Owner built on a budget;

[*13*]

Hray,
Just another option to consider... I always liked COBRAJEFF's Roll Bar

[MaSnaka]

When I bought my Cobra it had the forward downleg attached to the rollbar. I thought it was cool till someone showed me it was just bolted to the fiberglass floor pan with a lag bolt no less. Useless as it was I removed it and found the inside of the car to be much roomier without it.


John

[*13*]

That's pretty scary! It would be more roomy, but then again these aint' exactly Cadillac's we're building

[tcrist]

Ray,
My rollbar is right at 22 3/8 from the frame to the top of the hoop.

[Hray]

Hey Gang: I am getting dizzy from just looking at all the roll bar options. That one is a roll cage not just a roll bar.

Terry: Thanks for measurements, My guess is that is placing your bar just a pinch above the windshield or almost even. Thanks for confirming, this will for sure let me know the sizes I give to S and k steel will allow me to remove an inch or two or three.

Here is a picture of the body, the masking tape indicates approximately where i will cut two slits thru the body so my saddle can go over the frame rails for bolting and eventually welding.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/...6a17460dd6.jpg

Here is the saddle placed over the frame. Once bolted in, the saddle will be welded from underneath the car. The roll bar will be welded to the mounting plate inside the car.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/...340183742b.jpg

Here are both saddlles on car with plastic tubes for mockup. the top of the saddle is large enough to make a few gussets from plate up the bar a couple inches. it will not be the most beautiful on the inside, but I can sew up a little slip cover for it to cover it all up. The two bars going down to back will attach similar to the original CR;s, but most likely welded upon finale fitment.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/...eaecff6599.jpg

UPDAte: 166 hours, 25 days down, 65 to go;

Craig worked on body for 6 hours, I put in 9 hours, front section is blocked and nearly ready for first coat of primer. Some seams in rear have had first coats of evercoat bodyfiller. I managed to finish up roll bar saddles, drilled and fit the headlights, got the trunk latch in, have the trunk lid nearly perfect alignment.

[Double Venom]

Sorry Ray,
I'll go back in my corner now. I could have sworn your post originally stated that you were going to put a single bar in from side to side-didn't see any mention of down legs.
DV

[Hray]

DV: No need to sit in corner, you are correct, I did not mention the back down legs, since I had not worked on them yet I guess I just left that out of the post. So, you would be correct to assume since no mention then no legs.

What I meant by single bar was this, "not going to put in two loops one for passenger and one for driver', but how in the world would someone get that meaning. Guess you gotta have psychic powers.

Please do not hesitate to offer opinion and suggestions, you have much more experience in this arena than I will ever get.

Ray

[James Stern]

Ray, You got that right. DV's opinion is worth it's weight in gold. The man do know more than a little about putting these things together.

[Dennis Larson]

If you got 6 hours work out of Craig you must almost be done by now!!

[Hray]

Hey Dennis: Welcome back to the cobra world, of course you know my build is all because of you. Once you bought yours, then Craig started telling me how much he liked them and that he was gonna build one someday. So I did not want to be left out of the fun and had to go buy three of them. Now yours is all done and serves as an inspiration to me. So since I can blame this entire project on you how about dropping by and lending some friendly advice or a helping hand. Come get me for the next Norcal cobra breakfast.

I think Craig just could not stand letting a autorama go by without having an entry with his name on it. he has had at least one or two cars every year for the past 7 years. Of course since he is on board it will now be a thousand hour build, you know him.

UPdate for yesterday and today:

195 hours, 27 days down, 63 to display setup day.

Yesterday I got my roll bars and down tubes order, they are supposed to be ready tomorrow. I took all the gauages out of the dash but left them connected in the cowl. I wrapped them in zip lock bags and then zip tied them closed to keep dust out. Installed the fresh shocks, organized shop for better work space. Got motor on engine stand to be prepped for painting.
Today I installed a sound deadner in the firewall cowl, then installed double bubble foil for heat shield, then glued down most of the insulation that came from CR.

Here is the sound deadner, it is left overs from last years rambler build, my friend got it from the Honda dealer, it is self sticking and really forms well, expensive if you gotta buy it 100.00 wholesale for 4 by 4 foot sheet.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/...09ff7563f6.jpg

I have been using this double bubble, double foil faced insulation for at least 15 years. Very light weight, the dead air space between both layers of foil really trap the heat and prevent transfer. I get it from heating and AC wholesale supply places, 125 foot roll 4 feet width is about 175.00. I use a cheap paint sprayer from harbor freight to spray on the contact adhesive, you can see both in the picture. The double bubble is only about quarter inch thich.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...203d211730.jpg

Here is Craig prepping body, the outside is nearly ready for primer, he is going to work on inner fenders next and we will prime the entire body top and underneath at same time. We have been really fortunate last three days, nice weather so we could work outside in partial sun.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2569/...5b05eed50c.jpg

[Hray]

UPDATE: This is for friday, saturday today we have taken off from cobra to get some other stuff done:

Craig worked another 6 hours on body work, this time all under the front end. He made some patches to place on the lower front inner fenders to create a nice clean underneath side. he plans on skimming the entire underneath of the inner fenders and sanding smooth to get rid of glass impressions, it will eventually get undercoated entirely prior to sitting on the chassis.

