Monday, May 21, 2007
Boss Frog Miata Dual Loop Roll Bar Installation
I did the installation last week. The website has the complete installation instructions, so I'll add some advice and modifications to those instructions along with my steps.
I did the installation over a few days instead of one big sitting.
Day 1: Prepare Car
1. Before removing the carpet on the wall behind the seat, cut along the edge between the back wall and center console from the floor to the top of the console, but not the top of the console. If you're not sure about where to cut, wait until the roll bar is installed, but in hindsight, it's easiest to do right now.
2. Follow the rest of the instructions to prepare the car, but do not jack up the car yet.
3. With the back tin cover removed, use the template in the instructions to cut the tin cover now. I would suggest you put the partial roll bar in to see where to cut. The instructions have you cut this tin cover in half to install after the roll bar is in place, but it's much easier to do so now and you don't have to cut it in half if done at this stage.
4. If you're going to use the Seat Adapter, remove the complete seat belt and cut out the original guide. A vise is your best bet to hold the guide in place as it will get hot. This guide has steel under the hard plastic. Use either a saw or grinder. If you have a helper, you can cut this later after installing it. See Day 4.
5. You'll need to cut the upper left bold for the ECU on the frame. A grinder will work, but it's really messy and can leave burn marks in your car when the little hot metal pieces go flying. I used a small hand saw with a flexible saw to get a clean cut. There's no need to cut the ECU frame as the instruction saids. This piece is flexible enough to bent over the foot of the roll bar and it won't rattle.
Day 2: Bolt in Roll Bar
1. Put the center piece in place over the center console. Mark where the feet meets the floor. Remove this piece and clean out the floor. I used a scraping tool to get rid of the excess rubber chalk.
2. Put the center piece back in. Once it snaps into place, it wont move around much.
3. Install each side of the roll bar. Check if the back feet's front hole is blocked by a rubber cap. If so, remove the cap now. The holes may not line up, so you'll have to enlarge hole in the frame later. The instruction have you put in the lower bolt first, then the top bolt. But if you can't get the top bolt in afterwards, reverse the order. When you reverse the order, head down to the hardware store and get a grade 8 7/16 1" bolt with fine thread. My local Home Depot does not carry 7/16 bolts, but OSH did. The short bolt will be fine since you're going to remove the existing spacers behind the seat belt retractor. You can use the original bolts, but it's going to be really hard to get in once the top bolt is in. I'm not sure if the instructions tell you do this, but put the trim washers on the top bolt. These are the silver washers with a crown, and you think you have 8 of these. If you only have 6, then do use them here. The crown is to attach the black plastic caps.
4. Without tighen anything, put in the 4 bolts that connect the loop bars to the center console bar. Don't forget to use the trim washers.
5. With all the bolts in place, tighen them all. I do the lower bolts first, the top bolts, and final the center console bolts.
6. Make sure you used all 4 of the smaller square bottom brackets and these brackets are mounted under the car.
Day 3: Drill Holes - The roll bar should already be very snug.
1. Jack the car up and remove the rear wheels and wheel cover.
2. Use a 3/8 metal drill and drill the holes at the foot of the loop bars. Install the 3/8 bolts, bottom bracket(other side of frame) and tighten. If the drill is not going throught, then you probably don't have the right drill bits. I don't know how to tell by looking that the drill bit, so you'll just have to try if you're not sure.
3. Use a 3/8 metal drill and drill the holes at the foot of the center console. Install the 3/8 bolts, bottom bracket and tighten.
4. Use a 12" long 3/8 metal drill and drill the back holes. With the top on, I was able to drill the 2 front holes from the top. Install the bolts, bottom bracket and tighten. I received the wrong bottom bracket, but you can drill a hole in the brackets with the same 3/8 drill bit. It'll just take longer due to thickness and require a vice.
5. If you were able to drill the back hole, do so now from the bottom. I didn't get the holes to line up when I did this since the front hole is actually a slot, so I wiggle the drill around to make the hole bigger. If you don't know how to wiggle your drill to enlarge the hole, a rattail file or dremel tool works fine too. Install the 3/8 bolts and tighten.
