Real roll bar

 After deciding how things were going to be set up, I placed the order. And here it is!

OK, yes it's just a bunch of tubes at the moment, but just by the weight of them I can tell they will do the job.

A big shoutout to Race Spec Cages, AKA Tube Bender on Ebay. I asked about the removable links between the hoop and the struts, and he suggested the clamps could work even though it was off centre. The clamps are lying on the hoop in the picture above. With a solution for removable links in hand I went ahead and ordered it. It cost me £140 all in, which is roughly what I expected for the three bars, the bent hoop and the brackets. 

A quick fit against the drain pipe version shows that it's slightly taller, which isn't a bad thing. I've got to finish the ends ready for the plate, and the struts are actually long enough to reach the taller hoop so I'm tempted to run it at the slight height increase. It doesn't affect the cross brace, as you can see in the photo I requested a bar long enough to fit anywhere in the hoop. 

Next step is to make the mounting plates ready to weld to the bottom of the hoops and struts. Then I'll level off the hoop and angle the ends correctly, then start lining everything up. It's a fair bit of work to be honest, but it's a nice 'isolated' block. I don't have to rely on anything else included in the test fit.

Of course, it'll all change when the bodywork goes back on as I'll need to thread it through, but that should be a minor challenge. 

Oh, and it all needs cleaning! It's all scaled up and oily, as you would expect out of an engineering shop. A quick degrease then ten minutes with an appropriate cleaning disc on the angry grinder will sort it.