Roll over hoops - part 4

A glass of wine and a good night's sleep sorted out the measurement discrepancy. It was simply that I had measured the body surface and this was curved. So it was similar to having a triangle and the sloping side was longer! Once I put a level and measure on I saw that the holes were in the right place. Phew!

So I was raring to go. I cut out the remaining big hole (50 mm to start with), then made sure that the hoops fitted. They did.

Bars fitted back to front to check hole spacing

Using the plumb line, I marked the underside of the deck and drilled a pilot hole upwards. I then cut out the smaller hole (40mm to start with) for the third leg from the top of the deck. I tried to open up thehoop legs so that the holes were 304mm apart using a hydraulic jack , but that did not work. They sprung back.

Trying to spread the bar legs

After opening up the holes a little, I fed the roll over hoop into the holes, then removed it and adjusted the holes again with the Dremel. This was a bit like doing the hokey cokey, in out, in out .... until it was right, opening up the hole by a small amount each time until the legs of the hoop seated on the mounting points of the chassis.

One bar done

Then it was on to the next one. A repeat of the first hoop.

Both bars/hoops fitted

The rear legs needed a bit of springing to get them in the holes, but an easy job. So the main holes were cut and the bars fitted. Done!

Now the hole needed opening up to allow a 5mm gap around each leg of the bar for the grommets. To make sure this was a perfectly round hole I marked it using a pencil and the inside of a washer.

Hole marked up to allow 5mm gap around hoop leg

One very happy Cobra builder. Next I will aim to fit hoops with the grommets and escutcheons.