Question for Richard

I have a chassis question for you Richard. I changed my roots blower plans and am going with an intercooled pro charger. My question is, I had to remove the dash bar to get the intercooler to fit under the dash. I cut a PVC pipe to mock up where I'd like to relocate it.

I had it low before to clear the gages in the dash. I'd like to move it as high as I can now to clear "over" the top of the gages & also to clear the intercooler. Do you see any problems with moving it up that high? The way I read the SFI book it should be O.K. and I can even put a slight curve in the bar to conform to the dash (Keeping out of the way of the gages) as long as it's attached directly to the windshield bars. I'd feel better having a second opinion from you though before I do any welding.

Thanks once again Richard for your help.

No, it's got to be under and or in the dash not at an angle. Can't put a bar in front of the intercooler. The intercooler sticks out too far & I need to be able to take the it out. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Don't have the SFI plans here with me, but my book says:

"On all cars requiring a roll cage, if the OEM firewall has been modified (in excess of one square foot for transmission removal, not including bolted-in components) a lower windshield or dash bar of 1 1/4" X 0.058" moly or 1 1/4" X 0.118" mild steel is mandatory connecting the forward cage supports"

If it were my car, I could make a strong case for "lower windshield" and "connecting forward cage supports".

I'll check with Ed Brady or Ben Wilson as soon as I can see either one of them, but if you came to Firebird with it as shown in your mock-up and I teched the car, you'd be in the staging lanes pretty quickly and gettin' suited-up.

Thanks Richard. Looking at my SFI book it has the bar located up higher than I had my original dash bar so that along with what you just said makes me think I'm on the right ''track''. (no pun intended). :LOL: I'm moving forward with that location. I'm only welding it in enough to hold it in place for now anyway. Once everything is done I'm tearing the car down and putting the chassis back on the rotisserie to finish weld all the tabs & bars & then squirt some paint on it before final assembly.
Thanks for your replies.
I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe this thing will actually run one of these days. :D :D