Breeze Roll Bar question

[jackboeker83]

I am coming back from Afghanistan in the next couple of months and have just a few more things to do until she is street ready. I think the shorter and fatter roll bar looks better than the long and skinny one. Has anyone installed it and if so what is the best way. When I get back I only have a few more things to do before I take it to get all the bodywork done and then get it registered. I plan on having the body shop install the doors and get everything ready (roll bar, doors, hood and trunk) while I am on leave with the family so when I get back I can get her registered and drive her for a couple of months before I get her painted. I have posted pics below for your enjoyment.

this is what I am looking at
http://www.breezeautomotive.com/details.php?prod_id=932

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[edwardb]

First, thank you for your service. Congrats on your build. It's looking great. You're about to enter a fun time getting to finally drive it!

I installed the Breeze roll bar on my Mk4 build. I also like the lower and fatter look from the 1-1/2 inch Mk4 roll bars. Mk3's were always a little too fat, Mk4 a little tall and skinny. At least to my eye. Honestly, there isn't a lot to add though. The instructions (as usual for Breeze) are good. I assume you know the third leg has to be welded to fit your exact chassis. Once assembled, it fits through the normal roll bar hole locations, with extension pieces that slide down into the chassis roll bar stubs. You have to drill for all the mounting holes, and the alignment is pretty critical to get everything to slide into place. But it's similar work as the stock version. I went with the plain steel version and had it chrome plated. I've seen several go with the stainless version and then polish it. Others have it powder coated. Just depends on the look you're going for. If you want trim rings on the body, Russ Thompson will make a set in the 1-3/4 inch size. That's what I used. Couple pictures of mine:

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'll add a "Thank You for your service" as well!

I recently completed a customer car with a pair of the Breeze stainless bars. Fitting is a little tedious. Best bet is to weld them on the chassis but if that is not possible edwardb came up with an ingenious method of jigging them up to be welded off of the car. Hopefully he'll chime back in with details and photos; if not you'll find it in the later part of his build thread.

Jeff

[edwardb]

Yea Jeff, I can share. I agree probably the best is to weld the roll bar while on the chassis. But I didn't want to do that for several reasons, so made this fixture mostly out of scrap stuff around the shop. Took it to the welder and he finished it up. I don't weld. I would say it worked "pretty well." I still had to adjust the alignments slightly because they do have to be almost perfect for everything to slide into place. Metal does move around a bit when heated during welding, and this fixture didn't stop it. But it got the job done. Hope this helps.

[jackboeker83]

Ok from what I read I will more than likely just have to body shop do this since welding is involved and the guy I am taking it to is very skilled. I am going to powder coat them black so which ones should I get?

I was very close to having it ready before I deployed to Afghanistan but the wife said that I needed to spend more time with her instead of getting the car done... now she is on my a$$ about getting it done because she wants to ride. lol Cant ever win with women. I will be home for about a month before I go on leave and will have people helping me so I believe I can have it done by the time I get back.
I am going over things that I need to do when I get back and from what I remember the only big things I need to get done are:
Install Windshield (pretty nervous about this)
Install Roll bar (probably going to have the body shop since I don't weld)
Install lights and small accessories (harness and everything is already ran)
Install inside fender flares

[2bking]

I too have the Breeze roll bars. The slanted leg has a joint at the body line but the method of attachment there is very sketchy. I have searched the forums for pictures of that joint and found none with the fastener showing. I found a statement that said to use one screw on the back side and tap the inner tube so the fastener will only go through the one wall. I found there was enough room to put two 5/16-18 socket head screws there. I'm looking for suggestions.

[DaleG]

I'm at the same point as King; looking for the best way to fit-up for welding the leg to the hoop. Maybe test fit, get holes drilled. set the leg to the hoop, then tack weld and remove for final welding? I could get my wife to do the tack welds and then take to a pro for the clean TIG welding. Only concern there is the welding; will disconnecting the + and - cables from the battery be sufficient to keep from frying anything?

[edwardb]

I too have the Breeze roll bars. The slanted leg has a joint at the body line but the method of attachment there is very sketchy. I have searched the forums for pictures of that joint and found none with the fastener showing. I found a statement that said to use one screw on the back side and tap the inner tube so the fastener will only go through the one wall. I found there was enough room to put two 5/16-18 socket head screws there. I'm looking for suggestions.

I was able to get a bolt through this joint and a washer and lock nut on the other side. It's right below the inside body surface, and angled up and toward the front corner of the car (looking from inside the trunk). It's tight but I was able to make it work. I wouldn't be happy if there wasn't a through bolt. I guess I could take a picture, but it wouldn't show much. Only the head of the bolt from the back. The nut and washer are on the other side and not visible from the trunk opening.

Also, if you're using trim rings, pay attention to where that goes through. You don't want a nut from the trim ring mounting trying to occupy the same area as the mounting bolts for the roll bar. (Ask me how I know that...)

I'm at the same point as King; looking for the best way to fit-up for welding the leg to the hoop. Maybe test fit, get holes drilled. set the leg to the hoop, then tack weld and remove for final welding? I could get my wife to do the tack welds and then take to a pro for the clean TIG welding. Only concern there is the welding; will disconnecting the + and - cables from the battery be sufficient to keep from frying anything?

That's exactly why I fixtured mine and took it off the car for welding. My wiring was 100% completed and I didn't want to mess with it. Even disconnecting the battery cables may not be enough. If you have an MSD box (which I do), they say to completely disconnect it as well. If that thing is sensitive to surges, I can imagine other components could be as well. I just didn't want welding anywhere near the build at that point.

