#2 is partially correct. Used with a Hard Dog roll bar, behind the seat it is bolted to the roll bar, body metal and backing plate. That's more than just thin body metal. I would like to see it more like the Kirk bars where it drops down more.

On m.net Emilio at 949 mentioned introducing door bars to sell a couple years ago. Never happened. Never heard why. I've seen a number of Mustang and BMW guys at track days with bolt in door bars. So easy to take in and out they remove them when they aren't at the track. Of course they don't have our floppy chassis.

 

Now that you mention it I remember reading that thread on m.net about 949 making door bars. There was also a decent debate about their merits and safety. I considered the 949 bars but ended up getting the Hard Dog bars (and roll bar) because I was ready to get something in.

The front end of the door bars bolts in right next to the frame rail and has a backing plate. It is not ideal (like welding to the frame rail) but I think it is probably a pretty rigid force transfer connection between the two. At any rate it really seems to work well.

 

In for more pics of the door bar install. Anyone have any? Especially the rear point.
--Alex

 

Ditto. Do you have to have a hard dog rollbar as a mounting point for these?

 

I may pick up the frog arms soon. I've been thinking about them since I got the car and just haven't gotten them for some reason. Anything to make my car more livable for daily driving will be worth it right now. My cowl shake has gotten worse and worse. I may also go ahead and do some seam welding also. I hate having to pucker up over every little bump in fear my car is going to wobble in half. At least thats how it feels. I've already done the suspension once but will be doing it again. Going with FM springs and FCM mounts this time around, along with adjustable sway bar link since the stock ones are binding with the FM bars.

 

Would this interfere with the frame rails sold on here or by FM?

 

I am not sure about frame rail interference. It depends on how wide they are. I'll snap some pictures and post them up.

 

Thanks! Would be appreciated!

 

Frame rail interference could be taken care of by the generous application of a drill bit.

 

Anyone have a feeling/sense on the difference between adding this stuff on an NB verses an NA? Do you get the same gains?

 

Have you seen the youtube vid?

 

FWIW, I've had the Boss Frog Arms for a little over a year. Cornering input is much more responsive, and the cowl shake is virtually eliminated.

For people installing them on NBs:
I told Bill at Miataroadster that the mounting points do not exactly line up and may need to be bored out. I don't know if there was a revision to fix the mounting problems on the NB, but it required be to bored out further to mount the arms where the door hinges are bolted on.

To bore them out, I used a dremel with a tungsten carbide filing bit (costs about thirteen bucks at a hardware store). After grinding it down (take a while cause the mounting points are thick and "doubled up") I blasted it with paint for rust protection.

 

I remember seeing a vid covering entry and exit, but haven't seen anything on the mounting. There's some pics on m.net, but again, no real mounting point pics that I found. I was searching at work though, so I can't really say I was thorough.
--Alex

 

Photos of the driver's side door bar from several angles are here. Passenger side is just a mirror image of the driver's side sans pedals.
Picasa Web Albums - John - Door bars

There is more room between the front door bar brace plate and the frame than I remember. In fact it is closer to the outboard edge (door sill) than the frame rail. So it looks to me like there is plenty of room for rails.

 

Talking about the arms:

I would remove my fender to show you guys what im talking about, but that requires me to pull my side skirts too, and quite frankly, I don't really want to deal with that. My sideskirts are being held up by screws and double-sided 3M tape

 

Thanks for the pics. So the rear attatches to the rollbar?
--Alex

 

Yep. The door bar and roll bar share the same bolts and backing plate.

 

Wow, is there room to rest your foot on the dead pedal like that, or does the car stop being a commuter and convert entirely to track machine when you put them on?

 

Thanks for the pictures! Same question as Abe, how's the use of the dead pedal?

 

No problem with the dead pedal for me, not nearly as bad as it looks from the pictures. It is just the angle of the shot.

My car is a daily driver so if they were a PIA to the point where it was only bearable for the track I would take them out