GTS Roll Bar home made

[Glen97]

I have been kicking the idea around for some time now about installing a roll bar in my GTS. So a few week ago I took out the seats and the interior trim and started building a mock up out of some thin wall tubing.

After I got the mock up completed I bought some 1 3/4 120 wall DOM tubing along with some 1/4 inch cold rolled steel. I fabricated a mounting plate to weld the tubing to that bolts in where the seat belts and 5 point harnes mounts behind the seats. I build the roll bar in the car with just tact welds. Then pulled it out to have welded and power coated.

I just got done installing it in the car. I still have to finish installing the trim.

What do you think?

 

[JohnnyViper]

i think you did a great job!!! want to make me one

 

[runin1320]

Very nice! How is the clearance with a helmet on?

Great job!

 

[Glen97]

i think you did a great job!!! want to make me one

Thank you I did buy enough material to build 2.

Very nice! How is the clearance with a helmet on?

Great job!

Thank you I read your post then went and put my helmet on and I'm about 4 inches from the bar.

 

[jrod_okc]

Very nice!

 

[BAD BOYZZ GARAGE]

Glen97,

Sweet!! Nice fabrication work. The white roll bar looks great with your blue & white GTS. Looks like you remembered a thing or two from your racing days.

What type of weld and paint finsh did you use on your roll bar?

BAD BOYZZ GARAGE, INC
Toddy

 

[Fatboy 18]

That looks great, so my next question is can you get your seats fully back?
If so could I ask how tall are you, I'm 6,2" taller with a helmet on just wondering if you would hit the roll bar with a helmet on? How have you attached it to the floor? And finally have you had to cut / trim the rear panel behind the seats?

I would love one of these if the price is right

Could you take a couple of pics 1 showing the lower part of the roll bar by the door seal and another from the rear looking into the car with the rear glass open so I can see how it looks behind the headrests
Thanks very much
Mark.
Oh one more thing, can you open the doors using the emergency latch on the rear pillar?

 

[plumcrazy]

looks great. good for you !

id just be worried about hitting my head. im pretty tall. but i guess that goes for all rollbars

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Good job. Who did the bends? They look like they were done on a mandrel bender.

 

[Roysviper]

Looks good......Other then the price of the material, you just saved yourself a good $1000. Not counting another $200 plus for shipping.

 

[vermontv23]

Skillful and artistic ! i lack both looking sharp

 

[dave6666]

+1 on very nice. A level of fabrication that is reserved for only the highest honors

Question on the lower mounting point. Does that go to the bulkhead sheet metal or all the way down to the seat pan area?

 

[Glen97]

Glen97,

Sweet!! Nice fabrication work. The white roll bar looks great with your blue & white GTS. Looks like you remembered a thing or two from your racing days.
What type of weld and paint finsh did you use on your roll bar?

BAD BOYZZ GARAGE, INC
Toddy

I had the welding completed by a certified welder who also does power coating. I picked the whitest white he had.

That looks great, so my next question is can you get your seats fully back?
If so could I ask how tall are you, I'm 6,2" taller with a helmet on just wondering if you would hit the roll bar with a helmet on? How have you attached it to the floor? And finally have you had to cut / trim the rear panel behind the seats?

I would love one of these if the price is right

Could you take a couple of pics 1 showing the lower part of the roll bar by the door seal and another from the rear looking into the car with the rear glass open so I can see how it looks behind the headrests
Thanks very much
Mark.
Oh one more thing, can you open the doors using the emergency latch on the rear pillar?

A lot of good questions. I'm 6 ' tall and for the seat goes back to where I like it but is one ajustment from going all the way back. The emergency door openers still clear by about 1 inch. The mounting of the bottom of the roll bar behind the seats is a 1/4 inch plate mounted to the roll bar at the same level as part of the car frame. The frame rail runs right above the exhaust in front of the rear tire. The 1/4 inch plate will have 2 bolts on each side mounting it going through the frame rail. (Thats one of todays jobs) The hoop roll bar is back behind your head so your helmet is closer to the roof than the roll bar.
I started cutting the trim last night and hope to finish it up today. I think cutting the trim to fit may be harder to do than building the roll bar. I will take a few more pictures for you in a bit.

Good job. Who did the bends? They look like they were done on a mandrel bender.

