| Elan Rollbar |
From: "Jeff Cocking" <jeff@cocking.com>
Subject: Roll Bars for Elan?
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999
I am interested in comments and a tally of current elans.
I am really interested in comments concerning original elans, but if any Isuzu elans or Rover elises(will the integrate roll over hoop work?) have comments on roll bars installed in their convertible, would love to hear your comments/concerns.
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From: "Peter Taylor" <pete63@ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Re: Roll Bars for Elan?
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999
I have roll bars on both my Lotus Elan S4 and the integral bar on the LOTUS Elise (yes I disagree with your comments regarding the cars origins, its more of a Lotus and much more a sports car in my books than an Esprit !) The Elan has a custom built cage attached to the rear suspension towers and the backbone with some location to the body at the outer lower edges. Well constructed it should actually provide some chassis stiffening in this region too and probably braces the rear towers nicely Side impact would still worry me in an Elan but you live with that I have also seen a Spyder built roll bar on another Elan over here which looked good too, I beleive that Spyder and Dave Bean also offer a side intrusion bar which fits into the sill and integrates into the roll bar.
The Elise roll bar would offer some protection in all but the most severe accident and is braced backwards, the Sport includes some diagonal and side bracing and a forward triangulation for added stiffness.
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From: "Betty & Mike" <elan66@ccia.com>
Subject: Re: Roll Bars for Elan?
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999
I have a Safety Devices roll bar in my Elan, purchased from JAE. It fits nicely, has a nice powder coating on it, and has harness provisions. There are optional side intrusion bars available. I have also installed the Safety Devices padding to help protect the noggin. I can't help but think that it helps stiffen the car, although not like a full cage. I have seen rolled Elans, and while not a cure all, a bar could help save your life. I can't comment on the effects regarding convertible tops, as my car is a coupe. I can say that it does not look out of place. A roll bar is OK for street use, but obviously competition use requires a cage.
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From: M426hemi@aol.com
Subject: Re: Roll Bars for Elan?
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999
I have a roll bar in my Elan. It would probably keep my head from being crushed all the way to my lap, but would not stop it from impacting the ground in a roll-over. I don't know the origins of my roll bar, but it appears to be a professional job. I think a local race shop put it in for the previous owner. It is low enough to allow the top to be raised and lowered. I have no experience, or knowledge about the D. Bean bar.
The one thing it does allow me to do is run in track events. It also might help a little in an impact/roll-over, but since most of the vehicles I would be facing here in SE Michigan are Sport-Utes, I would realistically be slightly more than a "speed bump" as they barreled over/through me.
Marc Hemmye
71 Elan S4SE
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From: "Betty & Mike" <elan66@ccia.com>
Subject: Re: Roll Bars for Elan?
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999
>Sorry for all the questions, I have seen some (and Bean sells one) that is
>mainly cosmetic. Cosmetic won't save your life.
I'm not sure what you mean by cosmetic. Maybe the one I have is too. It mounts to the chassis at the upper rear towers and at the chassis flange near the inside seat belt mount. The intrusion beams would mount to the bar itself near the outside seat belt mount and extend thru the rocker and end on the chassis flange near wher your feet . would be. The seats cannot be mounted to the bar or vice versa. So, there are 4 points of mounting, with 2 more added with the side beams. The primary objective is to keep the weight of the car from crushing you in a mild rollover, I think this bar would help in this case . To put more than this in anything but a race car is probably overkill. I believe the tubes are about 2 1/2 inch.