Side Impact Bars . . . Continued

So,

the side impact bars came back from the fabricator and powder coating - they fitted the car perfectly, or so I thought.

We hadn't actually fitted up the half-cage with the side bars in place, and when the fabricator moved the rear mounting plate so that the front mounting holes would line up, he had to weld in additional plating at the back for the bars to mount to. Once I realized what the problem was there was much swearing. After much thought and more swearing, I decided the only solution was to cut the freshly powder coated bars - the half-cage sits on top of the bars and spreads out slightly from the bottom, so the cage was fouling on the additional plating - the bottom mounting plate on the half-cage was about 15 mm above where it needed to be. So I cut as much as I could out of the additional plating, trying not to go as far as the fresh welding (I did go through it slightly, so had to reweld a small portion, but it should not affect the integrity of the joint). I fine tuned it with a flap disc on an angle grinder and went down as far as I dared, but it still wasn't quite enough. Fortunately, the side impact bars come with spacers to level out the cage if you only fit a side impact bar to one side - the spacers were just enough to bridge the gap. So a lucky escape and all fitted up nicely, except that the addition of a spacer now meant that the holes I had previously drilled in the lower stays didn't align any more, so they needed enlarging.

All in all, it was a great, but frustrating, workout, as I must have tried to fit the half cage at least a dozen times, if not more. It took a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to complete the whole job.

Quite a lot of plumbing

The fabricator's welds weren't the neatest, I have to say. I used spray paint to cover where I cut/welded/ground the powder coat off. I doesn't show to the casual observer. but I think I will now have to paint all of the bars, as the colour doesn't quite match.

There is very little clearance to the body:

You can just about slide a sheet of paper in there

Having these bars on gives a greater sense of security on the road as they provide a nice cage around your elbows! Hopefully they will never be put to use on the track.

So here is the finished product:

Fancy seeing that in the rearview mirror?

Fake Lotus or Fake Porsche?

Interesting comparison of 1950s British and German sportscar design!

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