Hello
I will be picking this 1972 914 up this month

it was used as a racer

It is street legal and I will be using it solely for pleasure driving

I will be driving some curvy back roads mostly

Do you think I should remove the rollbar

I can get in but its not the easiest move for me.

Will this be a huge job or relatively easy

Thanks

looks like rear hoop is bolted in... only door bars welded???? better pics on the hoop where it meets the frame... bolted to the hump?

welded in; you will need a grinder/cut off tools; since you are bringing it back to street use, I would try to salvage the bar for sale to a club member. take out seats and cut it off, leaving as much as possible for the buyer of the bar. if you are a smaller person, leave it in. if you are a bigger person, from what you said earlier, cut it out.

You should have seen Elliot try to get in/out of the Screaming Yellow Zonker...

For street driving go ahead and cut it out. If you crash with it in, you will fracture your skull on it.

Yes Rear Hoop is bolted in to top of inner long and the rear firewall

Door bars welded to top of inner long

I was thinking about using a saws-all to cut the door bars as close to the bottom weld as possible

Then grinding the rest down

If I do cut this out what would a rollbar sell for on this forum?

Yes rear hoop is bolted into the hump and the top of the inner long??

Welded door bars on the front inner long

Sorry wont have better pics for another week

thanks

Yes, remove it. Unless you plan to wear a helmet when you drive you do not want your head to bounce off it IF (and I say IF) you every have accident. As for value a few $100 or so. The issue you will have finding someone somewhat local to your area that needs one. Shipping some thing that big can be a real PITA.

You might check with McMark, who just moved his shop, Original Customs, to the Grand Rapids area. He could remove it and might even want it too! It looks cool, like the 914 GT with the diagonal bars behind the seats

I agree that it should be removed or wear a helmet.

Once the bars are out you are also going to need to address the seat belts and seats. On the high wing racing seats standard shoulder belts some times will not fit correctly. they do make a belt bar that bolts in between the shoulder points above the firewall padding.

That would be a neat trick hitting your head on the rear bar. You'll have to teleport through the seat and leave the 5 pt off. Not a bad idea to pad the sides.

A bar stiffens the car so the feel will be different. I like a car with a roll bar stiffened chassis, but the concern in a crash is noted.

You'll have to cut it out, which isn't hard at all.

As long as you (AND PASSENGER) always have the harness on and properly tightened, your head shouldn't ever come near it.

However, if you go back to stock seats and belts, it should come out.

If you decide to cut it, be aware that roll bars can be under immense amounts of pressure from the chassis flexing and twisting over time since it was installed. Be careful.

I intend to keep the seats and belts as is

Yes I have been told cutting one of these out is tricky

I have never done it before but am concerned about the roll bar being under load and then letting go once cut.

I will be keeping the seats and belts

Im not following your comment on the belts not fitting

I thought the belts were bolted into the rear firewall but I could be mistaken

Not risky. No load unless the car has contorted somehow.

Actually with a bolt on, that can come straight out, and you'd just cut the forward sides. A sawsall would do it.

Thanks for the advice

I will take better pics once it arrives

Thanks

I was thinking you would remove them and go back to 3 point OEM. however my followup comment on the cross bar is how you would want to secure the 4/5 point once the roll bar is out if they are current secured that way now as a rap around style.

If they are currently bolted through the firewall make sure you have a big/wide backing plate otherwise there is a real risk the eye bolts can be pulled through under a heavy impact.

On the other comments about "teleporting", the seats are designed to flex and the belts are designed to stretch on impact to lessen the G-force and when this happens your head is going to hit that top bar. So no teleporting will be needed to have this happen. that is just simple math...

Great point on the eyebolts and the harness. The 4/5 harness is worthless without the proper firewall install.

On the seat giving / belt giving hit your head on the top bar thing, I don't see it. Unless the top of the seat is made out of popcorn and confetti, the seat is up against the bar, and the bar against the roof. Your shoulders should be below where the harness holds you down, so you can see where your head should be. Roundish head, I think its damn near impossible to contort to hit it, unless you're in a serious serious wreck and at that point nothing will save you. Between a stock seat and the Corbeau I'd think the Corbeau would be better for you.

A harness should be worn properly with no slack. The give would be in centimeters not inches.

not to mention any impact hard enough to stretch the belts is going to be a forward impact so the body is ejected forward, not upward........ unless you roll the car multiple times like Joey Hand did in his BMW M3 several years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-2zZAvAKgA