rockitman

After 8 hours of struggle, the bar is in!!!!

Instructions are rather simple: Remove the rear view mirror. I did not need too. Of course the seats are already out of the car. Slip the roll bar into the car by rotating it on it's side with legs facing toward the rear of the car. The front legs should be oriented on the bottom when doing this. Carefully get it into the car and slowly rotate the bar up and back towards the final position(If you have a sunroof, be very careful. The mechanics under the roof lining are sharp and the roll bar can cut the liner when it rubs up against it. KPV is aware of this issue) GT2/3 owners will not have this concern). It helps to remove the seat belt height slider units first(Use a flat head screw driver to pry the units off of the bolt the seat belt is attached to. The bolt head has a hole in it where the peg of the adjuster unit sits in, held in by the friction between the peg and the hole. Once it's pried off, the top portion of the unit is held in by two plastic clips that will snap out) you will also need to remove the clothes hook right behind the sliders too. This can be done using a plastic spatula to pry it up and off from the roofline molding. I found it easiest to attach the front legs first that attach to where the front seat belt ring attaches on the door pillar by the rocker panel. Now push the roll bar back into position so that the rear legs line up with the mounting holes on the side of the chassis in the seat well(You will be crushing the plastic rocker panel during this process) I recommend disconnecting the negative on the battery. Another poster indicated that there is some wiring that applies to the airbags running through the rocker panel. You don't want to chance it having the air bags deploy during the positioning process when the rocker panel is crushing. If you have a TT or coupe with rear seats, they will have to be removed. The mounting bolt hole will be visible.***If you have a GT3 or GT2, you are not as fortunate. You will need to cut a hole in the carpet to expose the bolt hole. What’s worse is that the bolt hole is covered by a polypropylene plastic cap. Not just any cap mind you, a screw cap. What makes it difficult to remove is the fact that the cap is flush with the chassis, almost exactly like a bumper plug, so you can get a wrench, pliers or anything on it to get leverage to unscrew it. Use a screwdriver to pry the edges up far enough so that you can use some needle nose pliers to grab a hold of it and unscrew it. Cutting the holes and getting the caps off almost took an hour for me since I did not have the benefit of these instructions.

Position the rear legs so that they line up with the holes. It may be helpful to try screwing in the bolts first to get a feel for the correct angle and orientation of the bolt screwing in. Once the bolts are screwed in, your done...Pretty simple, right???The problem is things just done line up just exactly perfect. I found the rear bolts more difficult to screw in than the fronts. At least with the fronts, the big metal sleeve orients the bolt screw in angle correctly once it's lined up with the hold.

I found no need to use compression straps for this process. Two people are ideal for this job since one can hold the bar into position to line up the holes while the other focuses on screwing in the bolt. If your crazy, like I am, doing it by yourself requires you to hold the bar in position with one hand and screw in the bolts with the other. No easy feat. Best of luck...

PS: You may be asking yourself, once the seats are in, how do I attach the lower seat belt ring to the rocker panel where it was originally attached. It's not a good thought. Basically once the bar is in, you will need to install the seats. Once they are in and you have threaded the belt through the hole on the seat back, you will need to unscrew the roll bar's front mounting leg bolt. Slip the bolt through the seat belt ring then screw it back. I have yet to do this, but am confident that it won't be too difficult. Since the rocker panel is crushed(the roll bar will pretty much stay in position since the other 3 bolts are still attached), you can use some wedges of some sort to keep the front leg into position while the bolt is removed to thread the seat belt ring through it and re-tighten the bolt. Or have some one hold the bar into position for the brief time you have to pull the bolt out.

rockitman

more pics to follow once they are on my site...

Marco Polo

Very useful post, rockit.

When I did mine, I left the three-point belt outside the seat portal so it runs, with a half twist, straight up and down by the B-pillar. I wonder (better late than never) if there is some compelling reason not to do so.

(It works fine for me: to retrieve it, I lower my outboard hand back behind me and take the belt a little ways above its lower mounting point and pull it forward, letting it slip through my hand until the buckle slides into my grip.)

MetalSolid

Did you notice any increase in chassis rigidity after install...?

rockitman

Metal:

From what I have been told, there will be a significant increase in tortional rigidity of the chassis. The jury is out, since the seats won't be in till tomorrow night. I plan to drive it Saturday with the new configuration and will report my impressions...

Karl S

I doubt it, Rockitman. The types of bars that bolt to the shock towers may help chassis stiffness by 10-20% and a welded cage will increase 40% stiffness. But if you look at where the bar attaches, I don't think it will do much to increase chassis stiffness.

Karl

rockitman

In retrospect Karl, that makes sense...

Steve in FL

Actually it should be stiffer but how much is a question. Quoting Hartmut Kristen from the 2004 GT3 intro - "With the bolted in half-cage we gain 20 percent in torsional rigidity. With a welded in cage, you get a 60 percent improvment - which is a lot." It's not clear if he was referring to the net effect of bolting in the front cage extension to the roll bar in the CS configuration or just the rear roll bar. This is assuming the Tequipment roll bar is equivalent to the roll bar installed in the CS configuration (although I note the CS bar isn't brushed metal like the Tequipment bar).

Karl S

I don't think the Tequipment bar is equivalent to the CS roll cage rear section. One clear difference is the front leg attachment method. The CS cage bolts through the floor pan and uses reinforcing plates. The Tequipment car is simply held by a single #8 bolt into the frame rail.

I'm not sure about the rear mounts on the CS cage. I can't tell from pcitures if they bolt to the same rear seat belt holes as the Tequipment or if they mount to the shock towers, which could add some stiffness.

Karl

mds

The CS cage rear feet do mount on the shock towers, so you do get additonal stiffness, 20% more according to Kristen. In fact, after the cage is mounted you are suppose to drive the car and then retorque the tower mount nuts. This indicates differential stiffness between the body and the cage.

I am going to try the install this weekend. The biggest problem at this point is that it is not obvious to me that my car has the threaded studs for the middle and front feet installed. I can't tell yet with the carpeting in place.

GuyR

The clubsport cage has additional diagonal cross-braces fitted, see picture:





Guy

GeorgeK

Guy,
Were you on the UK side entrance parking of the channel tunnel in late September? If yes, I have to apologize for the drool I left on your side windows. Great car!

bob_dallas

Clubsport bar looks a little more like the Das-sport bar than the tequipment, at least in the rear section. Karl - I believe you have this bar, how long does it take to install? Their website says 3 1/2 hours but I'm assuming that's a very conservative timeframe. I think you said it's significantly easier than the tequipment bar. I'm wondering if it's feasible to put it in for track events and then take it back out. I can't get the instructions link on their website to work.

GuyR

George,

I went via Eurotunnel in end-Sept to drive the 'ring and Spa, so it was probably my car (especially since I have been told there are only 9 GT2 Clubsports in the UK and I think mine is one of only two in black!)

Appreciative drool is OK, it's much better than envious scratches.......

Guy

mds

A tip from my dealer. You should remove the carpet and cut a slot in the plastic panel wide enough for the bar and the carpet. Then when the bar is installed the carpet will press inward into the slot behind the bar. This will avoid the crushing.

By the way, USA cars do not have threaded studs installed for the feet of the Clubsport bolt-in cage. So the cage is not a simple bolt-in, unfortunately.