hecash

If you could speak to this person (Lee McCallum), he would likely tell you that he owes his life to the Cusco roll bar. BTW, that car was towed all the way up a 75' embankment upside down riding on the Cusco bar before these pictures were taken. You will note the damage to the windshield but none to the Cusco bar.

This is the car after it was turned upright.



This is the car before removal.



This is the car being towed away. The Cusco bar is in good shape except for paint being shaved off.

Chris_Lum

yeah I hate when people keep repeating that cusco/safety 21 bars aren't safe. Just because japan has different safety regs than the U.S. doesn't mean you'll automatically die. Japan is well known to have smallter/thinner crash beams than the U.S. but their cars are not automatically caskets on wheels.

Anyway, you still need to cut the rear interior tray with the cusco/safety 21 bar unless you just remove it completely, which is possible.

The other roll bar i'd highly recommend is the Mugen bar since it replaces the stock roll hoops. You basically remove the top portion of your stock interior panels and buy the optional Mugen covers that replace them. You lose access to your secret compartment though but it looks really clean and is less invasive on interior space since it replaces the stock bar instead of going around it like the cusco.

hecash

The roll bar in the pictures actually came from my personal car that I had parted out after I crashed it. I installed that roll bar for Lee. The rear tray panel also came from my old car and was modified to accommodate the bar. I drilled 2.5" holes and then slotted them using a very slow band saw to make them easily installed and removed. They were then trimmed with rubber and looked quite good when done. His original rear tray was kept to be re-fitted in the event that the bar was removed. I do not believe that he had the tray in the car at the time of this accident, above.

jamesac83

how so? Or is this just based on an assumption of something that could happen? The bar is a little far back in the car to cause any issue with your head banging into it....

Szoylent Green

If you're worried about your head banging into stuff, just turn your head to the left with the top up and look at the soft top frame bars. Yup, thats a solid piece of pointy metal about 2" from your head, at least its about 2" from my head.

Kind of makes me nervous.

Apex1.0

I went down this road right after I bought my S2k. There is no good solution. If you are smaller and can afford to give up some seat room, that will help. Stock, i drive my car with the seat all the way back so there is virtually no room for a roll bar with the stock seat. Also there is really no option that is not invasive. Everything requires cutting the interior fairly significantly. Also there will be some decent metal drilling and cutting. Some installs are better than others but I have never seen anything that looked close to OEM. The cleanest install bars are probably cusco or Mugen. But again, you will have to cut up the interior and you will give up some seat space.

Being my car is still mostly a street car, I decided to focus on lowering the seating position in the car. BYS seat rails have helped, and i am trying a Corbeau FX1 pro seat now. The OEM protection is pretty decent and the only setup that is actually tested to a given standard. Your car is already so much safer than a bike, so you are already ahead.

Good Luck.

Bugsy

Hard dog.
I made custom seat belt retractor covers from the trimmed ones.
It's a lot of work

MichaelBrown86

i know i'm reviving an old thread, but I feel the same way as this guy.



Why would you call a roll-bar "Bolt-In" if you have to cut and drill into your chassis? Has no one found a way to mount to the rear shock tower and other factory points? Really?

I guess I understand the need to cut up some of the plastic, but not the chassis.


Also, it seems like almost every roll-bar takes so much room away for us taller owners (I'm 6'2") by locating the main bar in front of the factory roll hoops instead of behind (or just replacing it).



Is there a kit other than Mugen that has the roll-bar far back enough that we can fully slide the seat back?

Is there a kit that is a TRUE bolt-in affair without cutting?

Will it pass NASA/SCCA inspection?

spaded.racer

Because it literally bolts in, not welded. It's a drill bit and cut off disc to do the install, it really isn't that hard. The real time consuming part is trimming and making the interior fit back in if that is your goal. I did this on my AP1 and it looked pretty good when I was done and retained the center cubby and secret compartment.

You'd get a better response emailing your question about a bolt-in cage to your local regions racing org. The rules are available online but I have heard of different regions having different interpretations/stipulations on those rules.

DanielB

In my mind, "bolt in" means that no welding is required. I did not equate it with no cutting is required.