I did the bends with my $99.00 bender on the thin wall mock up but when it came time to bend the DOM pipe I had to have it done by the same shop that did the welding and power coating. It is only 2 bends on each side. I did the rest of the fab work. I dont know what type of bender he has.

Thanks for all the nice coments. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

 

[Glen97]

+1 on very nice. A level of fabrication that is reserved for only the highest honors

Question on the lower mounting point. Does that go to the bulkhead sheet metal or all the way down to the seat pan area?

A few more pictures as requested. The bottom mounting point will go through the bulkhead and frame rail that runs right above the exhaust in from of the rear tire.

Thanks Dave! I like all the cool fab work you have done to your car also!

Glen

 

[MTGTS]

Awesome, I'd love to have one

 

[dave6666]

It would be a nice piece to have but unfortunately like all the other bars out there - roll bars... - I have to have every click of seat adjustment both fore/aft and tilt/recline. 6-4 and somewhat leggy = previously mentioned requirement. You shorter less leggy ****'s make me jealous.

I've thought about designing one that only mounts on the horizontal parcel tray area. An abreviated less structurally substantial version. I'm going to put a camera system in my car some day and that would be the perfect mounting location for some of the goodies I have in mind.

Keep up the good work man. Nice to see someone actually working on and enjoying their car without a buff rag in the way.

 

[Glen97]

It would be a nice piece to have but unfortunately like all the other bars out there - roll bars... - I have to have every click of seat adjustment both fore/aft and tilt/recline. 6-4 and somewhat leggy = previously mentioned requirement. You shorter less leggy ****'s make me jealous.

I've thought about designing one that only mounts on the horizontal parcel tray area. An abreviated less structurally substantial version. I'm going to put a camera system in my car some day and that would be the perfect mounting location for some of the goodies I have in mind.

Keep up the good work man. Nice to see someone actually working on and enjoying their car without a buff rag in the way.

Dave,
While doing the fab work I was looking at the idea of not doing the down leg of the roll bar and going back to part of the frame near the top of the seat. There is a place there you could bolt a bracket to. So for you big dogs you could bend the tubing back instead of down and weld a bracket on the end. I ended up not going that route as the seat location worked out for me.
Sounds like another project.

Glen

 

[Fatboy 18]

Thank you for the extra pics and info, so if you dont mind me asking how much do you think the project has cost you, machine shop, powder coating etc?

 

[plumcrazy]

id love to see a tall guys rollbar. i almost bought one off jonB last year but just cant afford to lose any legroom

 

[Fatboy 18]

id love to see a tall guys rollbar. i almost bought one off jonB last year but just cant afford to lose any legroom

Same here

 

[Glen97]

Thank you for the extra pics and info, so if you dont mind me asking how much do you think the project has cost you, machine shop, powder coating etc?

Right at $500.00

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

What kind of bender?

 

[Leslie]

Very impressive!

I need one in my car, that's my next mod

 

[AFL in NJ]

Nicely done!!

Regards,
Aaron

 

[Jack B]

Awesome, I'd love to have one

That roll bar looks similar to the one BTR (Tom Welsh) offered at one time. His bar had a bracket on the long/outside riser so that you could make a quasi cage out of it. His fabricator had a jig made for the build. If someone wants to offer a bar for sale, Tom might be a good source, that jig might be had cheap, it is not doing anyone any good if it is not being used.

I have his bar in my car and the helmet does not hit and you have full seat adjustment. The bar was made to use the factory seat belt thread inserts (both sides) on the oem horizonal frame support.

 

[okloneranger]

Does anyone know if there is there any kind of certification a viper rollbar has to have? (any difference dragracing vs. road racing?)

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I'll be removing mine later this year. I'm not sure if mine is a BTR or a Hennessey. The GTS was a Hennessey so I'm guessing the bar was too.

 

[Jack B]

Does anyone know if there is there any kind of certification a viper rollbar has to have? (any difference dragracing vs. road racing?)

It would be strange for anyone to ever question the build of a rollbar.

 

[dave6666]

It would be strange for anyone to ever question the build of a rollbar.

You mean wall thickness isn't a spec? Verified by a drilled hole in a conspicuous place?

 

[TrackAire]

Very nice job Glen


Looks like a lot of thought went into the design. Now if you can just figure out a way to stop the rain so we can drive our cars....

Cheers,
George