dotframe

So this weekend I set out to install 2 OMP ARS seats using BK brackets and install the used RSS 930 bar I bought from a fellow rennlister.

It is rare that a project so utterly defeats me. Now with a bruised ego, sore legs, arms, back, and hands, a tare in my carpet, and dented floor pan I have to re-group.

I tried every iteration of loosely fitting, removing, tightening that was humanly possible and just could not get the thing bolted up. When I FINALLY had both front bolts in, and the rear bolts loosely fitted, I found that the driver's side rear was cross threaded and got so hard to tighten that I risked breaking the bolt.

I finally removed the bar and put the seats in (which I LOVE by the way!)

So my question is for anyone who has put one or more of these bars in place, what order did you fit/tighten up everything? I was following the directions from RSS.

I know everyone said it was hard to install but man it is hard to believe it should be this difficult. I was prying so hard I tore my carpet and dented my floor pan under the passeger side I get nauseous just thinking about that Next time I try this install I'll be damn sure to use protection if prying becomes necessary.

So either the bar I got is deformed to the point of being almost impossible to install, or my ratcheting straps weren't tight enough to really pull the bars together.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Capt. Obvious

Funny you should mention this. I installed my Agency Power roll cage into my car this weekend and here is how it went:

Originally, I was planning to have the cage painted Arctic Silver to match my car. However, I'd been putting it off and at this point I just wanted to get the cage in the car so it can be "finished" for now and I can just drive and enjoy it for the rest of the year. So, I painted the cage with some satin black paint on Saturday and went to install it yesterday morning.

Round 1: "Hmm, looks like if I put the seats all the way forward I can Tetris this sucker in here." Nope.

Round 2: "Rookie mistake, it needs to go in THIS way." Nope.

Round 3: "Guess I have to yank to seats. Damnit, I don't have the special inverted Torx bit needed to remove the bolts." Off to O'Reilly's. :youbestbejokin

Round 4: Seats out, center console out as a precaution, cage wrangled into the car. The front mounts line up just about perfect. The rear mounts are about 4" away from where they are supposed to be. The cage needs to come back out, again.

Round 5: After some sweet-*** backyard engineering involving a floor jack, a pressure-treated 2x6 and a 5 feet long 4/5" diameter solid steal rod I happened to have laying around (thank Dog) I was able to coax the cage back to its intended shape (I'm assuming it got damaged during shipping or something). Unfortunately, the fresh paint is now a bit screwed up, but I need to at least do one last test fit to make sure it fits now before I repaint it. After some more Matrix-like **** I finally get that mother****er in place and it fits perfect now. At this point, I don't care about the paint anymore so I say "screw it" and bolt it in.

It looks really good in the car and definitely gives it that "this car means business" look. The places where the paint got screwed up aren't really noticeable unless you're really examining the car, so I'll live with it for now. I want to get a few small things repainted over the winter, so I'll pull the cage again when that happens and get it painted Arctic Silver. I'm just glad I didn't spend the money right away to get it professionally painted, or that would have been a couple hundred dollars down the drain.

Lesson learned: Always test-fit aftermarket parts, even the stuff for Porsches can fit like crap.

dotframe

LOL exactly!! By hour 5 yesterday I was at the same point!

Hardback

Funny thread. I installed and removed my tequip bar and it was no picnic either. An indy will charge up to 6 hours for that job. I can only imagine how aggravated i wouldve been if the holes were 4" off! I used a youtube video i found as a reference which really helped. Obviously protecting the front window is important. I was able to put the front legs down first then the rears. Crossthreading is common when doing this install since the bars dont just drop in but need to be squeezed.

Im going to order a GMG bar soon. Hopefully it will go smoother the second time around.

dotframe

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my misery.

I forgot to add that in my haze of defeat and utter exhaustion last night, I closed the hood. All the way. With the battery disconnected.

So instead of throwing in the seats and heading to work this morning I had to fish out the manual latch release cable.

Did I mention that my wheel key was in the trunk with my tool bag? FML

But I found the cable and got it open without removing the wheel. Got everything all buttoned up. Only to realize the hood now wouldn't latch all the way closed. I finally got the latch working again after another 30 minutes of removing more panels and learning in detail how that latch works

I don't know what I did to **** of the auto-gods this weekend but I will be sure to bring forth a blood sacrifice next time I work on it.

Hardback

Capt. Obvious

Hmmmmm, every person in this thread so far has a silver C4S...

Coincidence?