[DaleG]

Edward, I know the jigs are probably pretty straight-forward to fabricate, but since it is already done and it works (and if you still have the pieces) would you consider sending them to me? I'll pay for postage here and back to you, plus a loaded Starbucks card.

[JKolbfleisch]

Jack, glad to hear you'll be back to "The Great Place" soon. Shortly after seeing your MK4, I finally ordered mine. Unfortunately I am now enroute to Fort Drum, NY. Would've been nice to tap into your experience. Good Luck!

[2bking]

I plotted the body surface intersection on the roll bar leg to determine the area available for the bolts. Since I haven't done the final body fitting, I wanted to err on the side of caution. I didn't think there was adequate room for a through bolt so I opted for the one wall approach. On the forward side on the slanted tube there is about 2" of tube below the body at the joint. I matched drilled the tubes for 5/16-18 threads and drilled the outer tube to clear the head of the socket head screws. Since the locations for the screws weren't critical, I did this off the car. Drilling the outer tube to clear the head makes aligning the threads and holes a lot easier when assembling the bars with the body on. When the screws are seated, the heads carry the load of the outside tube. Using two screws gives the same shear strength as a through bolt.

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[jackboeker83]

Jack, glad to hear you'll be back to "The Great Place" soon. Shortly after seeing your MK4, I finally ordered mine. Unfortunately I am now enroute to Fort Drum, NY. Would've been nice to tap into your experience. Good Luck!

I will be on my way to Ft Dix, NJ in October! Not to far from you!! Not by Texas standards anyway.

[MPTech]

I also installed the Breeze roll-bars (I have the stainless-steel version and considering having them polished) and REALLY like them for the reasons you mentioned (shorter, fatter, angled, no bolt on rear leg). I also installed my high-back seats to follow the rollbar angle, looks better!
During my build, after go-kart, I temp installed the roll-bars and drove the car to a local shop that welded stainless-steel. They put 3 small temp tacks on each bar, I drove the car home, removed the bars, took them back to the shop, then they did a solid weld completely around each bar.
I re-installed them and marked where the body was in the trunk on the rear legs. When I took the body off for paint, I installed them again and drilled all of the through bolt holes. Just an FYI, I burned up 2 brand new drill bits, drilling those stainless pipes, they are pretty tuff!
I also contacted Russ Thompson and he fab'd up a set of grommets (in-fact, mine was the first set he created and he sent me a proto-type set to try on my roadster before fabbing the first finished set) (Thanks Again Russ!)






Your build looks great! Really like the Coyote and the black wheels look good on there (very baddazz, if that's the look you were going for, you nailed it). Are you going with black accents? (side-pipes and roll-bars)

I also want to thank you for your service and stay safe!

[jackboeker83]

I also installed the Breeze roll-bars (I have the stainless-steel version and considering having them polished) and REALLY like them for the reasons you mentioned (shorter, fatter, angled, no bolt on rear leg). I also installed my high-back seats to follow the rollbar angle, looks better!
During my build, after go-kart, I temp installed the roll-bars and drove the car to a local shop that welded stainless-steel. They put 3 small temp tacks on each bar, I drove the car home, removed the bars, took them back to the shop, then they did a solid weld completely around each bar.
I re-installed them and marked where the body was in the trunk on the rear legs. When I took the body off for paint, I installed them again and drilled all of the through bolt holes. Just an FYI, I burned up 2 brand new drill bits, drilling those stainless pipes, they are pretty tuff!
I also contacted Russ Thompson and he fab'd up a set of grommets (in-fact, mine was the first set he created and he sent me a proto-type set to try on my roadster before fabbing the first finished set) (Thanks Again Russ!)






Your build looks great! Really like the Coyote and the black wheels look good on there (very baddazz, if that's the look you were going for, you nailed it). Are you going with black accents? (side-pipes and roll-bars)

I also want to thank you for your service and stay safe!

Thanks for the comment and yes I will be going with the black accents. The paint will be a dark metallic grey with black gloss stripes and black accents. Everything will be black all the way to the windshield frame. Wanted to go with the more modern badazz look lol

[edwardb]

Edward, I know the jigs are probably pretty straight-forward to fabricate, but since it is already done and it works (and if you still have the pieces) would you consider sending them to me? I'll pay for postage here and back to you, plus a loaded Starbucks card.

Hey Dale. I dug through my scrap metal box and found the pieces. So, yes, I still have them. Nothing fancy but did work OK. I had to look at my pictures to remember how I had it assembled. PM with your details and I can send them to you if you really want.

[edwardb]

Hey Dale. I dug through my scrap metal box and found the pieces. So, yes, I still have them. Nothing fancy but did work OK. I had to look at my pictures to remember how I had it assembled. PM with your details and I can send them to you if you really want.

Dale -- Just saw your visitor message, and responded. Sorry for the delay. I bet you thought I was ignoring you.

[DaleG]

Not at all. Just in no hurry; plenty of other stuff to do.

[JKolbfleisch]

I will be on my way to Ft Dix, NJ in October! Not to far from you!! Not by Texas standards anyway.

Ha ... actually not too far! I'm from Maryland and will driving now every now and then ... so might get a chance to meet up at some point. Depending on how busy work keeps me and any deployments, I'd like to have it driveable by end of the year.

[LuckyWinner]

Hey, stop off and drink a coffee from GreenBean for me while you sit and watch the Polish Soldiers drink a beer. lol. Love your rims brother!!!