I finished up the insulation in cowl, got the carpet out of boxes and laid it out on my pool table so it will get the wrinkly out. I picked up the roll bar and stuff to attache it, managed to get it cut to right heighth, got one down leg cut at angle for welding, and fabricated one bracket to attach down leg to frame rail by gas tank.

Update Photos:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/...5bbc7324_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/...48b3c405_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...df19cc43_b.jpg

210 hours; 29 days down, 61 days to autorama setup;

[onetrackrider]

Ray
I would be interested in seeing more pics of the roll bar set-up.
I have the stock single one from CR but would like a double set-up.
A side note neighbor Joe fabed-up the headers this weekend, installed
them & fired it up. She now seems more like a car.
Matt

[capteddie]

Originally Posted by onetrackrider

Ray
I would be interested in seeing more pics of the roll bar set-up.
I have the stock single one from CR but would like a double set-up.
A side note neighbor Joe fabed-up the headers this weekend, installed
them & fired it up. She now seems more like a car.
Matt

Here's the one DV made for my car....

[Hray]

Update:

Craig worked another 5 hours on the underneath side of the front fenders, we go a one coat of undercoating on them. They will require just a little more work and another coat or two of undercoating. We do not want to see any fiberglass strands showing when you look under neath it.

I worked 9 hours on the roll bar assembly, it certainly don't look as impressive as CaptEddiies, but it will work. I will have it bolted to chassis tomorrow and will take pictures of it. To connect the down tubes to each other I pressed in a 1.25 inch bolt and nut into each piece and welded them in. Then I will just screw on the down leg, make a set screw at frame rail bracket and secure them all until final welding is in place.
Total cost for roll bar with bolts and nuts was just under $200.00, I will have most likely about a total of 16 to 20 hours of figuring out how to make it fit and making it.

Will post pictures tomorrow of roll bar and underneath side of front fenders.
I have not forgot the pictures to come of the steering column, it is at craigs house for safe keeping.
225 hours down, 30 days into build, 60 days remaining'

[rustyBob]

Eddie that roll bar setup looks good on your car.......i like that better than the 2 seperate bars.........

[63mercury]

Hray, quite a project you have going there, I too am building on a budget and scratch building as well, I have a little more than 2 years into the build and an shooting for a July 2010 finish (no paint) so I can take a buddy who has colon cancer for a ride before he passes on. Presently I have about $6000 into the build and figure another $2500 to finish. It won't be the fastest but it will be a dependable driver. See my pics in my gallery. If it wasn't for this site and the ffr site I wouldn't even be started yet.
Keep up the work and build it like you want it, and remember there is nothing wrong with scrounging parts.

Carl

[Hray]

Carl: Thanks for checking out the build, 10-4 on the scrounging for parts; back in the day that is all a person could do is scrounge for parts or find some bailing wire and just hang it on with that. I will check your pictures.

Roll Bar update: I would think most of it would be self explaining as to how to build one, however let me point out one error on my part. I cut the down leg after it was welded on the main bar. For my way of reattaching it this cost me at least 3 hours of extra work. So for next one I make I will make the two part down leg first and be satisified with the way they connect and look. Then weld it to the loop.

Here it are the two brackets I made to attach to the frame rails. On the front or loop bracket I welded a 6 inch piece of tubing just under 2 inches, which will allow the loop to slide over, this served as a guide and will assure the loop will be placed in the exact same position. I then can either drill and add a couple of bolts or weld the loop to the bracket.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2566/...63cbc81e56.jpg

Here is a pic of the down tube showing my huge bolt to connect the two halves. My bar is just slightly over 2.25 inches diameter. I just did not like the looks of the 1 7/8, to me it seemed too small.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2607/...320395b1_b.jpg

Here it is bolted to the chassis.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/...87b64cbb_b.jpg

The shop that made the bends did not have a mandrel bender, so the insides of the corners were a little distorted (smaller) to fix that I cut the inside corners from an exhaust pipe bend made a little patch and welded it on the underneath side. If a person does not know it you would never know it. and with a little evercoat filler it will all be as perfect as a mandrel bend.

233 hours, 31 days down, 59 to autorama setup.
(I think I am feeling a little time squeeze showing it face)

[rustyBob]

looks good Ray.......will it be painted or chromed??????

[Hray]

Bob: Roll bar will be painted satin silver to match the exhaust system.

[Hray]

dec 22, 2009 update

Ray 9 hours, Craig 5 hours;

247 hours, 32 days down, 58 to go

I thought I should set the body back on chassis so I could cut holes for roll bar, and fit the hood, and may as well install mirrors and all the other things that require punching holes in the body.

Here are a few shots of the installed roll bar.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2737/...56a1d8ac_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2701/...a028c442_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/...77e41660_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...c00be551_b.jpg

Craig and I both are very pleased with the way it looks on the car.

Question: How much room should be left between roll bar and body or perhaps between the custom trim rings that will fit around the bar. How much movement is there between the fiberglass and the roll bar. I would like to only leave enough room the allow the trim ring to go on easily but that may not be enough.

We also got the hood aligned and completely installed, of course we know it has to come off again. but striker plate is good and should remain in place.


Happy Holidays to all.