The day after getting
the tube bent, I began measuring, trial fitting the front and rear hoops. In my
plans, I decided that the roll cage was going to be as near as possible to the
side and roof panels, with approx.
5 - 10mm gaps. As you can see, they fit like a glove.... Now I'm pleased !
The hoops will be sitting on
7mm X 7cm steel plate. The front hoop plate will be bolted through the floor
to another steel plate, that will be bolted to the frame. The rear hoop will
also be bolted in the same fashion.
As you can see in the pictures to the right, there is a load barrier in front of the front hoop.
My Land Rover is registered as a light duty van, so it's
required by law. When I first registered the Landy
in Sweden, I simply placed the load barrier on top of the tubs bulkhead, bolted
it in the holes from the seat
belts and then to the side panels.
After driving the the Landy with the barrier
in that position, I felt cramped, and uncomfortable. So, this
time, I moved the load barrier back from the bulkhead
6 cm. At this position, the
front seats can now be fully
reclined ( there's only 4 positions ), giving me a more
comfortable driving position and
the load barrier is just
touching the back of the head rests.
But because of the position
of the load barrier, I had to place the front hoop farther back in the tub. I
didn't want loose so much floor space to the roll cage, but it was necessary.
Also, within the front hoop, there
will be a diagonal tube that goes down from the drivers side.
In the top picture, you'll
see the distance between the 2 hoops is now shorter, actually just 91 cm. I now
decided that 4 runners will connect the front & rear hoops. I also,
decided to place the 2 top runners just
under 2 of the roofs ribs. The other 2 runners will be just between the upper
window line and the side panel
and roof line.
Once the measurements were
finished, I began cutting the tubing to length, ie. the runners, the diagonal
and rear supports. To ease the fish mouth trimming of the tubes, I cut a piece
of paper to size, supported
it with tape and used it as my template for all of the fish mouth connections.
This little trick gave consistence
cuts for every tube end. Awesome trick, that I highly recommend.
I don't have the luxury of
owning a MIG welder, so everything had to packed up and sent to work, where
I welded everything together, after hours. (A welder is on my x-mas wish list)
Welding everything together this way is not ideal. Everything
should have been tack welded in the Landy,
allowing for any fine adjustments. Welding
the runners was difficult, especially trying to
keep them level, in
2 positions ( side to side and up and down ). But I was
pleased with the results. the roll cage
is just 5 - 6 mm
out from square.
On the rear hoop, you can
see that the 2 support tubes are angled into the top corners. I originally
planned
to simply place them next to the door opening, running up and down. BUT, some
friends suggested more
triangulation in the roll cage. Yes, the front diagonal tube has added overall
strength to the roll cage, but
the rear hoop needed more impact support. Simply angling these supports,
has improved impact stiffness
at the rear of the Landy.
