing to the peashooter won't introduce more pops and bangs, thats just the nature of the tune. The peashooter will just make what you have louder. Louder is generally a bad thing for a number of reasons, i.e. track day noise limits and your hearing. (I already wear ear plugs ).

 

My cars pops and bangs have changed because I have changed two aspect of my car over the past year. First i fitted the 150 kit, then a de-cat pipe, because I was concerned the pops and bangs where happening in the cat (and damaging it), but each change altered to pops and bangs the car made. Now I have learnt how to make my car pop (almost on demand) which makes me very happy.

 

What I am trying to say is hold off on changing to a peashooter learn the car and how to make it pop and bang, then decide. Be careful of your hearing

[Jonathan Kay]

Welcome

 

Buying them: Start with putting something in the Wanted section.

 

Fitting them: Not too difficult, but read up about the roll bar bolts and access to them. Let us know if you can't find that in the archives. Do you have an Assembly Guide already, and if not, please say what type of 7.

 

Jonathan

 

PS: Well said about noise, ChrisC. Plus disturbing other people.

[Myles]

I'm just about to replace my FIA bar with a full cage and will document this for my site. Changing to an FIA should 'just' be the reverse of the first steps I will need to perform to remove it to fit the cage.

 

I'm not going to sell my bar as I may need/want to convert back in the future - others are perhaps more likely to commit to a full cage and so I'd look second hand initially as 'many' will use that to offset the cost of a cage.

 

For now, an FIA bar isn't essential for road or Trackday use - and, in fact, the FIA rating is only achieved if you fit the optional 'petty strut' that basically prohibits you from taking a passenger.

 

An unsupported FIA bar looks to be stronger than the standard version - but could still collapse forward in the wrong circumstances with no strut- so my personal take on this would, again, be to try and pick one up secondhand and not worry too much about it in the meantime.

[nickh7]

I have two exhausts a big huge massive 7" "track day" can and its very good and making the 7 reasonable quiet (still loud by most cars) , it also seems to rev better. The 3" pea shooter is very very loud ( well over 105db) and makes it sound like a real racing car but its anti social and its only on because I need to support the big can better by adding another bracket.

 

FIA is always a good thing

[Guest]

I love my peashooter exhaust (http://www.jonrb.com/emoticons/in_love.gif), so much so that I made a little tribute video to it:

[Bokonon]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

For reference, my car was originally a 2010 Academy car, now re-configured for road use (leather seats, heater etc) with the standard rollbar, and with the 140bhp Supersport upgrade.

 

I'm not particularly looking for more volume either, it's loud enough really. I did see Grant_7's video while I was researching my purchase though and that made me think I needed more pops :) Mine does a little on the overrun sometimes, but nothing like that one.

[myothercarsa2cv]

Call Caged and get a rollbar made that is the right height for you. I had a custom one made for the same price as a normal one. Gave me loads if room behind and above the head. Excellent service, too. Fitting is easy enough but you do have to drop the rear shocks.

[Mankee]

Welcome, fellow Suffolk-er! If you want more pops and bangs, just introduce a slight air leak into the exhaust system. 😬

[Bokonon]

I'll get my drill :)

[Grubbster]

Quoting Grant_7: 

I love my peashooter exhaust (http://www.jonrb.com/emoticons/in_love.gif), so much so that I made a little tribute video to it:

 

Good demonstration of the noise Your car looks very short-geared, in 4th by 80 I think? (I'd still be in 2nd!) I think this was part of the idea behind this model - 'sprint ratio's', is this correct?

[elie boone]

The pea shooter on a R300 Duratec with cat inside the engine bay isn't too loud. It gives you more clearance on the road too.

[FramerateUK]

Quoting Bokonon: 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

For reference, my car was originally a 2010 Academy car, now re-configured for road use (leather seats, heater etc) with the standard rollbar, and with the 140bhp Supersport upgrade.

 

Mine's a Roadsport 140 and car has started popping more with mileage. Originally had it on 11k and it rarely popped, now on over 18k and it burbles along nicely. There aren't pops on gearshifts or anything though.