Nb2 roll bar choices
 

So i finally broke down and rather than buy a completed miata turbo, picked up a 2003 with 49,000 miles for $5000. Great shape inside and out.

so first thing before turbo that i wasn't to add is a roll bar that is a plug and play install that lets me use the soft top normally. I see the obx on Amazon, but also see it being called junk on some forums.

it will primarily be a street car, its a base model so I'd only be targeting the 190 hp range adding a turbo. I won't bee running scca, but may do some off the local other autocross events

suggestions?

First, there's a pretty big Tampa miata community available if you want to see how the different ones fit.

Best recommendation: don't skimp. BBFW or Hard Dog are the tried and true rollbar options.

i need to find the local meets. Mostly I'm looking for it not being a total pain to install, something i can easily do in a single saturday and at most take adjustments to have the soft top close normally. Everything is going to require some drilling, I'd just rather not do any die grinder cutting on metal or welding e even though i can if i have to

Also money isn't much of a consideration. If there's a shop in tampa that setups them that will do one of the better ones for $750 installed, I'm up for that

If you are just planning on doing autocross and no track events, I would recommend not adding a roll bar. For daily driving, a roll bar is actually more dangerous, assuming you don't wear a helmet around town.

Thanks, I hadn't really considered that. Part of why I want one is that my mother in law is paranoid after me laying down the motorcycle, so she thinks I need one. Maybe just one of the twin hoop setups will keep her happy. Those shouldn't be quite as much of a blocker / pain in the _____

are you talking the silver twin hoop bars for $100 on eBay? If so those are far worse then a real roll bar. In all honesty if you are not tracking the car, then a roll bar is 100% not needed.

I was looking on amazon, but probably the same ones. I figure if I can keep the mother in law quiet for $100 and it causes me no downsides its money well spent :D

I may take it out to the FAST autocross races a few times a year, but that's probably it

FAST ? Autocross

I deliberated over this quite a bit. The safety concern I had with running a roll bar in a street car is hitting your head whiplash style against the bar in a collision, which is actually more likely than a roll over on the street. The two best ways to mitigate the risk are to play with the geometry of the bar and/or seat, and to pad the bar. Hard Dog bars from Bethania garage are generally recognized as being both structurally solid and affordable. They make two styles that sit at/below the height of the NB2 surfboard seat head rest: the Ace, and the Deuce. IMO, both make good street bars with padding. They will add weight and chassis stiffness, and are functional in the event of a roll over . The major downside to both these shapes is that they are really low, and aren't likely to ever pass a broomstick test if you ever want to use the car in an actual track application that requires a roll bar. Adding a bar is always going to drive some compromise, so be honest about your intended application.

Don't be that guy who installs a sport bar. They are the miata equivalent of stick-on engine bay vents.

Style bars give you all the rollover protection of having no bar, with most of the whiplash-bang-your-head-in-a-rear-ender of having a real roll bar. Extra bonus of now having to two-hand your soft top when raising it.

I bought my car with one. Removed it. By the way: the install/removal, though easier than a real roll bar, is more of a pain than you might expect.

Just tell your mother-in-law that autocrossing a Miata is already miles safer than doing just about anything on a motorcycle.

Any real roll bar will require cutting the rear shelf. Can be done in one full Saturday and really not that hard. I installed 2 of them all by myself over a weekend.

what you want is a hard dog hard core hardtop bar, or the sport, both with double diagonals. They are shaped the same, but the hardcore is just made from thicker tubes.

did track days with both bars without issues. And the way I sit, the bar is over my head so smaller chance of hitting it with my head during a rear end collision.

Both bars clear the soft top just fine.

Either get a real roll bar, or don't get anything at all. It sounds like the latter may be the best direction seeing as you don't plan on doing any track events.

If you do decide to get a roll bar, be mindful of your choices for harness bars. Most will interfere with your glass window on your softtop. If going Hard Dog, you will want the M2 bars. They have harness tabs in lieu of a harness bar.

BlackBird Fabworx has a curved harness bar that is compatible with the glass window top, but you'll need to ask for it when ordering. I ended up going this route.

For what it's worth, in my NB1 with the BlackBird GT3, curved harness bar, and Robbins glass window top, I still have to push the bottom of the window back an inch or two as I lower the top, else it just clips the edge of the harness bar.

Bethania sells a bolt-in standalone harness bar that attaches to the seatbelt towers and works fine with the glass window.

--Ian

It's not really an "asking for it" thing, we assume that an NB has the factory top with factory glass and as such it will already be the NB bar that has the curved harness bar, and on the same token we assume that an NA will have the plastic window that comes with the car.
It's a fair assumption to have NA owners letting me know if they have glass window since it's not a standard feature of the car :)