6. Re-install the wheel cover and lower the jack.
7. Structurally, this bar is ready and you're done once the seat belt is installed.
Day 4: Finishing touches
1. I hope you precut and install the tin back cover already. Otherwise, follow the Boss Frog instructions. You may find that the cover does not fit. I had to cut the slot for the bar to be much larger and bent the cover to get it to fit. This make matching the holes on the cover to the original holes in the frame a bit tougher. If you can get a bolt to fit, just leave it off.
2. Follow the instuctions to cut the plastic trim. I ended up cutting much more plastic than the instructions. I actually cut the two side panels in half to facilate installation. Also, I cut more of the plastic to make sure the seat belt does not rub the panel so much that it hampers the belt from retracting.
3. Use a knife to trim the carpets, but hopefully you did the trim as I suggested for the back wall carpet. I didn't cut off any carpet and just roll the excess back which made for a nice look.
4. If you got the Seatbelt Adapter, cut the old guides off and use the adapter. It works much better, but it won't be as good as before the roll bar. I found the simplest way to cut the guides was to bolt the old guides into place, have someone hold the glides in place by pulling on the seatbelt, and cut the guide with a reprocussion saw. See Day 1 if you have no helpers.
It's done, Enjoy. If you hear rattling noises, then you probably didn't tighen the top bolts enough and the spacers are bouncing around. I used a black primer on some of the exposed bolts to make it look nicer. To unzip the top, you'll have to pop the roof off and lift it a bit, but the plastic window fits nicely between the roll bars.
Warning, the loop style roll bar does not protect as well as the striaght roll bar. The reason is, if the car flips over in soft ground, the loop style roll bars have a tendency to dig in. That said, you did buy a small convertiable sports car, so you're obiviously willing to some risk. Plus, guys have been racing with the Cobra style single loop bar for decades. This roll bar is better than no roll bar, and the convertible operation is not hamper as much as a strigh roll bar like the Harddog Hardcore. It's also possible to wield a straight bar between the two loops.
I did the installation over a few days instead of one big sitting.
Day 1: Prepare Car
1. Before removing the carpet on the wall behind the seat, cut along the edge between the back wall and center console from the floor to the top of the console, but not the top of the console. If you're not sure about where to cut, wait until the roll bar is installed, but in hindsight, it's easiest to do right now.
2. Follow the rest of the instructions to prepare the car, but do not jack up the car yet.
3. With the back tin cover removed, use the template in the instructions to cut the tin cover now. I would suggest you put the partial roll bar in to see where to cut. The instructions have you cut this tin cover in half to install after the roll bar is in place, but it's much easier to do so now and you don't have to cut it in half if done at this stage.
4. If you're going to use the Seat Adapter, remove the complete seat belt and cut out the original guide. A vise is your best bet to hold the guide in place as it will get hot. This guide has steel under the hard plastic. Use either a saw or grinder. If you have a helper, you can cut this later after installing it. See Day 4.
5. You'll need to cut the upper left bold for the ECU on the frame. A grinder will work, but it's really messy and can leave burn marks in your car when the little hot metal pieces go flying. I used a small hand saw with a flexible saw to get a clean cut. There's no need to cut the ECU frame as the instruction saids. This piece is flexible enough to bent over the foot of the roll bar and it won't rattle.
Day 2: Bolt in Roll Bar
1. Put the center piece in place over the center console. Mark where the feet meets the floor. Remove this piece and clean out the floor. I used a scraping tool to get rid of the excess rubber chalk.
