{"id":2064,"date":"2011-06-05T22:22:11","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T05:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/?p=2064"},"modified":"2011-06-06T14:10:18","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T21:10:18","slug":"hard-dog-roll-bar-and-flyin-miata-frame-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/2011\/06\/hard-dog-roll-bar-and-flyin-miata-frame-rails\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Dog Roll Bar and Flyin’ Miata Frame Rails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given that a stock NA Miata is like a wet noodle, an inherent trait of a lightweight convertible, increased bracing was a must. From what I know… the suspension components are what’s supposed to handle articulation, not the\u00a0body<\/em> of the car.\u00a0Mazda cheated a little in obtaining the car’s low weight number; there’s a reason why the newer Miatas weigh more, it has a lot to due with added bracing and supports. For example, in 1990, the cars were reported to weigh 2182 lbs. Then in 1997, they weighed 2359 lbs.<\/p>\n

I didn’t play around when it came to the chassis. First thing I bought was a Hard Dog Hard Core Double Diagonal M2 Roll Bar (mouthful). I chose not to get the Hard Top variant of this roll bar because it sits about 1-1\/4″ lower and isn’t flush with the roof line. The M2 version does not have the welded harness bar on the rear legs (versus the M1), this allows for a potential soft top with a glass rear window to fold down and fit. I didn’t like the position of the welded harness bar on the M1 anyway, and paid extra instead for the separate bolt-in bar. A pair of Door Bars were picked up as well. Things definitely add up quick when you shop at Bethania Garage\/Hard Dog, but worth every penny because their stuff is quality and FITS<\/em>. I didn’t have to enlarge\u00a0any holes, everything bolted right up.<\/p>\n

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Added weight is a worthy trade-off for a stiffer chassis and increased safety (the front windshield won’t do anything in the event of a roll over). With all the stuff I’ve removed and the replacement parts, the car’s weight shouldn’t be too far off from original.<\/p>\n

Working in the garage on a rainy Saturday… in June.<\/p>\n

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Installing a roll bar is not for the scared. Most people average an install to be around 8-10 hours. I’d say I spent a good combined 12+ hours on mine, and that’s without having to put back any of the rear interior. If you choose to rush it, it’s possible to do everything in 4-6 hours. The reason why I took so long is because I was meticulous and did a lot of cleaning in between. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. Making all the necessary cuts consumed a fair amount of time. I’ve seen people just hack away at the rear sheet metal with tin snips, looks jank. I’m glad I bought a proper dremel instead of the $10 Harbor Freight toy I’ve had… this job would not have been possible otherwise.<\/p>\n

Some material removed:<\/p>\n

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I got pretty gangster with the cuts, here’s the ECU bracket that needed to be trimmed to clear the lower leg of the roll bar. A bolt behind where the leg sits also needed to be shaved off.<\/p>\n

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Okay, I won’t lie… I got lucky with the ECU bracket’s cut. I actually just eyeballed it and decided to try the fitment. Turned out to be spot on.<\/p>\n

But here’s how one of the rear legs fits through the rear parcel shelf.<\/p>\n

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A look at one of the backing plates and bolts.<\/p>\n

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Roll bar erected. I fit the bar in the car a total of 1 time. I basically measured, made the cuts, and the bar slid in… no need for repeated test fitting.<\/p>\n

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Next was to move onto the door bars, which attach to the same front leg mounting points of the roll bar, then into the floorboard at the front.<\/p>\n

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Not done yet. It was then time to install the Flyin’ Miata Frame Rail Reinforcements. I chose Flyin’ Miata, the original, over other alternatives because these rails are stainless steel. If they ever get scraped, rust won’t be a concern. Obtaining torsional rigidity is priority for a convertible. These rails will supposedly reduce chassis twisting by about 30% (on a 1993 test car, anyway), but my main motivation were to use these as guards for the easily deformable frame rails.<\/p>\n

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Thankfully, the car’s frame rails were in good shape, because I presume fitting these\u00a0reinforcements\u00a0over mangled rails would be quite a task. The fit was snug and even. I used a jack to raise the reinforcements into position and drilled 12 holes, each rail. When tightening, the floor pan will be manipulated slightly by the bolts.<\/p>\n

Here’s a picture of all the fasteners on the inside.<\/p>\n

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In total, if I tallied everything correctly, 40 holes were drilled and bolted up. That was no easy feat… Would have been 42, but luckily, I assume on later year Miatas, there’s a pair of plugged holes in the trunk. These holes are exactly where the outside holes of the roll bar’s rear mounts go. I applied rubberized undercoating to all the holes, as well as some silicone sealant to the backing plates. Roll bar and door bar mounting points were torqued to 40 ft-lbs.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the harness bar was bolted on, and, alas, 2 consecutive 10 hour labor days came to an end.<\/p>\n

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Given that a stock NA Miata is like a wet noodle, an inherent trait of a lightweight convertible, increased bracing was a must. From what I know… the suspension components are what’s supposed to handle articulation, not the\u00a0body of the car.\u00a0Mazda cheated a little in obtaining the car’s low weight number; there’s a reason why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2064"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2081,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064\/revisions\/2081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}