Roll bar fit

 This job has definitely had it's ups and downs. After getting the body fitted, I got the main roll bar in place. That just needed a couple of fairly large slots cut in the back;

I really like how it looks, particularly the lower bar that fits perfectly in the lower curve. The one thing it does show is how unbalanced the shell is. While everything is centred, the drivers side took a much deeper and angled cut compared to the passenger side. You do need to look pretty closely to see it but it's definitely there. I'm happy with how it will sit with the wheels as well.

So on to the rear braces. This was a long winded process and was extremely scary. The first stage was a broad layer of masking tape to mark and drill, a small hole roughly in the right place, and some string to see how close I was;

First attempt didn't look too bad, but actually just looking at these photos now I realise that I needed to go right as well as back. Still, I didn't notice that at the time...

I used an old offcut at the right angle to see where I needed to cut. After lots of trimming and filing, I got a hole big enough for the post;

Unfortunately I think it was a bit bigger than I had really planned, so instead of just plastic P trim around the edge I'm going to need a bezel. But since that's good enough for Cobras, it's good enough for me!

I tried a quick paper template and it looks good to me. I just need to figure out what material to make it out of. Normally it's a chrome bezel in a rubber grommet. I'll use a rubber grommet but not chrome as very little else will be chrome. I do have some spare aluminium pieces that will work well.

I do like the look of it though, it really works well. Once the second one is in place that'll be it. It did remind me that the rear roll bar braces have mounting plates that aren't braced themselves, so I need to sort that out.

Oh, and having the body on shows the front frame is way too high!!

That looks to be two to three inches too high, which makes a lot of sense given how high the bonnet was.