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Need some help on a roll bar

5K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  1937Austin 
#1 ·
Going to put a roll cage in my 33 plymouth sedan and I figure it'd be better to buy a kit. I have one friend that has a bender but he doesn't have the 1 5/8 dies, plus the tubing i can get is .125 wall thickness so it won't pass NHRA specs. I don't know if I'll ever have it certified but I'd rather know it would. Outside to outside on my main hoop needs to be 48 in, anyone got any measurements on their hot rod? I found one for a early chevy like Valls, I had a 40 coupe but can't remember how wide it was inside. The rest of the bars I can get by. I can make small bends if I need to, but 90 degrees ain't going to happen.
 
#4 ·
I got a deal coming from S&W race cars where you fill out all the measurements and send it back in plus a new catalog. I used to order a lot from them when I was racing door cars. I'm still going to try and find something the same width so I can price around, if Jegs had something I could go and pick it up. Shipping is crazy anymore.
 
#7 ·
Yeah, I had to send my disc brake kit back to Speedway because I mistakenly ordered the wrong kit, so had to pay return shipping. I got sticker shock when UPS told me the price! And then they added they wouldn't cover damage on my insurance unless I paid them extra to re-pack it too! Funny part was it was in the exact same packing UPS shipped it to me in, and not packed by UPS. Those UPS stores are rip off joints!
 
#8 ·
Vall

do you use the USPS prepaid flat rate priority shipping boxes? I'm betting the brake kit would have fit in the large size (70 lbs), shipped for $18.30 and the post office picks it up for free.
 
#9 ·
do you use the USPS prepaid flat rate priority shipping boxes? I'm betting the brake kit would have fit in the large size (70 lbs), shipped for $18.30 and the post office picks it up for free.
I do use USPS flat rate boxes, and have most sizes here. But even the largest size wouldn't be large enough to put the parts in as they were in the Speedway boxes. And I figured if I unpacked them to fit in smaller boxes, they might not credit them back against the new disc brake set.
 
#11 ·
That Holley carb would have fit in a large $19 flat rate box, but surprised USPS accepted it at all? Those 4 questions they ask about anything "liquid, fragile, hazardous, or ????" would make the used Holley carb not allowed. Unless it was new, or freshly rebuilt, so no gas smell. They have sniffers at their sorting stations, and usually gasoline smell will kick a package off the line.
 
#12 ·
have you tried making a model of your intended roll bar design, say using PVC tubing? It's easy to cut and bend, you can tape it, glue it, screw it, or whatever you need to do to make it fit. then you can measure that as well as take pics so you can design it exactly how you want it to fit.
 

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#14 ·
U may try to save the tubes. Cardboard tubes found at the center of toilet paper, wrapping paper and paper towel rolls are super handy around the house. The next time you're about to throw one in the recycling bin, stop and give it a second life with one of these tips.
 
#15 ·
Whether you end up wasting tubing really depends on the person knowing his bender well enough. For those who do this a lot there's zero waste, but for those who don't there might be waste even if you build a mockup from PVC!
I've worked with tubing benders all my working career as an electrician, and calculating deducts for bends, and which direction to bend was something you rarely thought about. We did so much of it that a good guy on a bender could bend up 6 copies of the same various bends, and lay them side by side and they were perfect copies.
I just wish I'd kept the bender my old employer offered me. But at the time I looked at how much space it took up in it's big steel box, and returned it when I was done. I always figured I'd go borrow it again, but last time I was there the security had increased where you couldn't get into the building, or see someone without prior appointment, and the tool/materials area was off limits to non employees.
 
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