Roll Bar

[Fusion]

No way. Paper is the way to go. Look at all the thickness options and colors.
Yes there is a con - must avoid sinking the car and/or friends spilling beer on the rollbar.
But otherwise inexpensive, glueable (no danger burning you pubic hairs), lightweight and - get this, Al Gore - recyclable!
And the Japanese have been using hard paper roll bars since the early 80's. I have pics to prove it.
Oh and you can play with the glue to make it look like welds, paint over it and claim it as steel.

[Thehemiman]

Out of all of the cages I've built, wood is personally my favorite. It really adds that natural, rugged outdoorsy feel to the car. I like oak myself, that's what's in my bedroom. How about you, 619E30? You an oak man?

I've been thinking of this option myself and was wondering if you left the wood in a natural state, or applied a few coats of polyurethane? I've also thought about perhaps powder-coating it.

[Raxe]

Out of all of the cages I've built, wood is personally my favorite. It really adds that natural, rugged outdoorsy feel to the car. I like oak myself, that's what's in my bedroom. How about you, 619E30? You an oak man?

[Ral]

c'mon man, we can't do that shit. Leave it to the Japanese, or wait until the Chinese do half the quality for a third the price. In the meantime, I'm going with PVC. It's American.

[Fusion]

This Japanese guy is technologically way ahead, once again.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/32376804/Method-Of-Making-A-Paper-Tube---Patent-4504261/

[Syncro325is]

Steel is a thing of the past. PVC is where its at.

[619E30]

But seriously. What kind of steel should I use? mild tubing?

[Lof8]

I want to try this for the heck of it.

anyone have pics ???

Heres a locost that my Uncle built. He used a PVC roll bar to keep the center of gravity lower.



And heres a pic from my old track car. I was able to form it by just heating the PVC to the magic temp. (~345*C) with a harbor freight heat gun.


Its super light and works great!

[E30_(1st Musk)_]

I want to try this for the heck of it.

anyone have pics ???

[!kid]

PVC roll bars ? :crazy:

[Rennsport]

Omg, I'm so embarresed that I have a steel bar, that shits coming out tomorrow and being replaced with light weight PVC.

[Danny]

The whole thing if you can afford it.

[Yeee30]

Jesus these are good ideas! I'm writing this stuff down.....

+1

love the info here... :up::up:

[619E30]

The schedule is the thickness of the PVC I would go with the 40 cause its light, the walls are thinner but it will actually flex less than the thicker schedule 80 which is made for high pressure situations which you won't encounter. Get the thinner pipes but then you fill it with Great Stuff foam because that will add rigidity back, and it will be a good sound deadener too because the road noise won't travel up from the floor boards and through your pipes.

Okay. Do I fill the whole tube or just near of where it's going to be secured?

[e34john]

What kinda tubing is this?

The schedule is the thickness of the PVC I would go with the 40 cause its light, the walls are thinner but it will actually flex less than the thicker schedule 80 which is made for high pressure situations which you won't encounter. Get the thinner pipes but then you fill it with Great Stuff foam because that will add rigidity back, and it will be a good sound deadener too because the road noise won't travel up from the floor boards and through your pipes.