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Working the bugs out of the 8

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PATR8

PATR8

Jedi Knight
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I started today by finishing the instalation of the roll bar. I moved on to pulling the fuel guage from the tank and dumping a gallon of gas on my head by thinking I had emptied the tank but did not take into consideration that I had the back of the car jacked up thus allowing the little fuel I had left to be right at the tank opening.

I then installed the radio I took out of my son's car when he got a very nice new one. I need new speakers (tomorrow's job)but the stereo worked well but the cable mounting the antenna seems to be lose at the antenna, will work on that tomorrow

Then I finished installing the passanger seat, then I realized I forgot to install the carpet under the driver's seat (tomorrow).

Then I took a break, washed the gas off, and went with my girl friend's daughter to buy her first car (that she paid for herself, a very nice 2005 Mazda Tribute).

Came back home and had enough light to take a quick trip around the block. What a huge difference in the feel of the car with the roll bar tightening up the car.

Tomorrow I have to rehearse a speech I am giving at the local Memorial Day parade and then fix the lights that have befuddled me all winter.

Wow, I am tired now I realize how much I did today.
 
How difficult was it to install the roll bar and was it a factory built one or custom built for your car?. Plus, I could have warned you about the fuel sending unit and/or pump, I did the same thing.
 
Ah, the joys of a petrol bath. Kinds of stinks, literally. Been there - been forced to sleep outside (nearly).

So how does she drive?!?!?


Scott W- the stock anti rollbar takes some muscle. You have to pull the ends in some to get it to fit. I used a come-along to pull the ends in. Not a crazy amount of pressure is needed, but enough that you'll either be tired afterwards or need to be careful on whatever sort of mechanical help you decided to use (so it doesn't release its energy at the wrong time and smack you in the head).

Not an awful job, but I'm also not eager to do it again.
 
The Kirk roll bars that are commonly seen out there take some time to put in. The toughest part is getting your hand up above the gas tank to install the nuts and backing plates. They are there to mount the down tubes to the rear parcel shelf. It's a frustrating two man job. Plan on at least a three hour ordeal. It goes much quicker if the interior is out of the car or if you just bolt the bar in on top of the carpet. It takes less time to remove the carpet and weld the bar in than it does to try and drill all the holes and thru bolt it. I have a Kirk bar here that I removed from a friend's car. He went with a custom bar that has a horizontal tube for attaching race belts. He would love to sell it for $125 if anyone is thinking about buying one. Retail is around $275 if I'm not mistaken. I would love to get it out of my shop.
 
Duh - rollbar in this case is the "don't crush your mellon sort" not a don't "scrape the door handles on the ground" sort.

Sorry, not enough coffee yet.
 
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