Roll over hoops - part 3

It was time to drill the hole for the third leg of each hoop in the boot floor and start to drill the holes in the deck on the body!

First I applied masking tape to the area behind the seats (the deck), to avoid any drill marks, should I slip. The saddles were then fixed with the loosely fitted nuts and bolts, where the wishbones are fixed to the chassis rear most mounting point. Once in place the holes were marked from underneath. I marked the outer edges of the saddles and the hole centre lines. After moving the saddles, I then then marked the hole centres and drilled a pilot hole. Not a lot of space to do this! Once the holes were drilled, the saddles were moved out of the way - they can be rotated on the bolts. Each hole was then opened out with a hole saw from within the boot making sure that the mounting hole was central.

Third hole drilled in boot floor. Bolt helps see if it is centred.

Next a plumb line was used to mark the point to drill under the deck. The plumb line gave a vertical reference to the hole centre. To do this I had to climb into the boot, so that I could see the lower hole and mark the underside of the deck, to get a centre to drill a pilot hole. Using the 90deg attachment for my drill I made a small hole upwards. This was then checked with the plumb line to make sure it was were I thought! Slight adjustments were made to the holes.

Plumb line through top hole

Checked holes were in line

Final check that mounting point lined up. You can see that the hole centre is slightly off

Next, out came the bigger hole cutter. I used a spirit level on the drill to make sure that I drilled straight down. Using the pilot hole I drilled from the outside of the rear deck into the boot. This was repeated at the other side. One leg of the roll over hoop was then offered through the hole to make sure it fit.

First leg in place

Both outer holes drilled and roll over bars inserted back to front

At this point I wanted to check that I could secure the legs in place. However, the bolts supplied would not go in through the outside holes due to the shock absorber mounting points. A quick call to the factory and I was advised that a stud was used to secure it to the chassis. The wrong bolts had been packed by a former employee and not checked before they went out. The threaded section of the bolts are not long enough to cut down, so studs and nuts will be sent from the factory!

So not to be beaten, I marked and drilled a second hole for the nearside bar (the bars are supposed to be 304mm centres - they were not - one was 306mm and the other 300mm). These can be sprung apart with a wooden block/jack or pulled together with ratchet straps. With a small amount of trimming the two legs of the nearside roll over hoop went through to the chassis and on to its mounting points.

Nearside bar in its reversed position. Just the third hole to drill here.

The two legs within the boot

Then I marked and drilled the pilot hole for the off side hoop's second leg. Curiously this was 10mm wider than the roll over hoop fitting centres (the centres were 300mm wide), so at this point I went inside and got a glass of wine and tried to work out why! Tomorrow may bring a solution!