We've collaborated with a local welder Davis Ikemiya from DavisFab to create a rollbar that will meet all the above requirements and possibly become a kit for you to weld in to your very own 240 vert!

This is fully legal for SCCA, NASA, and other HPDE events where the minimum requirement is a 4 point roll bar for soft-top convertibles. I am currently competing w/ this car locally at autox. After a few more installs and some preparation, I will be attending hpde events at Willow Springs & Buttonwillow.

Clears my head with helmet on a stock height seat - with a sidemount bucket seat (awaiting arrival), I'd sit even lower! Pictures below.

We are currently working on developing this into a weld-in kit for those of you who want to minimize downtime of having a roll bar built from scratch at a local welder.

This prototype contains different mounting locations for the rear legs to the factory strut tower brace - the final version will most likely mount at a different angle for easier access to weld.

Enough introduction, here are some of the details of this roll bar:
- 4 mounting points
- 1.75" DOM
- 1/8" mounting plates
- harness bar & diagonal cross bar

This kit will have the harness & diagonal cross bar pre-welded to the main hoop. The rear legs will be pre-cut but not welded to the main hoop. Some cutting of the rear firewall will be required to allow room for welding. Six welds and your vert will be track legal!

Pricing is still being determined at this time, but expect to pay under $700 shipped to your door! For local NICO members, full installation can be provided by DavisFab. If interested, please feel free to contact me directly via email or posting in this thread.

Without further ado, here are the pictures (please pardon the dirty car ):

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
QV

NICE!

Check out my drift forum from Indiana

http://www.indianadrifting.com

And it looks great.

Quote, originally posted by Grandpa01 »

Can you post a picture of you in it and the headroom clearance? Also your height? And it looks great.

Glad you like it! I'm 5' 10.5" w/ long back (when sitting down, I'm taller than some ppl @ 6', haha.

I'll have a picture w/ me & a helmet soon. This is stock seat height (bottom half of this racing seat is a stock seat).

Quote, originally posted by madcowvert »

i like it but there is only one thing that i have aganist it and its that the top is so damm tall is there any way to cut it down some?

Of course! We can get your rollbar customized height wise no problem . Also, if you wish, the mounting plates can be supplied separately, so that you can get the main hoop trimmed down to your exact height specifications once installed.

The reason for the height is because I wanted maximum head clearance, NASA & SCCA require the top of your helmet be under the top of the bar, & recommend the rollbar be appoximately 3" higher than your helmet.

Pricing is still being determined at this time, but expect to pay under $700 shipped to your door! For local NICO members, full installation can be provided by DavisFab. If interested, please feel free to contact me directly via email or posting in this thread.

Right now I'm more concerned with seeing the demand for something like this. If we get at least 5 serious members to get these kits, pricing will be even lower for the introductory batch.

Turn around time from payment to shipment will be between 2-4 weeks maximum.

If any customization is desired, feel free to email me, and we'll work out the details!

THANKS GUYS!
QV

I'll get the ball rolling & will have full details by the end of next week - finalizing details of the rollbar, shipping, and everything .

Noticed in your profile you have an 89 hatch... are you interested in a rollbar for a hatch or vert?

Of course you can get it in a full cage! Email me any special requests and I'll help set you up. Of course, turn-around time for a cage will be longer and also depends on all the specs you want (how you want the front legs, etc, etc). Pricing for a simple "no frills" cage starts at $1000 + shipping .

Quote, originally posted by topless94 »

When I have a new job and some money saved up, I will def be a customer.

Any custom requests or interested parties, please email me @ specials (AT) frsport (DOT) com - this will help me coordinate things smoothly in the coming weeks .

Because of the mounting points, it will be pretty difficult to make the rear legs "bolt-in" unless you hack away at your factory strut brace.

We can use the wheel well as the mounting points for the bolt-in kit, but having the rear legs mount there is not the safest point to mount rear legs in case of a rollover.

I'll talk to our fabricator and see if we can come up with anything that won't compromise the integrity of the rollbar and still be "bolt-in" this week.

For the introductory special, we will probably not be making this kit. However, if you are seriously interested, we can make you a special order one for a higher price. Just email me with details.

So far, we are planning on offering this kit for all s13 models! Price is gonna make you go .

The first final revision vert weld-in kit is in the process of being created right now. Stay tuned!

Four cars, never enough time.

My '66 dart is for sale!

