does putting in a roll bar add any structural stiffness to the car
possibly torsional stiffness?.....Pat
Structural stiffness?: Some... if it is properly mounted.... the "foot" of
each main tube should be fairly thick and wide. Where bolted to the
unitbody, it should capture more than one thickness of steel, and there
should be a plate similar to the "foot" on the bottom side for the nuts to
tighten against. On an MGB or Spridget, the main tubes should terminate
close to the forward leaf spring mounts.. this area of the unit body is
well-reinforced.
The key here is that the load that might be imparted to the bar is spread
along a greater area of the unitbody. I would greatly prefer to have the
bar remain... the windshield is not an appropriate substitute for a roll bar.
Torsional stiffness? not really.... you need a properly triangulated roll
cage, with downtubes to the suspension mounting points to tie everything
together.
|