Many many moons go I got my 1968 Firebird convertible in a three-way trade. Included was a 4 point roll bar from a 1969 Camaro pace car. Long story short the roll bar doesn't really fit. The two main posts land inboard of the rockers a couple of inches as if it should be in a narrower body. I read that the 1969 F-bodies were a little wider, is that true? The two rear posts don't even come close to the body. But looking for roll bars they are advertised for 1967-1969 Firebird and Camaro as if they are all the same body. If so this should fit but doesn't. I can see spreading the front bars to meet the rockers but the rears will take some modification.
Thanks for the reply. I wonder why the main posts don't reach the rockers. They can be spread apart, bolted in, then welded, but the rear posts are not even close. What is different about the convertible vs the hardtop? Where are the rear posts supposed to be attached? To the top of the wheelhouses? I do want a roll bar in this car but I think I am going to have to get creative on those rear posts. In 1989 I saw the Ramones play at my grammer school auditorium. Even with military issue ear plugs they were the loudest band I ever heard.
So I am about to try and install this roll bar. I would appreciate any info about roll bars from those who have accomplished it. What I found out was that the guy who I got the convertible from, also had the 1969 Camaro Pace Car. Being that it had the 396 he was convinced he needed a roll bar so he purchased one. I believe the brands available locally back then [1980's] were Lakewood and an in-house brand that ATV used {Auto-Truck-Van]. I have no idea what it actually is. I will have to drag it out and take some pictures. He owned the Camaro exactly ONE DAY before he totaled it. So I guess he was right about needing the roll bar. It never got installed and I got it along with the convertible. Stay tuned when the rain passes I will roll the car out and take pics.
I finally figured it out. This roll bar is for a hardtop car. The rear supports land on the tops of the wheel wells. But that is exactly where the convertible top mechanism is. What to do? I had a brainstorm, unbolted the flanges, and reversed the rear supports from side to side. I pulled the ends closer together with a come-along. Now they land just next to the top mechanism on the edge of the wells. The plate on the ends hangs over past the wells on the inside. Two bolts will be on the top of the wells. If I bend half of the plate down 90° the other two bolts will attach on the vertical sides of the wells. That is probably stronger than just the tops of the wells. I can move the top up and down without interfering with the bar. Then I found out that the bottom support plates of the main uprights land not on the rockers, but on the corners of the foot wells. I had to spread the posts with a bottle jack so the mounting plates landed tighter to the corners. They are bent to comply with the shape of the wells where they meet the rear seat support area. That is not a very strong area so I am going to fabricate some reinforcements from some 3/16" diamond plate I have. I will cut it to cover the foot wells along the rockers, and extend up over the front and rear seat support areas a few inches. That should be strong enough to support the weight of the overturned car. This is a bolt-in roll bar. It is very tempting to weld this in permanently. But I am sure it will need to be removed at some point for various reasons. Right now the entire roll bar can be removed intact by just unbolting it. Of course grade 8 bolts will be needed for strength. Stay tuned for pics.
Many moons go I had a friend that owned a convertible. It was one of those small English cars, MG I think. It didn't even come with seat belts so he installed some. He loved it but he was so paranoid about rolling over he wore a helmet while driving. He also had a roll bar installed, like this one, a bolt-in unit. The car was pretty fast, he had hopped it up as good as it got for back then. He got plenty of ribbing too, for the bar, for the helmet, but he just laughed it off. He let a close friend use the car for a week or so while he was away at National Guard duty. Yup, the car got T-boned, slammed sideways into a curb, flipped over, rolled once and landed upside down. The roll bar worked. The friend had no helmet, and suffered a concussion, but he lived. No one ever gave him crap about the helmet and roll bar again. So, why do this now? I live in Shitty City, where every day on the traffic report there is an overturned vehicle causing headaches. How do they manage that? What do you have to do to roll over in rush hour traffic?!? I don't get it. But if I am going to be on the same roads as these mental cases, I want to be protected. It's bad enough these cars are 55 years old. I don't trust the windshield frame alone to stand up to a rollover. This bar is made of 2" steel pipe 1/4" thick. It weighs a ton. Once reinforced to the body, it will be very reassuring to me. I also plan on a 3 point seat/shoulder belt harness, probably like the 2nd gen cars. Right now I have a Pontiac 455 in it so I will probably be tempted to exceed the speed limit a bit. Why not be as safe as one can be?
Nothing is fastened in yet. I am still making sure it fits securely without interfering with the top mechanism. I need to make reinforcing plates for the floorboards that the uprights can bolt to. 3/16" diamond plate should do it. Here is the fitment so far. It looks like the rear seats will clear too.
I spent all day today cutting and bending a section of the diamond plate. I have a big-azz 7" angle grinder so cutting was sparky but fast. I cut my piece into two sections 20" by 8". Bending was a different affair. I clamped the plate to my welding table, marked the bend with soap stone, and used my acetylene torch to soften it up. A #5 tip was too weak, then a #7, and finally I used the cutting attachment to get it bendable. But by bendable I mean using a small sledge hammer. That 3/16" steel plate is some tough stuff to bend. I got the rear edge to fold over the rear seat support. The roll bar will bolt there. The front end I angled up to meet the front seat support. I still need to massage the floors a bit to get a tight fit, but it is working out the way I wanted. This plate will not bend once it is welded to the floors. I will probably drill some more holes so there are four bolts surrounding the upright post. See where the post bolts to the floor? That was supposed to support a roll-over? Maybe on a brand new car. Even then, I don't trust that, so in goes the steel plate.
Here is an interesting turn of events. I cut pie shaped reliefs, and bent the wheel well support plates in half 90° so the rear seat back would clear and I could fasten it vertically. The wheel well sheet metal is so thin it just tore apart from the bolting-in procedure. I cannot believe this thing was expected to survive a crash just bolted to the floor and wheel well. Now I am going to cut and weld in some 1/8" steel support plates inside and outside the wheel well. I can also make some plates for under the rear seat floor. That way the factory sheet metal gets sandwiched in between real metal. My buddy has an iron works shop and he gifted me a 60" x 16", 1/8" thick steel sheet. Now that the blast furnace summer is almost over I can do some cutting and welding without getting heat stroke.
