Tall Person Friendly Rollcage?

[Corey]

Hi guys,

As some of you may know, I have an AGI 4pt Rollcage coupled with a set of lotus elise seats with custom brackets to sit as low as possible. The cage is fantastic, build quality is good, stiffens up the chassis a lot and comes CAMS approved. Problem is, being 6'2" I am simply too tall for it. It intrudes into the interior space and I cant put my seat far enough back to be comfortable, and since I have it as far back as possible, I'm dangerously close to the bar.

I'm yet to find a bar that fits me, and fits the design ques I'm looking for at the same time. The only one I have found is a Blackird fabworx bar, because it seems they have slanted the bar backwords to give the most interior space. It looks like it fits really snug within the roof, but there is really no possibility of getting one here.

Here's some photo's.





As you can see the Bar slants back, whereas my cage sits in line with the side latches just about. I wish I fit with my AGI cage, it looks great and is a solid unit.

I know an Automotive + bar would probably fit me, but I'm looking for something more like the AGI and Blackbird GT3 in terms of style. Perhaps I need something custom made.. Anyone know any fabricators??

[Magpie]

Does your seat still slide? You could remove the mounts the seat attaches to and have new ones installed to almost have the seat sitting on the floor.

You could put proper CAMS approved foam on the bar, however the foam is designed for a person wearing a helmet and is not very soft. If tracking the car you would be required to have approved foam anywhere your helmet could come in contact with the bar.

[Corey]

Yeah the drivers side still slides, but I'd like to keep it that way because it is still just used on the street at this point. The photo I posted above is of a Blackbird Fabworx bar and noting how the cage angles back for maximum room for the seat to sit back.

Here's some photos of my cage:





I could put foam on it, but I wont be wearing a helmet on the street haha

[Magpie]

Not sure what state you are in but having the roll bar that close to your head may cause you grief

SECTION LK SEATING and OCCUPANT PROTECTION
5 PADDING REQUIREMENTS
All components of the roll-over protection device in the passenger area that lie within the
defined head space area (refer to sub-section 2 of Code LK8 and figure LK15) between
710mm and 835mm or which are 150mm or less from an occupants head must be covered by
padding that meets the padding specifications detailed in Appendix B Foam Padding for
Occupant Protection in Section LZ Appendices.
Hollow pipe insulation or foams typically used for upholstery work are not acceptable for
occupant protection padding.

[Corey]

I'm in NSW, I hardly drive it because I value my life I could put some of that high density padding up there, but it's still not optimal.

[speed]

Oh man that sucks. I'm also tall and wanted to get an AGI cage but wasn't aware of this issue.
Have you spoken to them to see if they can make you one to suit your needs?

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[Tim_cyc03]

I've got a full weld in cage with even more bars for extra safety from Automotive plus, a seat that still slides and uses stock rails... I'm also about 6'3".

[NitroDann]

The AGI bar who's main point is to solve this problem is the worst bar of them all.

I routinely hit my head on only this bar.

Dann

[StillIC]

I am 6'3" and can sit on the floor (seat removed) with my helmet on and hit the padding on my AGi cage with the helmet. I think the Automotive plus 'tall boy' might be the best option, but I have not tried one. It sits further back, but lower, than the AGi.

[Magpie]

Hopefully Chefie will chip in when he finishes fitting his Sparco Sprint 5 to some custom mounts. Chefie is 6'2" and with the seat not in his preferred position (eye bolts for harness in the way) he had 300mm from his shoulder to the hard top.

If you run a tape up the back of the seat till it touches the roof, what is the measurement? Based on the photo below, if the seat is moved back a further 50mm the seat will sit another 7mm lower. As photoed there was about 90mm from the back of the seat to the Automotive Plus roll bar (as measured at the hole in the seat for the harness.

DSCN3666 by Eipeip, on Flickr

On the weekend I will finish fitting mine and then get a measurement of how much space there is between the roof and the top of my helmet.

[1600Dave]

Does it have to be CAMS approved ?

If so, there are a few other issues to consider :

The more you slant it "backwards", the lower it needs to be to fit under the roof (due to the slope of the roof / rear screen). Possbiy making the main hoop too low for CAMS approval (needs to be 50mm above driver's head, from memory)

The more you slant it back, the harder may be to meet the required angle between main hoop and rear "legs" (between 30 - 60 degrees, again from memory so check before taking this as gospel).

Even if it doesn't need to be CAMS approved, you need to consider this stuff (especially the first point for taller drivers - no point having a roll bar if your head is still the highest point of the car).

If you get really keen, grab some 2" PVC pipe from bunnings, a few joiners and a heat gun and mess around to see what works best. Then get something custom made. Its not as easy as it looks to design something that ticks all the boxes - I've been messing around with designing one lately as I have enough roll cage tube left over to make an MX5 roll bar after making a full 6 point cage for my old Datsun.

[lightyear]

Just get one made to suit, I never buy a rollbar. You want maximum room? You need to bolt the seat straight to the floor with no runners. delte the soft top, it takes up too much room meaning the rollbar needs to be lower and narrower. The Velo Milano floor mount was the lowest seat I have tried.

[Apu]

MX5 Mania have a plate that deletes the seat rail, allowing the seat to mount really close to the floor.

[greenMachine]

Just get one made to suit, I never buy a rollbar. You want maximum room? You need to bolt the seat straight to the floor with no runners. delte the soft top, it takes up too much room meaning the rollbar needs to be lower and narrower.

^^ This.

Go to one of the established manufacturers, tell them what you want, and see what they say. You will save yourself a lot of stuffing around, they can tell you what is and is not possible, legal, and practical. Preferably one who already makes and retails a MX5 rollbar, they already know the quirks of roadgoing MX5s and how that affects design.

[CrazyRacer]

I concluded that out of the off the shelf roll bars, the Brown Davis was the least bad compromise for a tall person.

It does allow the seats to go all the way back (although they rub on the bar) while giving the maximum height while doing so.

Even so its not really high enough to use with a standard seat on rails with a helmet on.

Only solution is to get a super low seat and bolt it straight to the floor.

I actually found the best driving position was with no seat and just sitting on a thin foam pad on the floor. Was contemplating getting a fibreglass shell seat made to replicate this but haven't had enough motivation (and it would cost a fortune to get FIA/ADR approved).