As most mainstream convertibles have rollover protection I find myself wondering about how the Spyder would come off if were to roll and as it used quite enthusiastically and occasionally on track the risk may be considered greater.

Was it deemed by the designers that the windscreen surround has sufficient strength to keep me from being crushed under the car?

Has anyone fitted a rollover bar? If so could you please provide details of mounting points, dimensions etc (a CAD drawing?) plus photos. as I'm thinking about installing something for peace of mind.

I've had a rummage around on here and on Team GTM but can't find much other than references to the GTM "style bar"

Watching with interest, as been a concern of mine for a while.

Googling pics of GTM Spyder shows at least a couple have fitted rollbars. I'd guess you'd have to fabricate and fit your own or buy one for a different car and mod it to fit etc.

SAS

Hopefully there will be some examples at Stoneleigh to have a nose at!

Any luck in getting rollover bars?
I'm looking to fit two bars in my Spyder - will not be allowed in a track unless I have one! (Alternative is the non existing hard top!)

Does any "standard" type fit? (Lotus, Porsche, Audi, Toyota, Mazda or others?)

T

I've now obtained two Westfield roll over bars, one in black with splayed corners and one chromed with 90 degree corners - both original Westfield parts taken off a fellow BKCC members car before he eventually upgraded to a fully braced bar with back struts. Got them for nowt as he was moving house and needed the space!!

The black splayed corner one is a good fit width wise but the legs are about 650mm too short to reach the floor! I'm thinking about cutting up the chrome one and using the bits as leg extensions and bolting those to plates on the floor behind the seats with braces fixed horizontally from the baseplates of the existing Westie bottom plates back to the bulkhead. I've held it in place with some dummy extension legs and bits of wood and the hood passes over it perfectly (about 2mm to spare) and the top of the bar is level with the top of the head restraints on my MGF seats when at the full extension. The top of my head would still be about 50mm higher than the bar but wouldn't have to duck far and shouldn't get crushed!

I've still got some thinking to do (and my engine swap is higher up on my "to do list") but I'll take some piccies when I get going on this.

I note that the GTM drawing for their bar shows it mounted on the rear shelf thing behind the seats - is that really strong enough? If it is, how to you get to the back of it to fasten the bolts - take the fuel tank out? I'm thinking I'd rather take it right down to the floor as the GRP is very thick there (takes a jack no problem) so should give a good mounting and very accessible.

I'm not familiar with the Spyder but if the roll bar is anything like the Rossa it passes through holes in the back seat/shelf thingy and bolts to the floor. The ends of the bar have a threaded blank welded to them and there are two squares with a short piece of pipe whose id is the same as the bar's od welded to them bolted to the floor. These squares are also drilled in the centre. The bar is passed through as above and fits into the plates on the floor. They are then bolted together from underneath.

I've just read this back and it sounds awful but hopefully it will make sense to you, sorry I don't have any pics. Hope it helps.

If the spyder is same as the libra in that area, here's what it looks like: http://www.peteronline.co.uk/pages/buil ... gust_4.JPG & http://www.peteronline.co.uk/pages/buil ... July_1.JPG

The grey cowl is a separate molding covering the bulge for the fuel tank.

I'm pretty sure you can get down to the floor either side of the tank bulge, behind where the seatbelt units are but in the middle you'd have to bolt to the shelf (though this should be strong due to the tunnel). If I were you i'd only consider removing the tank as a last resort as it's a pain.

If it were me i'd bolt to the rear bulkhead, after all it's part of the outer shell and the engine cradle hangs off it so should be strong enough.

SAS

Hi there

Roll hoops can be done with abit of effort.....the ones we made spead the load across the rear shelf using angled steel and connect to the engine frame points and the seat belt points. All tube made from CDS to meet regs.

Hope I never get to find out how good they are....but I recon they are as good as I could do.





Ian

Kermit!

Hi Ian. Do you still have your Spyder?

That looks pretty good to me - any chance of a few more pictures please?

Well, it took a while but I finally got around to cutting up and welding the two Westfield rollover bars I got for free. Based on Ian C's images I went for using a steel angle on the box section behind the seats rather than coming off the floor. I cut the square feet off the black Westy bar and cut the top section of the chrome Westy bar into two pieces to extend the black legs. I then strapped the extended hoop to the hood frame to mark out the height to the angle so I could get the bar as high as possible but still get the hood over. The bottom off the hoop was cut at a slight splay so the hoop leans back from the front of the box section to the line of the main hood frame. This positions the upright tubes pretty much in line with the upper seat belt mountings. I decided to just use the rear two bolts meaning the braces from the mountings to the tubes come forward slightly. I made the braces from off cuts from the same angle used for the base. I cut the top of the angle to match the cross section of the tube (using an off cut of tube as a stencil) and bent the vertical flange of the angle into the curve of the tube to wrap around it. I welded these to the tube and some brackets on the ends drilled to takle two of the three bolts from the seat belt mounting.

I was going to make some more brackets to go back to the bulkhead but 1) I ran out of time as I was doing this the day before a track day and 2) after bolting it in it felt so solid that I thought it would probably be okay without it - certainly better than nothing at all.

so here are some pics. Still needs painting but as I broke my engine on the track day I've had other things on my mind since!

I would definitely be putting a brace across with some fixings to the engine mounting points. Otherwise I don't think it would do an awful lot, don't mean to criticise your work but doesn't look that strong?