I had a local speed shop bend up a 1 3/4" x 0.120" wall piece of tubing
to a template I cut out of cardboard, and I had them leave a bit of
extra length on the legs. Then I took the hoop inside the car, with the
top up, and I fit it so that the top corners of the main hoop just push
out a little bit on the convertible top material. Instead of the
standard rear stays that run to the inside rear edge of the parcel
shelf, I ran the rear stays to the top inside of the rear wheel arches,
which lets the stays be a little more horizontal to give more fore/aft
bracing (not that it will hopefully ever be tested).
So my bar fits as high as it can go inside the convertible top, and
since I'm not that tall I don't think that my head (even with helmet)
sticks out above the bar, but many racing organizations mandate a
minimum of 2" between a line drawn from the bar to the forward edge of
the car (that would be the headlight rims on our cars) and I'm pretty
sure I wouldn't have that much unless I made a very shallow seat to sit in.
Also note that drag racing organizations mandate that the rear stays
have to be braced to the rear frame rails of the car, i.e. in the trunk.
With our unibody design I think you could argue that the rear fenders
are as rigid a mounting point as the rear frame rails, but you should
never argue with a tech inspector so...
Theo
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