$1300 to spend. Thoughts?

[SimJen]

not going to be a homologated bar, not interested in that.
Just want something that looks the part, and offers a lot more protection than a thin style bar.
A harness bar would be easier to ad seperately later on, between seatbelt mounts.

[WideOpenThrottle]

Ideally the main hoop wants to be one complete piece.

[SimJen]

the main hoop is one complete piece, due to the position of the seats and the fact i wanted the main hoop as wide as possible (so not just between the seatbelt towers), its made to fit as far forward as possible while still clearing your head. Not a fan of the narrow bars as they look strange!
A harness bar would just bolt behind on the seatbelt mounting bolts and would be an easy retrofit, similar to the TR Lane bars from the UK.
Its really only for my piece of mind, you don't need a bar for trackdays or even club events, so don't see the need for a Manz approved bar.
When I do get it on track it will give better protection than nothing at all.

[Mad Kiwi]

Hi Simjen

I understand where your coming from but what if the track bug bites and you have all that time and effort in to a bar that for 10% more you could have a legal one....The sports car club, Auckland car club and many others do require a legal bar for many of there events.

Also, I believe you will add value to the car with a Manz legal roll bar whereas a non legal one wouldn't...

I spent 12 months waiting for a car with legal roll bar etc to come up and would have bought it in a heart beat....but gave up and bought a car without...

Just food for thought.....

[SimJen]

I doubt I'll use it for much track work to be honest, mostly just a bit of blatting around on the road, perhaps the odd hillclimb?
I ride bikes mostly and prefer 2 wheels, the MX5 is just a bit of a toy to play with

[Mr. Shine]

I understand where your coming from but what if the track bug bites and you have all that time and effort in to a bar that for 10% more you could have a legal one....The sports car club, Auckland car club and many others do require a legal bar for many of there events.

This is interesting... do they require it to actually be homologated, or just up to homologation specifications?

[SimJen]

for a lot of basic events you can get away without one!
Things like sprints etc run by car clubs, and obviously trackdays have no requirement!
Mine will never be a true track car, if it was it would be easier just to get a pro to build a full cage as that would be far safer anyway!
For the regs check out: http://www.motorsport.org.nz/assets/Mot ... A-2010.pdf
and Schedule C is for the smaller club events which most will be more interested in http://www.motorsport.org.nz/assets/Mot ... C-2010.pdf

[Mr. Shine]

for a lot of basic events you can get away without one!
Things like sprints etc run by car clubs, and obviously trackdays have no requirement!
Mine will never be a true track car, if it was it would be easier just to get a pro to build a full cage as that would be far safer anyway!
For the regs check out: http://www.motorsport.org.nz/assets/Mot ... A-2010.pdf
and Schedule C is for the smaller club events which most will be more interested in http://www.motorsport.org.nz/assets/Mot ... C-2010.pdf

For open cars at least a roll bar is mandatory for all events, however for basic/clubsport events it doesn't need to be homologated if the vehicle is road registered.

Trackdays can have their own rules and do what they want though, of course.

[Growler]

For all it’s worth I wouldn’t worry about a roll bar if you don’t intend to do much track work etc. If you wanted to stiffen up the body, I would look at the factory bracing. Most of it does the job fairly well and it’s cost effective.
Personally I would look at opening up the exhaust, a pod filter or similar and then getting a decent tune – even on a rolling road.
Secondary to that I would look at wheels then suspension.
Unfortunately you don't get much for $1300 these days...

[Angreal]

Personally I would look at opening up the exhaust, a pod filter or similar and then getting a decent tune – even on a rolling road.

So with the decent tune, how does one do this? Does this mean reflashing the ECU? Or is this similar to getting a Power Commander on a motorbike and then getting it retuned?

[Mr. Shine]

For all it’s worth I wouldn’t worry about a roll bar if you don’t intend to do much track work etc. If you wanted to stiffen up the body, I would look at the factory bracing. Most of it does the job fairly well and it’s cost effective.
Personally I would look at opening up the exhaust, a pod filter or similar and then getting a decent tune – even on a rolling road.
Secondary to that I would look at wheels then suspension.
Unfortunately you don't get much for $1300 these days...

Thanks for your advice. I've yet to set tyre on a track, but it's something I've wanted to get involved in for a while (and once I get new pads sorted it'll be on the cards). It's completely bare in the rear without a soft top either, so I think a rollbar would fill it out very nicely.

Wheels are sorted, a set of late-NA semi-hollow 14" alloys, supposedly coming in at ~4.9kg each and they'll be wrapped in probably RE001s once they've been refurbished. I don't expect to get any power out of the B6ZE unless I go forced induction, so I'm not sure that engine modifications are worth my while... for now

Currently I'm leaning towards getting a hopefully MSNZ-spec roll bar (but not bothering with homologation/authority cards) and banking the rest of the money towards suspension, hopefully after Christmas comes. But I'm enjoying the discussion so far!

[Growler]

Personally I would look at opening up the exhaust, a pod filter or similar and then getting a decent tune – even on a rolling road.

So with the decent tune, how does one do this? Does this mean reflashing the ECU? Or is this similar to getting a Power Commander on a motorbike and then getting it retuned?

No. Getting the car tuned to the best possible settings (Fuel, spark etc).

[SLYDIT]

you can't retune the factory ecu, but you can chip it to remove the rev limit and lean it out a bit.(the mx5 runs pig rich on factory tune)