Cool Tech Roll Bar Install

A few weeks ago we shipped out one of our roll bar kits to the nice folks at StrictlyFords in upstate NY. They were kind enough to send us a couple of pictures of the install which I have included below. The customer chose a satin-black finish for this car. I think there are several differences between our roll bar kit and others, but two of the major differences are 1) the kick-back of the harness bar allows the driver's seat to retain full fore/aft movement (for taller drivers), and; 2) our bar kit installs in cars with or without a rear seat delete kit.

Thanks again to Frank and the good folks at StrictlyFords.

I guess they didn't send any photos of actual install or mounting points.

I guess they didn't send any photos of actual install or mounting points.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. However, I believe this has been covered in older threads but in brief....

The main hoop is attached to the reinforced (high strength steel) beam that runs across the car at the front edge of the rear seats. This beam is literally un-drillable - so attachment options are not straightforward. It is one of the strongest parts of the car and our kit as well as the Watson kit places the main hoop here to prevent any possibility of punch-through.

As for the down-tubes, we mount them to an OEM reinforced area adjacent to the shoulder belt attachment point. Both double and triple-walled sheetmetal in this area and we use a 1" 90-degree "lip" across the pad to butt against a vertical bulkhead and further mitigate shear forces.

I know this is a very silly question, but I'm just lurking around on the forums. How much do these things usually run for? How hard is the install? The closest I've done to this was install a light bar on the convertible, but it wasn't a functional roll bar and was quite easy. Just cutting into the plastic, bolting in the bar, doing some wiring, done. Guessing this is much more complicated than that.

Comparing this to other options and would really like to see two things:

1) Where the rear legs mount; and

2) Where the main hoop passes up through the side trim - specifically looking to see if it requires cutting of the Ford Performance rear seat delete kit down low at the front or if instead I'm only going to have to trim my second-hand spare plastic side panels.

altjx said:

I know this is a very silly question, but I'm just lurking around on the forums. How much do these things usually run for? How hard is the install? The closest I've done to this was install a light bar on the convertible, but it wasn't a functional roll bar and was quite easy. Just cutting into the plastic, bolting in the bar, doing some wiring, done. Guessing this is much more complicated than that.

Click to expand...

Interested as well.

Good questions. I thought I saw other install where the rear legs pass next to the seat and not drill the plastic?

Also some detail from the front mount would be helpful.

I'm ready to buy a roll bar but need some clarification.

Come on Cool tech.. help us out, and maybe you'll sell a few roll bars while your at it.

After seeing Todd's accident, I'd like to have something like this for my road course visits... just would like to see how it is installed.

Hey Cooltech guys - just bumping this back to the top to see if you've been able to get some more detailed pics of an installation.

Specifically, I'm interested in seeing how (if at all) the OEM "R" rear seat delete panel needs to be cut at the bottom corners and how the rear down tubes attach to the chassis.

Thanks in advance!!!

Muligan - Many apologies for my delinquency in addressing your questions. I simply don't get to this forum as often as I should.

Regarding the installation. There are two primary components in the kit - the main hoop assembly (with diagonal) and then the downtubes. Let's discuss each.

The main hoop does NOT attach to the floor of the car but rather the high-strength steel BEAM that runs across the car just under the front edge of the rear seat (if present). Believe it or not (I didn't) this beam is un-drillable. Trust me. Creating a kit for this car would be SO much easier if it was - but it is NOT. So, our kit includes a Left and a RIGHT base plate constructed entirely of 3/16" steel. We use existing holes in the BEAM and some rather clever "nut sticks" so that you can secure our Base Plates to this beam. (Those that are more serious may elect to optionally weld the base plates but most owners will opt for bolt-in.) With these Base Plates in place, the Main Hoop attaches to them with (4) Grade 8 bolts per side. So far, NO modifications to you car.

The Down Tubes need to go to a reinforced area of the car and we chose the box structure that is reinforced to hold the OEM shoulder harness spool. The sheetmetal is doubled and tripled in this area. Because of the angle of the Down Tubes, most of the forces are shear forces and our plates incorporate a 1" up-turned lip to butt against the vertical wall anchoring the shoulder belt spool. You will need to drill 4 holes (per side) to mount the Down Tubes with access through the rear wheel well area. The kit also incorporates a backing plate (per side).

Interior modifications: The ONLY panel that needs to be modified is the plastic side trim pieces (with the pseudo arm-rest incorporated). I hole needs to be drilled into this panel in order for the Down Tube to pass through. Additionally, there is some very minor trimming of this SAME PANEL for the Base Plates. Please note that these plastic OEM back seat side panels are the same between virtually ALL Mustang trim levels. The GT, GT350, GT350R all use the same panel here so I hope owners don't have too much concern to drill them. This is the ONLY trim piece that is modified.

We'd love to sell a zillion roll bars - but we must caution that despite that we allow the rear seat to stay in place, you can NEVER have rear seat passengers with a roll bar present. Even a minor traffic accident could cause a person to strike their head on the roll bar causing severe injury or death. We advertise our advantage of leaving the seat in place NOT to encourage rear seat passengers but solely as a cost/aesthetics savings as we don't force you to buy a rear seat delete kit. Please NEVER allow rear seat passengers. We'll gladly forego a zillion sales to save one life or injury.

As someone who wants to install a roll bar this winter i need to decide between Cool Tech and Watson.
I have seen the Watson front down tube install, but I would like to see the Cool Tech front tube install before i make a decision.

Anyone with photos??

Thanks

Rimox51 said:

As someone who wants to install a roll bar this winter i need to decide between Cool Tech and Watson.
I have seen the Watson front down tube install, but I would like to see the Cool Tech front tube install before i make a decision.

Anyone with photos??

Thanks

Click to expand...

What exactly are you looking for (picture-wise)? I have the instructions for mine, but haven't installed yet. I can take a pic of the pictures in the instructions.

strengthrehab said:

What exactly are you looking for (picture-wise)? I have the instructions for mine, but haven't installed yet. I can take a pic of the pictures in the instructions.

Click to expand...

Mounting points.. main hoop, how the base plate mounts to the hump at front of rear seat and the location of rear mounts

Mounting points.. main hoop, how the base plate mounts to the hump at front of rear seat and the location of rear mounts

Click to expand...

Inexplicably, I don't have any good pics of the main tube base plates on the car - but here's a picture of the Passenger-side baseplate held up to the beam of our BendPak. Note that the actual beam on the Mustang is maybe twice as wide. Also, when bolted in place on the Mustang the top plate (where the main hoop mounts) is perfectly level. You can see one of the mounting holes and the other one is covered up by my thumb. These holes will align with existing holes in the OEM crossbeam. These plates attach to the rear-side of the beam and sit low enough as to not interfere with the bottom cushion of the seat. The kit includes custom "nut sticks" that allow you to position and hold a nut behind the hole so you can secure with the included bolt. Note that there is a wrap-around gusset immediately under the base for the roll bar. This is angled and conforms to the top of the OEM beam. Downward forces on this wrap-around gusset are transmitted directly to the beam - mitigating shear forces on the aforementioned attachment bolts.

Our install instructions advise you to mount these base plates but leave them a little bit loose. After that the roll bar main hoop can be bolted to the top of these plates (the initial looseness of the base plates give you some jiggle-room to get all the bolts started). When all of the bolts are started, everything can be tightened and it is incredibly strong with loads transferred to the OEM beam.

What exactly are the "nutsticks" and how do they work.