If you have any questions prior to buying or getting a roll bar contact Charles from safe-drives, he has a sponsor thread and he always has the best deals!!!

This is my first write up so go easy on me lol. I decided awhile back that i wanted to slowly convert my hatch into a roadcouse race car. The first steps in making a well balanced car is to address the safely, roll bar, helmet, seats, harness, ext ext. I did alot of reading and asked everyone questions.

I went with autopower, they have been around for awhile and they make a great product of a good price. The added bonus I got buying threw safe-drives was that i didn't pay taxes, or shipping costs so i saved alot of money, luckily autopower is no more then 45 min away from me.

I went with the 4 point roll bar, I think later i will fab the other 2 points but for now my hatch is my daily driver.

Food for thought:

If you get a roll bar in your daily please consider your safely!!! Having a big metal bar above your head in a moving vehicle isn't the best so invest in harnesses, and a good seat, and racing protectant foam. I currently have my sparco sprint seat, momo 4 point harness and foam for the roll bar.

I did this install about three months ago and i have been meaning to post up my install to help anyone with questions. So i might have forgotten little things if so please feel free to correct me or point out missed points.

Ok the install

It took me about 4 hrs. I had my pop's lend a hand which was great when you need to dial in everything.

1.Picking up the roll bar. I got my full setup with racing padding for just under $500.00 I got the bolt in bolt out setup. Kinda sucks because now i don't really care to have my rear interior .

If your picking this up make sure you have a good size van or pickup. I was able to pic it up in my hatch but it was a bitch to get it in there!!!.

Ok before you install you might want to remove your interior, or where ever the roll bar will make contact with, you crx guys are lucky I removed my interior which took me about 1-2 hrs i was sure to be careful with not to break anything. you can always keep your interior in during install but that is your up to you.



2.Counting all the pieces, make sure you got all the tools and bolt and pieces, nothing is worse then going half way threw a project and finding out your short on parts.

3. Once you got everything layed out put your roll bar in your car to get a good idea on where you will need to drill ext.



I disconnected the cross bar and harness bar so that i would have more room and wouldn't have to hold it up. This **** can be heavy if your doing it all by yourself.

note: I left the protected plastic on all the way until completion, to keep it protected for scratches ext.

4. When i got the roll bar in for its test fit i noticed that there was huge gaps from the roll bar to the ground.



5. with the gap there, i tried my best to set the roll bar inpossition to start drilling the holes and connect the flour board to the bar.

Make sure you get it in there as centered as possible some good tips on this is find to consistant places to measure from to find a good center spot.

just to show you guys how close the roll bar comes to your interior here you go, This is why i removed everything in the rear to do this.



6. Ok once you get it all set in the correct spot begin drilling i did a cross drill rotation with my roll bar but first i drilled on whole and put a scree threw it and figure tightened a bolt on it to hold it in position just in case it veers off.

By cross drilling i mean: My kit is a 4 point meaning 4 points connect to the actual car, I started with drilling three wholes on the right front mount then went to the left rear mount and drilled that section, then crossed over. I figured since there was such a big gap from frame to the roll bar i would have to ease the connections in so that nothing broke or riped. Before placing the plates on the underside of the flour board and wheel wells i put some cocking on the plates to help protect from the elements. Not required but was a step i considered to help prevent from rust.



Sorry if this is confusing i am more of a visual person and have the hardest time explaining this stuff.



Ok now that you have your holes drilled and bolts finger tight start rotating to each spot as you tighten the roll bar down. A good thing to note for drilling is to go with the angle of the plate, if your plate is at a 45 degree angle drill your holes at that same angle, if you don't your bolts wont fit flush and that is crap.

7. Ok this your on the last steps, be sure to go over all the bolt and tighten them to spec. Nylock bolts weren't provided in the hardware kit but i used them on my setup to keep that **** tight and free from play as the car adjusts to it. Us both bolts and make sure your initial bolt is tight before putting your other one on. Then put the crossbar in, and harness bar. If you have the weld in kit don't worry about that.

