Miata Mailing List: December 1994, Message #145
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   From: Cynthia Paloma 
Subject: RB Style Bar II installation - (long and detailed)
   Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 18:47:19 -0500

Just had a RB Style Bar II installed on my 92B as a birthday present.

The Racing Beat Style Bar II is the one with the hoop behind each seat.
I selected that over other styles because I thought it looked even 
better than the pictures after I saw one in person.  A friend installed 
an RB Style Bar II in his Miata, and it had taken him all day.  (Ditto
for my car.)  He and his wife had been involved in a rollover accident
in their sport-utility vehicle in LA traffic - it was even featured on
"True Stories of the CHP" - so after that, they wanted to put something
in their Miata.

I ordered it from PBC.  The bar is sturdy - the UPS gorilla who delivered 
it (no one was around to receive it) dropped the box 6 feet behind a fence, 
but the bar was not bent, dinged or scratched.  Amazing but true.

Installation Notes (detailed):

The RB installation notes could have been laid out in a more readable
fashion - IT IS HARD TO READ WHEN EVERYTHING IS IN UPPERCASE.  RB needs 
a better tech writer.  The information is all there, but it is hard to 
decipher, and there are other areas that could have used more detail.

For someone who hasn't previously removed the plastic trim covering
the seatbelt shoulder harness and the side wall, you may want to read
up on that section in the Miata Enthusiasts Manual before starting.  
It is not that hard, but there's that learning curve to deal with...  
My husband had done this before, so this took him very little time.

One time-consuming section involved filing down the top edges of the 
"box" behind the seat belt tower that the .810" trapezoidal steel spacers
fit into.  The bar is attached to the steel spacer which goes inside
the "box", and so the bar sits on top of the "box".  Therefore it is 
important that the top of the "box" be level, otherwise the bar will 
not lay flat.  Naturally, one side of my car needed a lot of work in 
order to make it level.  (~1 hour with a file.)

Once the "box" edges were level, my husband painted the bare metal with
a flat black enamel to prevent rusting.  (~1.5 hours to dry - assisted
with a blow dryer at the end.)  He also put electrical tape in the
bottom of the box as a preventive measure against rubbing/squeaking of
metal on metal.  I should also mention that one of the trapezoidal
shaped spacers was a tight fit in one of the "boxes" (needed to be
installed at an angle to clear the lip of the "box") while the other
one dropped right in.

Of course, another Miata this might not need 2.5 hrs to do the filing
and painting.  Might take less (or no) time, might take more...

(Now, what my husband *should* have done while waiting for the paint
to dry was to start cutting the plastic trim pieces.  Hindsight is 20-20!)

Once the trapezoidal steel spacer is in the box, put the style bar
into position.  (The bar is not that heavy, so this can be done by
one person.)  The fun part now is attach the bar to the space, and
the spacer to the car with the nuts, bolts and spacers provided by RB -
it needs to be done "blind", from an awkward position, in a limited
amount of space for hands and tools (inside the cavity for the inertial
reel for the shoulder belt.) Drop a part now and you will not be
happy.   It may be worthwhile to remove the seats before starting in
order to have more room to maneuver.  Also, the instructions call for
bolts to be tightened to a certain amount of torque, and (unless you
have a really tiny torque wrench) improvisation is needed.

Another problem spot - the convertible top now rubbed the back of the
bar (at the base where the "hoop" is), preventing the top from being
raised, even after the bar was put as far forward as possible.  This
was solved by adjusting the convertible top which was easiest to do
with a 2 people.  The 3 bolts in the side wall that connect the
convertible top to the body were exposed, so my husband loosened the
bolts and I pulled the convertible top (which was in the down position)
slightly upwards and toward the wall as much as possible, and he
retightened the bolts.  After we did this on both sides, the top now
cleared the base of the bar and could be raised and lowered freely.

Installing the bar and adjusting the convertible top took us about an 
hour.  Again, it could be less for someone dextrous, with small hands 
and tiny tools, and also if the convertible top does not require 
adjustment to clear the bar.
 
Now the most time-consuming part of all - cutting back the plastic
trim pieces to accommodate the new bar.   My husband hates doing 
irreversible things like cutting the plastic trim, especially after
I mentioned that someone on the Miata mailing list said that it cost
$150 to replace both trim pieces...  The cutting dimensions in the
diagram provided by RB were right on.  However, the plastic piece is
awkward to handle.  My husband used a Dremel tool to do the rough
cutting, and an Exacto knife to finish it up.  It took him ~1.5 hours
per piece - he is a perfectionist, and doesn't like hack jobs.  On the 
first piece he was too conservative and cut less than the RB specs, 
and on the second piece he cut himself with the knife.  (My car's name 
is Rip van Roadster, a.k.a. "Rip", because he always manages to rip up 
my husband whenever he works on him.) At least the cut was clean since 
the knife was so sharp.

We did not install the 3 warning labels provided by RB.  Also, it looks
like the RB installation notes was also used for the Style Bar I, since
it referred to some extra washers (not included) to adjust the rear
view mirror (to compensate for limited rearward visibility - not a problem 
with the Style Bar II.)

After I patched up my very mad husband, we buttoned up the car.  My
husband also hit a few plastic trim pieces with silicone caulk to
prevent squeaking.  I haven't given Rip a good shakedown run to test
out how much it has stiffened the frame, also it's raining(!) on and
off so the top is up.  I haven't gotten any comments from anybody
(except my husband, and I won't repeat his comments here...), but *I*
think it looks great.  Mine is powdercoat black, and IMO would have
looked even better if it were texturized like the Team Voodoo knob.

I hope these instructions will be of help to others on the list who
want to install the Racing Beat Style Bar II.  Start early in the day!

Cindy Paloma