Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

At this point I am taking a break from the cowl-mounted steering to do something a bit more visually rewarding. I'll get back to extending the pittman arm shaft shortly, but right now I'm tired of working upside-down under the cowl. Since I have already welded the "pads" on the frame for the roll bar, I have elected to do it next.

I began by capping one end of the tubing, ramming it full of damp sand, and capping the other end. Past experience with the bender has shown me that it leaves dimples in the tubing at both ends of the bend. To eliminate that problem, I made a couple of small "shields" to spread the pressure of the rollers. I made these from a short piece of tubing split down the middle and spread open slightly (I painted them red to show up better in the pics). They are not attached to the tubing or the bender; they are held in place by pressure. The second picture shows them in position during one of the bends. The result is as expected - no dimples.

The third pic shows the final shape of the roll bar after some "trial and error" fitting. The last pic shows the finished roll bar hoop with brackets installed, holes drilled & tapped, and bolted in place. I used 7/16-20 x 1 1/4" grade-8 bolts. When I disassemble the car for finishing, I will box-gusset the brackets on the back side.