Roll bar and stiffness

[Eric]

I've had my 4 point autopower roll bar bolted in the car for a few years now. It has a removable cross section from passenger foot to drivers head, and a harness bar running horizontal from b-pillar to b-pillar.

I've had the harness bar in the car the whole time, but never installed the cross section since my seats sit so far back. Just the other day I was thinking that the cross section when installed, might stiffen the chassis just a little bit.

Think it will do anything or is that thinking just pigs soap?

[Bimmerman325i]

It won't do much for chassis stiffness but will do a lot of good for rollover protection.

[Jaxx_]

pigs soap... haven't heard that expression before.


if the roll bar is seamless (it should be) I doubt that the cross brace will give you any significant stiffness advantage. It will however help in a rollover.

[Irish1]

Yes!

In my old track use 99 Mustang Cobra installing the cross bar made a significant difference in FEEL. The car felt more responsive on turn-in and more stable in high-speed corners. Of course, the Fox Body Mustangs had the torsional rigidity of bananas, so any help was appreciated. So yes, keep the bar in, but at least use your six point belts so if you crash this thing you're not brain damaged by 3 point stock belts stretching you into the top roll bar.