You can still access the stock rear speakers the way I had it mounted. As long as the speaker is not too deep (i.e. aftermarket one w/ huge magnet), you can leave it as is, I'll get some pics up later of that if you are concerned about that aspec.

How much room do you have between the top of your head and the headliner w/ the top up?

The top of the bar is about 1-2 fingers below the headliner as you can see in one of the above pics.. that's as much clearance as you can get with the top still operational & some roll bar padding.

If you have any clearance issues, it will be with you vs. the car, not the roll bar - the roll bar is basically maxed out with respect to clearance.

If you have problems fitting in the car as is w/ a helmet (i.e. you have to hunch over w/ the top up and w/ helmet on), a side mount bucket seat (highly recommended w/ roll bars) can get you another 1" or so of clearance. Up to 2" w/ removed padding for track days.

With respect to how far you can push the seat back, the roll bar is mounted on the rear seat area, which is also about as far back as you can get with maximum width of the main hoop.

HOPE THAT HELPS! First kit is being created as we speak, look for the introductory special in the coming weeks .

THANKS GUYS!
QV

Formula D follows SCCA, which this style is legal (they do not restrict the way the diagonal brace is run). I went through the NASA rule book (the general one) for Roll Bars and this one meets all requirements. However, we can have it built either way. I am sure you can also flip the kit if need be since the rear legs are not welded to the hoop & the main hoop extends vertical from the mounting plates.

This particular vert is not planning on seeing any US Drift events any time soon, so I should be covered.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll bring this to the fabricator's attention to make sure it can be run either way. He competes in Formula D, so I know it's at least legal to that for drift competition.

*EDIT: just spoke w/ Davis Ikemiya, all final production kits will be US Drift legal .

And the way the current diagonal brace is run should be no problems for most organizations - good enough for Porshe, good enough for me :

Modified by FRSport at 10:46 PM 1/12/2007

You are gonna need it when I get back and start driving the rex lol

That's good to know. I only brought it to your attention because at the tech inspection at US Drift, he said I should have a diagonal brace goin above my head. He let me drift anyway. And the NASA rulebook says it should be that way for full cages, but they aren't that specific for general roll bars. Just making sure bro. Welcome to the vert roll bar club.

Definately appreciated! . Very good to see more verts in Drifting competition over here in the states. So many organizations, so little time .

I'll be keeping everyone updated over the next week or so about the final kit.

Quote, originally posted by RedEvilRPS13 »

yeah no go on the cage, i BARELY fit in the car with the top down

Top up, you mean .

Time for some super low side-mount bucket seats!

...but i will say the vert is getting an s13 silvia front end, and minor suspension mods, but thats as far as ill let myself go.

Small world, I think it was me that mentioned the diagonal bar to you at the VIR event (actually a few other vert owners approached me as well that weekend discussing roll bars). NASA has it designed that way because they want to protect the driver in the event of a rollover (I never really paid attention to any other rulebooks specs on the diagonal, until now and you are correct it doesn't specify, but the images I saw show it over the driver's head). But if you imagine the car flipping and the initial impact took place on drivers side corner of it without that brace, it may be weaker than if it had it there. Not saying it still wouldnt help you, but from an engineering standpoint, I don't see how it could be better.

A couple glamor shots for everyone from this weekend's past auto-x .

Still running stock suspension - still learning where I messed up when I was spoiled by coilovers, full arms/rods, bars, etc .

Still one the slower end of the spectrum compared to all these great drivers @ autox, but I'm learning a lot.

I should have the coilovers on by March for road racing & autox, we'll see how I do there.

The rx-7 oil cooler seems to be holding up great (write-up/details will be up later).

Federals (in rear) feel nice & the roll bar is holding up very well. Rear is much more planted, gotta start installing my front bracing pieces.

If you check out the first pic in full res, you can see what I believe is chassis flex from the vert up front, haha.

Some of my fav pics of myself, hee hee:

Full set of images from afternoon session:

FRSport @ SCCA AutoX Practice

Do you need to run a silencer in autocross?

Haha, I don't have the skills for drifting yet, but I'll be out there eventually .

Quote, originally posted by jspec603 »

I wish I had seen this thread sooner! I hope that the kit is still avail? In the process of building my vert as we speak, and this would be a great addition to the list of mods!

We actually have the first revision of our s13 vert roll bar kit ready - has been ready for a few weeks now. We just haven't had time to add it to our site (finally took pics a few days ago, expect an update & introductory special soon).