I installed the bar I ordered from Wolfe Racecraft this past weekend.

First I have to say that the overall construction of the bar is TOP NOTCH. The finish is great.

The fit was pretty good. There were a few things that I had to trim, grind, etc. it make it fit how I wanted it.

I got the removeable bar, it is hard to get it to line up and come in and out easily, I have messed with mine for some time and have it pretty good, still not just a drop in and pull out, take some negotiation. They recommended the removable bar, it is not the easiest thing to get in and out over, but my track will see less than 5% of its time at the track.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the final product.





Also.. my kit was missing hardware and I had to go an purchase it myself, I sent them an email about it over a week ago.. no answer.

I ordered the bar on December 20, and got it on March 11th.. so the wait was long. Despite the issues that I had, I would order another one from them, as I said the finished product looks great in the car.

 

That's great news! I purchased the Wolfe Racecraft 6-Point Roll Bar bolt-in 3140 Chromoly with removable driver and passenger side bars. I've been waiting a few months and plan to have it installed in mid-May. I hope mine looks as good as yours. What parts were missing? Did they come with installation instructions, etc? Thanks!

 

It was all hardware things that were missing... some nuts and some bolts. I was able to pick up everything that was missing at Lowe's.

I got the Chromoly one as well.. I only got the driver's side removable bar.. the passenger one is not a requirement for drag racing.

Came with instructions.. they are pretty good, putting it in in pretty self explanitory.. ONE THING.. DO NOT TAKE OUT THE TRIM THAT COVERS THE SPEAKERS.. If you take them out.. I don't think you would be able to get them back in once the cage is installed. I still had the cage loose and decided to put them back in, noticing that it would be hard to get in.

 

Looks good. Any pictures of the side bar? Is yours the removable one or the swing out version? Also I have been told that the bars attach to the floor with sandwich plates. Did this seem like a rigid connection during install? Also I believe that you have to weld the rear bars to the main upright to be NHRA legal.

 

Why would you guys do removable bars? It completely nullifies the fact those bars are there FOR PROTECTION and costs more anyways. If you were to actually get in a wreck those bars would give way at the quick disconnect and if it's a side impact you very well may be impaled by it. The whole point of the system is to protect but that just turns those side pieces into a poser bar.

 

Does it just bolt in? Any trimming of the stock pieces neccessary? Is it completely a "bolt in" operation?
Thanks in advance...
BTW: It looks awsome!!!

 

Looks great! What kind of modifications did you need to make to the car itself? Cut carpet? Completely bolt in? Could you remove it and not tell it was ever installed?

 

^ Any more info? Thanks.

 

I'm having mine installed today. I told the shop that I don't want any interior parts modified except for the holes that need to be made to bolt the roll bar in place. I will take pics and post them when completed.

 

Sorry did not see this thread.

First off... the removable bar is no more dangerous than the bar that is permanently attached.. as far as it impaling you in a side impact.. you have obviously not seen how it is attached. The swing out bar.. maybe, but both ARE legal for the classification of racing I am going to be doing.

Second question.. there is NO other parts of the car that you have modifiy. Only trim up the carpet, which is of course replaceable. You do have to drill the holes in the car of course, but other than that it is a bolt in affair. Took me the better part of two days to install it and one night after work to clean everything up.

The removable bar is kind of a pain in the ***, the car will not see a huge amount of track time, so this is the best route, the swing out bars are better for getting in and out, but they are in the way when they are not in use.

If there are any other questions, let me know.. I will try to take some pictures of the side bar and post them up here.. it is raining today so not sure I will be messing the car at all.

 

yes..please post some pics....i might be interested...thanks!

 

Hey can you go into more detail on the difference between the removable side bar and the swing out one. How hard is it to remove, etc. I am looking at a Wolfcraft and am not sure which way to go.
Thanks

 

I don't call it often but............
You may want to do some homework 1st before making a definitive statement like the above unless you have personal experience (I hope never!)...... Coming from the engineering world & racing world I have seen the calculations and real world use of the RB and they do their job and I have yet to see/hear of a side swing out coupling joint area fail when done IAW NHRA/IHRA rules. I have them on my 97' coupe certified by the NHRA and ok'd to add the front bars to make it a cage . Its a custom installed RB but the same principal still applies. This is why mine will not fail




As for why removable/swing outs, a few reasons come to mind for us:
My wife drives it.....and to work some times...dress+ RB w/o swingouts suck
And when racing season is over I usually take them off so we can get in & out easier.

For the question on removable/swingout....they are one in the same

 

There are ways to make removable/swingout bars efficient AND safe. For 1, proper sleeving, proper hardware, proper bracing. The wolfe bar is actually ground down to fit into the other bar! There is also no gussetting in the wolfe bar. They also do not use grade 8 hardware. Yours is nowehere near the design of wolfe's. Your's would hold up infinitely better. Keep in mind my statement was also backed directly by Wolfe. I will not quote them on this board as it would cause an uproar but they agreed with me 100% on what I said above. We talked for quite a while about their design and their solid design is very good. I definitely am not questioning that. I purchased their 6-pt bar for my Corvette because frankly I didn't want to put the R&D into building a cage that was nice and snug into my Corvette. The cages I build are easier because they're for offroad rigs. So if I'm off 1/8" on a measurement it's not going to cost me extra DOM. I have built numerous cages for my vehicles and I *DO* use them for what they're meant to be. Every cage I build, I roll. I use. Here is a pic of my latest design with .120 wall 1.75" & 2.00" DOM tubing.



So I apologize and I will clarify my statement. Removable bars and/or swing-away bars CAN be designed just fine, but this post was aimed at Wolfe's as this is what the post was for, and their design is *NOT*. Go ahead on Wolfe's site and look at the pictures, you'll see how different it is from yours and I think you'll be shocked.

 

No harm, no foul Jason
I was careful in what I said, did a lot of home work and ended up with durable swing outs
As you said, I agree Wolfe's std. set-up is cost effective for what it is I have known about their stuff for years...........
Steve

 

Yeah good job on yours.. I just wish Wolfe would have done a better design on their swingout/removable bar option. They are definitely good enough to do it. They pretty much figured guys wanting that option were posers anyways.

BTW, you have way to many cars

 

This was custom built with swingouts for me. The bar behind the seat is lower than most because of my being short I have not yet purchased and installed a race seat however it's coming. This bar is fully welded to the frame but my swingouts are of an easier to use design.

 

Thanks for the update and pictures guys.