Miata Mailing List: August 1999, Message #157

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I also added a '99 HDHCDD to my Sadie this weekend. 

Not wanting to manhandle a 50 lb bar with pointy bits around my shiny
  new car by myself, and not having any friends who would be able to 
  help out, I decided to have someone else install it for me. Team 
  Miata (from whom I ordered the bar) recommended a fellow named Doug 
  Piper, who lives in Concord, CA.  They said he's done lots of Hard 
  Dog installations.

Team Miata had the bar shipped to Doug, and I drove up Saturday morning.
  Doug did the work at his home, in his garage. I had asked if he would
  mind if I helped, since a) I had nowhere to go while waiting, and b) I
  wanted to see exactly how the bar went in, in case I ever needed to do
  any work on or near it. Doug had no problem with me helping.

It was soon *very* clear that Doug has done this before. He never 
  even got out the instructions, and never hesitated on what to do 
  next or how to do it. It quickly became pretty clear to me that he 
  had this down so well as a solo job that the best thing I could do 
  to help was to stay out of his way. I also did little things like 
  holding the rear window up out of his way when he was working near 
  it, and putting washers on bolts. He's got this job down to a science. 
  I maybe sped things up by 5 minutes. Maybe.

He did everything including trimming the carpet and the plastic trim
  panels. He left the hole in the carpet a bit snug around the bar on
  purpose. I'm going to take Sadie to an upholstry shop to get the top
  boot and tonneau modified to work with the bar, and I'll have them
  finish the edges of the carpet, too. By leaving the holes snug, Doug
  made certain that the upholsterers will have enough carpet to do
  whatever they need to do.

His attention to detail was excellent. The most time consuming part was
  making the cutout in the trim panels. He must have put them in place
  and pulled them out for more trimming at least a dozen times, just to
  make sure he had them fitting right without taking off any more
  plastic than he had to. I'm sure he did a better job than I would
  have, and I love my car.

I got there at 9:20, and we probably got started at around 9:30. I left
  at around 1:10, after hanging around and chatting for about half 
  an hour after he was done. So it only took him just a hair over 3 
  hours. He said this one went faster than usual. Sometimes he says 
  it can ba as long as 5 hours, which is still faster than most HD
  installs I've heard of. 

This was a Hard Dog Hard Core Double Diagonal, and it fit perfectly. No
  misalignments at all. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe Hard Dog has solved
  the problems they seemed to be having on the DD's.

Doug charges $200 for the install. He works in the service department of
  a Mazda dealership, and said they charge $320 for him to do it there.
  Having read a few descriptions of the job, and knowing that I'd have
  had to do it solo, I figured it was $200 well spent. 
  
It would probably have taken me 3 hours to just get the carpet and 
  package shelf out, since I would have been reading and rereading 
  the instructions and learning every step as I went along. I also 
  tend to work slow when I'm learning something new. I also really 
  felt it was worth the money when the time came to cut sheet metal. 
  I wasn't looking forward to doing that to my Sadie. Cutting sheet
  metal is no problem, but cutting *Sadie* would have been tough. 
  Figure half an hour of measuring and re-measuring to make sure it 
  was absolutely right, and then another half an hour to work up the 
  nerve. :) 

Doug just took a felt pen and drew some lines freehand, then cut it very
  neatly with tinsnips. Nearly a perfect fit, just one place had to be
  trimmed an extra 1/16th of an inch later.

I can highly recommend Doug for anyone in the SF Bay area who is
  installing a Hard Dog bar. No, he's not paying me for this, I was just
  really impressed with his work. :)
  
His name is Doug Piper, and his phone number is (925) 686-3985. He 
  can be reached weekends, and evenings after 6. That's his home 
  phone, so I wouldn't call too terribly late.  If you order through 
  Team Miata they can ship directly to him. I'm sure other vendors 
  can too, but you'll need to call him to get the address.

Now that I'm done plugging Doug, some comments about the bar.

Wind noise at highway speeds definitely increased. I suspect my gas
  mileage also went down, since noise means drag. Oh well. Hmm, I wonder
  is anyone is making rollbars out of aero tubing, like so many bikes
  are made of these days? I wonder if anyone is making aerodynamic
  tubing big enough? Maybe for aviation applications, but that's
  probably not strong enough.
  
I'm six feet tall, and drive with the seat all the way back, and 
  reclined a bit. I can still drive in the same position, but if I 
  lean my head back against the headrest (not my usual posture while 
  driving), the back of my skull touches the bar. It was pretty 
  clear that if I got rearended, my skull would not be at all happy.

Therefore, my first stop after leaving Doug's was at a gas station 
  to check the phone book for "Automobile parts - performance and 
  racing supplies".  I drove to the closest ones until I found some 
  rollbar padding.  Not particularly easy stuff to find on a 
  Saturday afternoon. 

I picked up a 3 foot length of the stuff with the offset hole, and
  some cableties at a Performance Plus shop and put sections on the 
  bar behind the driver and passenger headrests. I then felt much 
  better driving home.  

The thick padding looks really chunky, and (IMO) detracts from the looks
  of my pretty car. It does add a "race car" look, though. I got a lot
  of looks on the way to work today. More than the combination of a 
  beautiful car, a great color, and shark teeth usually get. :)

I'm going to order some of the high density NASCAR style padding from
  I/O Port Racing Supplies (www.ioportracing.com) and give it to the
  upholstery shop when I take Sadie in. They should be able to make 
  up a nice looking padded cover that velcros on and looks much better. 

I should have a nice bill to pay when the upholstery shop gets done 
  with all of the work I'll have for them. :-P

I'm not going to have a 2" clearance over the top of my helmet. I don't
  even have that over the top of my head without a helmet. There's no
  way a bar that would give me 2" clearance would fit under the top. I
  only get about a half an inch of clearance between my bare head 
  and the top, so a bar that gave me clearance would be taller than the
  top. Oh well.

The bar does fit under the top with no problem, even with the 
  padding in place. I'm not sure if I've noticed any stiffening due 
  to the bar, but I haven't done any hard driving since it went in. 
  I might have felt a little on the drive to work this morning, or I 
  might have just imagined it.

The rear mirror view is just fine. The diagonals are visible, but don't
  interfere when looking straight back. They don't seem to really
  interfere with looking at traffic on other lanes behind me, either.
  They just serve as a reminder that there's a rollbar back there.

All in all, I'm very happy with the bar. It fit perfectly, and it gives
  me a feeling that if I do happen to roll, it'll give me better
  protection than most hardtops. I strongly recommend it for anyone
  doing hard driving. Besides, I don't think a roadster looks right
  wothout one, but that's just my opinion.

  Keith Hearn
  '99 10AE "Sexy Sadie" the Sapphire Shark
  Milpitas, CA
  Team Hard Core DD