8. Put your protectant foam on, i put mine on with two zip ties and i havent seen it move since. Talk to Charles about the right foam to get

That is pretty much it. It is an easy install yet i have seen some pretty stupid *** installs, that where everything but safe. Remember this is for adding safety to your car, so complement everything with a good setup. I know that in my pics i don't have my harnesses and seat installed but that is an old pic here are a few new ones.



Don't expect your car to look as sexy as mine lol

And and out side pic with paint fade and all ftw!!!



If you have any questions please feel free to pm me. I would love to help and also hit up Charles at safe-drives. He is a great seller and was cool enough to sit and school me on safety gear over the phone many times.

Thanks to my dad for helping and Charles at safe drives


Modified by 8atman at 4:39 PM 9/25/2006

 

Looking great. Thanks for the install and review!

 

thanks man happy to help.

 

told you, you'd love it. makes the car stiffen up a lot.

not sure how your car handles, but my crx was really twitchy in the rear after i installed mine. i got used to it, and actually like the way it pitches out now when i hit corners.

 

yeah thats my favorite part about it. It handels 100 times better!!!

 

Glad to see ya put the GOOD padding on the roll bar for driver AND passanger protection. The autopower cages are a PITA to install too

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DavidR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The autopower cages are a PITA to install too </TD></TR></TABLE>


was pretty easy for me...... and i left the full interior.

 

lucky!!!

 

bump for safety info

 

Good writeup. Would be great if you did a spell check and then edited it. "Cocking" invokes some pretty interesting imagery. Try "caulking".

If you're going to keep your interior in, leave it in for the install.

That looks like BSCI FIA padding. Anything else

Nylock nuts are a must! They will vibrate their way loose every couple of months otherwise.

I suggest having the bolts on the floor pan face down so that rear passengers dont step on them. On an EG with harnesses in the rear and padding all around, you can still have rear passengers. If this is not the case with an EF, then never mind. In the wheel wells you should have the bolts facing up although I highly doubt the tire would ever hit them anyway.

I think people are exaggerating the handling benefits if it's just a simple roll bar. There's a big difference in chassis bracing between a roll bar and a cage.

 

thanks, yeah spelling isnt my strenght but you get the point. I dont think that i exaggerate the benefit of having my autopower in, it really helps strenghten up the chassis, less flex better handeling . Just my 2 cents.

 

watch the feet where they are on sound deadening. they wont losen or anything but they will start to push the dound deadning around. but they defiantely do alot for the older chassis cars. i cant wait to put a full cage in my track car this winter. it should be a noticable differance from the rollbar.

**oh, and it looks like your harness bar is in wrong**

 

lol, yeah it was like that for a sec while i took the pic, thought i had one of the bar in the right way, ahahaha funny stuff, well it isnt like that as it sits. thanks for the read.

 

Nice write up!

 

thanks Charles you the man



Modified by 8atman at 12:44 AM 9/26/2006

 

is that cage compatiple with rear seats in a ef hatch??

if you can, can you take some more pictures of the back.

 

yeah it is, i was originaly going to reinstall the rear but would rather have the weight out of my car, plus i hate driving people around, it is just another excuse lol.

here are a few more pics





there you go hommie

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 8atman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">plus i hate driving people around, it is just another excuse lol.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

hahahaha thats why i liked my crx

 

yeah lol. This aint no bus people!!!!

 

Plus, is it really safe to have folks in tha back seat? I think not. For sound purposes and looks I can understand though.

 

charles you missing out on the major bling factor involved , yeah once i installed my roll bar i decided that i didnt want to kill my friends in the back, come to think of it i have never had anyone sit in the back anyways, like i said i dont like driving people around, this aint no bus people lol!!!!

bump for charles at safe drives.

 

your ready for a set of harnesses and some track time

 

please put some padding on those b pillar tubes...

 

sponser me charles come on you know you want to.

 

Yeah, skip on the rear-passengers, not such a good idea. More hard metal bars for people to crack their skull open on. And for the bolts, having them thread-side up will prevent you from bending them when you go over a gator or off-track

Double check the tightness of your bolts after a few weeks too, things compress a little initially.