2. Put the center piece back in. Once it snaps into place, it wont move around much.
3. Install each side of the roll bar. Check if the back feet's front hole is blocked by a rubber cap. If so, remove the cap now. The holes may not line up, so you'll have to enlarge hole in the frame later. The instruction have you put in the lower bolt first, then the top bolt. But if you can't get the top bolt in afterwards, reverse the order. When you reverse the order, head down to the hardware store and get a grade 8 7/16 1" bolt with fine thread. My local Home Depot does not carry 7/16 bolts, but OSH did. The short bolt will be fine since you're going to remove the existing spacers behind the seat belt retractor. You can use the original bolts, but it's going to be really hard to get in once the top bolt is in. I'm not sure if the instructions tell you do this, but put the trim washers on the top bolt. These are the silver washers with a crown, and you think you have 8 of these. If you only have 6, then do use them here. The crown is to attach the black plastic caps.
4. Without tighen anything, put in the 4 bolts that connect the loop bars to the center console bar. Don't forget to use the trim washers.
5. With all the bolts in place, tighen them all. I do the lower bolts first, the top bolts, and final the center console bolts.
6. Make sure you used all 4 of the smaller square bottom brackets and these brackets are mounted under the car.
Day 3: Drill Holes - The roll bar should already be very snug.
1. Jack the car up and remove the rear wheels and wheel cover.
2. Use a 3/8 metal drill and drill the holes at the foot of the loop bars. Install the 3/8 bolts, bottom bracket(other side of frame) and tighten. If the drill is not going throught, then you probably don't have the right drill bits. I don't know how to tell by looking that the drill bit, so you'll just have to try if you're not sure.
3. Use a 3/8 metal drill and drill the holes at the foot of the center console. Install the 3/8 bolts, bottom bracket and tighten.
4. Use a 12" long 3/8 metal drill and drill the back holes. With the top on, I was able to drill the 2 front holes from the top. Install the bolts, bottom bracket and tighten. I received the wrong bottom bracket, but you can drill a hole in the brackets with the same 3/8 drill bit. It'll just take longer due to thickness and require a vice.
5. If you were able to drill the back hole, do so now from the bottom. I didn't get the holes to line up when I did this since the front hole is actually a slot, so I wiggle the drill around to make the hole bigger. If you don't know how to wiggle your drill to enlarge the hole, a rattail file or dremel tool works fine too. Install the 3/8 bolts and tighten.
6. Re-install the wheel cover and lower the jack.
7. Structurally, this bar is ready and you're done once the seat belt is installed.
Day 4: Finishing touches
1. I hope you precut and install the tin back cover already. Otherwise, follow the Boss Frog instructions. You may find that the cover does not fit. I had to cut the slot for the bar to be much larger and bent the cover to get it to fit. This make matching the holes on the cover to the original holes in the frame a bit tougher. If you can get a bolt to fit, just leave it off.
2. Follow the instuctions to cut the plastic trim. I ended up cutting much more plastic than the instructions. I actually cut the two side panels in half to facilate installation. Also, I cut more of the plastic to make sure the seat belt does not rub the panel so much that it hampers the belt from retracting.
3. Use a knife to trim the carpets, but hopefully you did the trim as I suggested for the back wall carpet. I didn't cut off any carpet and just roll the excess back which made for a nice look.
4. If you got the Seatbelt Adapter, cut the old guides off and use the adapter. It works much better, but it won't be as good as before the roll bar. I found the simplest way to cut the guides was to bolt the old guides into place, have someone hold the glides in place by pulling on the seatbelt, and cut the guide with a reprocussion saw. See Day 1 if you have no helpers.
It's done, Enjoy. If you hear rattling noises, then you probably didn't tighen the top bolts enough and the spacers are bouncing around. I used a black primer on some of the exposed bolts to make it look nicer. To unzip the top, you'll have to pop the roof off and lift it a bit, but the plastic window fits nicely between the roll bars.
Warning, the loop style roll bar does not protect as well as the striaght roll bar. The reason is, if the car flips over in soft ground, the loop style roll bars have a tendency to dig in. That said, you did buy a small convertiable sports car, so you're obiviously willing to some risk. Plus, guys have been racing with the Cobra style single loop bar for decades. This roll bar is better than no roll bar, and the convertible operation is not hamper as much as a strigh roll bar like the Harddog Hardcore. It's also possible to wield a straight bar between the two loops.
# posted by Mack @ 4:38 PM 
