S4 Sprint Rollbar

[Chris-72-Sprint]

I want to fit a rollbar (rear only not full) to my FHC before the paint job is done

Please can you suggest the best place to buy one ?

Is the fitting straightforward

Thanks as always

James

[elansprint71]

Why? If you invert an Elan you are, at best, chopped liver, roll bar or no roll bar.

[archigator]

Better chopped liver than pressed duck... I'll take the roll bar

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint
Miami, Florida

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi,
the fitting is pretty straightforward. You will have to make a couple of holes in the rear bulkhead (cardboard & carpet) for the upper attachment points. Keeping the pressed steel stiffener plate which fits between the rear suspension turrets in place during assembly needs another pair of hands or some ingenuity. You may need to make up some spacers or some washers to align the upper mounting points & the holes in the lower ones may need to be elongated.
Think about fitting a 3rd braking light to the bar for better visibility, I did.
In fact it's why I did it
TTR & Spyder are the two suppliers I know of.
The TTR roll bar is very nicely made & is in accordance with FIA Specs.
I think the Spyder one looks "a bit patched up" in its design & manufacture. I'm not sure if TTR will supply without the additional side intrusion bars. They are only a phone call away
Cheers
John

[cliveyboy]

Tony Thompson has "Safety Devices" rollcages. I think you can just buy the rear section.
I have seen a few other types recently but they appear to be one offs made for race cars.
I to have thought about fitting a roll over bar to my FHC.
One of the problems I find is that being for race cars and being certified to protect in the worst of accidents they are not so "road car friendly" as they can protrude quiet a bit into the cabin and obscure the rear vision etc.
Tony kindly emailed me a diagram of his cage when I was working on a mates Elan. I can email it to you if you give me your address.

Clive

[elancoupe]

I have the Safety Devices rear hoop in my FHC. Very simple install, nice unit. I did have to remove one door from the car, as well as the console.

I have also fitted Safety Devices' padding to the bar.

[Old English White]

... Same as above ...
Had a TTR-Safety Device complete in "Old English White" , but without removing door ... only steering wheel , center console , gear lever, and seats . The rear hoop has to be intalled reverse then tilt inside ... this part will maybe need some stretching to reach the holes in the turrets of the chassis ... Fixation is metric ... think about this when fixing thru bobins ... Will nead check after few mileage . I add an extra tube between the two turrets .
Have a look to Pat Thomas version - maybe too much race oriented but very strong construction -
I can only recommand a full installation with the front cage and side intrusion bars as we lost two CLF members this spring at the Mont-Blanc Regularity Rally . They had only rear hoop but front cage could have save their live as trees just hit them thru the hard top .
Christian.

[ppnelan]

Pat Thomas at Kelvedon Motors can supply one too - I think it is their own design? It mounts to the rear chassis turrets, the chassis backbone, and the seat belt mountings from what I remember. As no two cars are the same, it may need a bit of fiddling/filing/packing to get it to fit nicely - mine did....

Matthew

[steveww]

The Pat Thomas one is very strong and complete, if racing this is the one I would fit. I have the Spyder rear hoop and sill bars in my S4. The sill bars are a good idea as they should prevent the wheels crushing the foot wells in the event of a frontal impact. They are not visible and do not intrude in to the cabin.