FIA rollbar on Live-axle Seven installation help needed

[patricklaw7]

Hi all,

I have a live-axle Seven and I am trying to install a FIA rollbar (single cross brace) on it. However, once I mount the two rear legs on the back of the boot, the front two legs do not sit flat on the front of the suspension turrets. There is a gap of about 1/32" to 1/16". It seems like either the mounting holes in the boot are in the wrong place or rear legs are too long.

Did anyone see a similar problem before? How would you solve that?

Thanks,

Patrick

[Tazio]

Any pics?

[Wrightpayne]

Can you post some pictures? Ideally of the chassis where the bar mounts and the bar itself.

[patricklaw7]

Hi Tazio and Wrightpayn, thanks in advance for your help. Here is a picture showing the gap between the rollbar's big foot and the chassis.

Here is a photo showing the gap between the rollbar's big foot and the chassis. Another photo that shows how the rear legs are mounted. I wonder if I should mount the front foot first to make sure it completely flat and then enlarge the hole in the back and use a bigger washer? 

Regards,

Patrick

 

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[Jonathan Kay]

[Tazio]

Patrick,

I would definitely mount the front plates first, as I know there is a little 'give' in the rear mounting bars.

 

[Wrightpayne]

As Tazio says bolt the front up first and see how the back lines up. I wouldnt file or slot anything as they are not a precision fit. I've had a couple of different cages on my seven and they do need a bit of force occasionally to get the bolts in. I've heard of people using ratchet straps! 
 

Presumably the upper shock mounting needs to go through and be bolted up?

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Hi Patrick

This looks like the issue I had when I needed to unbolt the rear bracing struts so that I could put in the rear straps for a half-hood. There was certainly a misalignment which required force to align and get the bolts back into place.

[patricklaw7]

Wrightpayne: Yes, the shocks go through the front foot plates and bolted up. However, there is a 1/32" gap between the foot plate and the turret now.

Per suggested, I unbolted the rear and seated the front properly. The rear is off by A LOT! I reckon nothing shorts of a custom rollbar would do. I could think of two solutions: One, use some plastic tie-downs in the back (just kidding). Or shim the front with some washers.  

 

[cobaltcodd]

Is it a new roll bar?  If second hand it could have been in a shunt and is now slightly distorted / incorrectly straightened.  Likewise, has your car ever had a rear shunt and been repaired?

[Roy Blyth]

We had a similar situation with our new kit a couple of years ago, fitting an FIA bar to a Supersport.  We put the top bolts in as loose as possible and used brute force to push and pull the diagonal to get an old bolt into one of the rears first, then more brute force to get all the bolts in.