Track day roll bar and spare wheel & carrier fitting

[AlanO]

I have a couple of questions please;

Is the fitting of a track day roll bar replacing a standard bar pretty straight forward? ie unbolt old, undo shock absorbers, boot floor etc or are there serious issues? And I believe the track day bar is slightly taller - does this affect the size of hood required (if used!)

And second Q.  I see there are probably 3 different types of fitting for spare wheel & carrier, but assuming one has the correct parts for the car, is fitting straight forward. Ditto the high level brake light bracket that fits over the spare?

Looking at a couple of cars I'd want to make these alterations to. (I appreciate I could wait and look for a car with these fitted, but summer's coming and my 'ideal' car might never be found). Many thanks.

[paul richards]

Replacing standard roll bar for track day roll bar is pretty straight forward. You need to remove shock absorbers (only 2 bolts each) and no need to remove boot floor. Full hood will fit over a track day roll bar but not over an extra tall roll bar. Half hoods are different sizes depending on which roll bar is used. 

I don't know much about spare wheel carriers except that older cars have them welded in place and later cars are fitted with boss to enable carrier to be bolted on.

Fitting high level brake light with Caterham supplied bracket if straightforward but most choose to simply mount on roll bar rather than use the expensive Caterham bracket. Caterham supply a handy lead with plugs to make the electrical part easy and it's inexpensive.

[SLR No.77]

To add to what Paul has said, you'll also need to fit a new boot cover for the FIA bar.

What typical age cars are you looking at? This can determine the setup if it has a wheel carrier.
Is it that you do or you don't want a spare wheel?

Stu.

[oldboarder]

Changed my Roll bar to FIA type on my 2017 SV.  I didn't need a new boot cover and the hood fits ok.  Suppose it all depends on your model & type of FIA bar.

[Toughie]

I considered it for some time, then chickened out of the whole thing. 

I decided to buy a new track day roll bar with a car attached.  And I'm only half joking.

[AlanO]

Thanks all, much appreciated. Age of car Im looking at is 2017 -new.

[Mcalvert]

Hi Alan - this Lowflying article from April 2016 should provide you with the required steps .  Good luck :-)

http://lowflying.lotus7.club/2016/2016_04_09_Rollbars.pdf

All the best,

 

 

[Mrb00ns]

The article above is really helpful and I followed it when I replaced my standard roll bar with a FIA 'X' Roll bar (2013 S3 chassis). I thought i would need to change my boot cover although it turns out that I didn't. I did need a new half hood though - the distance to the front windscreen is slightly shorter (by about 3 cm) on the FIA bar as it slopes forward a bit.
 

I've also noticed that for the same reason the bar is more pushed up against my headrest (I have leather seats). Don't know how it would be with composites. 

[AlanO]

Thanks very much everyone. That information has been most useful. Thanks.