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Roll bar woes, possible exorcism needed


CtrMint

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Afternoon everyone.

I thought I'd just make a quick post on my latest challenge, I'm not really sure it's a TechChat post, but thought some of the TechChat regulars that have been supporting my build might be interested to see.

Towards the start of my build, around the 31 October, I attempted to install the track day roll hoop onto the car but no matter what I did I couldn't align the bolt and hole which bolts up from underneath.  Even following instructions the hole was out by about 3mm which prevented the threads aligning.  I spoke with CC and they happily agreed to ship me a replacement hoop.  For ease, I agreed to have the hoop shipped to my inlaws, where it has sat until last week.

I finally got the replacement hoop home this week, opened the box and found one of the mounts to be badly bent.  Checking the packaging you can see where an impact has cut the box.

IMG_1349(1).thumb.jpg.7860ae02830b0408307f14d254cb4568.jpg

I'm pretty gutted having waited to collect the hoop.  I'm starting to think the project is cursed given the other issues *rofl*  Might need to book an exorcism as well as an IVA haha.

Anyhow CC has agreed to ship me a 3rd hoop, 3rd time lucky hopefully.

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It's more a question if anyone has presented a car with the trackday roll bar fitted recently and had problems.   There was talk in the club forum not so long ago about needing a road bar to pass IVA, but this all depends on the tester I guess.       

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The Exige is a production road car and has different legislative requirements, it doesn’t need to pass an IVA test. Definitely check the requirements of the IVA before you fit the track day bar

Stu.

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I've not tried Jim, I see the logic to try but the damaged area has a rough edge which I don't want near my paint. 

CC denied prior chassis alignment issues in this area so I'm trusting their response and assuming it was the bar at fault rather than a chassis product issue.   I really hope they aren't full of cr@p with this.  If it is the chassis I will request a full refund, which I  expect they'll refuse at which point I'm into legal action.  So I need to hope for the best here.

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I don't think it is unusual for the roll bars and cages to be a bit of a sod to fit, stories of people using ratchet straps to help get things to line up and needing to elongate holes spring to mind. Not trying to excuse it, but it is an area where I remember others having difficulties and tackling in different ways. My Academy roll cage was a real PITA to fit, took a couple of evenings before I had all bolts fitted.

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If you look at the surface area on the chassis in relation to the bolt head you cant modify it, its got barely enough to start with, and I'm not going to risk it.  If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit, it might just save your life, as per that poor owner that rolled his car in Wales during the festive period.

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I took a full cage off my 2010 ex-academy car - the cage lined up perfectly with all the bolt holes, whereas the standard, brand new, road roll hoop was out of line and took hours to persuade into place. I would suggest the bars are not made to the same tolerances as the chassis, so not to worry too much. It's rubbish they don't fit, but I don't think you need to start worrying about the chassis - just keep getting CC to send you bars until they send you one you can fit...

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In my experience this issue is not unknown with the FIA Bar and is probably down to tolerances build up. From the description it is unclear, but I'd assume that the misalignment is across the lateral axis.  It might help if you measure the space between the chassis fixing hole centers and send this to Derek.  He can then ensure that you are shipped a dimensionally compatible replacement Bar.

 

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I'm happy to buy a strap, but forgive me for asking this, if it appears daft.

How/where do you get sufficient grip to strap the bar?

My issue was the outer large bolts which sit in the recess in the chassis and bolt up from the underside, once they are in place in the chassis recess you'd struggle to pull on them there, and the rest of the bar is smooth and angled etc so how would you gain sufficient grip to over come the structure with the 'X' to pull the mounts inwards.  

Again sorry if this seems stupid, but I don't really follow how a strap will help.  Is there a trick/technique here?

 

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Due to distortion caused during the welding operation, some mismatch is not unusual. If the legs are too far apart to slot into the sockets in the chassis, a ratchet strap is looped around them with the ratchet in the centre of the car and the legs are ratcheted together. If the legs are too far apart, a length of stout wood and the scissor jack will push them apart. It's all part of the build "experience"  *byebye*


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Thanks ECR, 

I think I've not really explained myself very well here.

The 'sockets' went into the chassis with ease, it was as if the bolt hole within the socket was offset to the bolt hole in the chassis.  To be honest at the time I didn't think you could pull the roll bar given the limited movement between the socket and the chassis socket recess/hole.

Does that make more sense... it's probably me not explaining very well.

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IIRC,The holes in the bottom of the roll over bar were added almost as an afterthought to enable the bar to meed MSA requirements that stated that each leg should be fastened at 3 points. Again, IIRC, previous bars didn't have the upward facing bolt. I have seen many cars where that bolt isn't fitted.



It might still be worth manipulating the legs as described to see if you can gain the 3mm (the other bolts should be loose of course to do this.


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