Cheap Street Chevelle

Available directly from S&W Race Cars, we ordered a complete rollbar setup (part No. 11-003) made especially for our ’70 Chevelle. The kit includes a main hoop, rear braces, side bars, seat crossmember and six steel mounting plates. The bars are made of 1.75x0.134-inch-wall mild-steel tubing and feature notched tube ends (where applicable).
Available directly from S&W Race Cars, we ordered a complete rollbar setup (part No. 11-00
Begin the rollbar install by prefitting the main loop and the side bars to ensure that everything is correct for your chassis. The bar(s) will need to be trimmed slightly, but the parts are generally ready to go. In fact, the end of the side-bar tubes and the crossmember that join to the main loop have already been "fish mouth" radius-cut, thus easing installation. After we trial-fit the rollbar, we removed the carpet, front bench seat and the headliner to gain clearance for the rollbar install. Ripping out the nasty old carpet and headliner was needed anyway because our Chevelle is going to get a new low-buck interior kit in the next few issues. Stay tuned.
Begin the rollbar install by prefitting the main loop and the side bars to ensure that eve

With the carpet removed, begin the rollbar install by grinding the floor to bare metal in the area where the loop will be welded to the floor (just behind the front seat but ahead of the rear seat). The area must be free from paint and gunk so that the steel mounting plates can be installed with a good, clean weld.
With the carpet removed, begin the rollbar install by grinding the floor to bare metal in
Because the mounting location of the mounting plates is in a contoured area of the floorboard, you’ll need to bend/sculpt the mounting plates to conform to the floorboard shape. We marked where the plate needed to be bent and then removed the plate from the car to make the proper modifications.
Because the mounting location of the mounting plates is in a contoured area of the floorbo

After you’ve properly contoured the two mounting plates for the main rollbar loop, tack-weld them into position. Do not weld them fully into place yet, just in case some minor adjustments need to be made. With the plates tack-welded in position, carefully mark the angle of cut needed to get the main rollbar loop to sit flush on the plate(s).
After you’ve properly contoured the two mounting plates for the main rollbar loop, ta
After making the proper trim marks, remove the main rollbar loop from the car and make the necessary angled cuts. Because the tubing is made of mild steel, you can make the cuts with a hacksaw, but it will take plenty of arm effort. We used a high-speed radial cut-off wheel to make all of our tubing cuts, which made the installation process much easier.
After making the proper trim marks, remove the main rollbar loop from the car and make the

Once the ends of the main rollbar loop have been angle-cut, refit the loop to make sure that the ends sit flush with the mounting plates. Next, fully weld in the mounting plates and then weld in the rollbar loop.
Once the ends of the main rollbar loop have been angle-cut, refit the loop to make sure th
With the rollbar loop welded in place, position the rollbar crossmember at shoulder height. If you add a four- or five-point seatbelt harness (as we are doing), the crossmember is the point at which you’ll need to attach the shoulder-harness part of the restraint system.
With the rollbar loop welded in place, position the rollbar crossmember at shoulder height

Once the crossmember is in the proper location, have a buddy hold the bar while you weld it in place. Notice the Speedglas welding helmet--it’s the trickest thing we’ve seen in a long time. The helmet has a special viewing screen that is unshaded when you are not welding, such as when positioning your welding work. Then, the instant that you strike the weld, the viewing screen turns to its predetermined shade (number 11 shade in our case). As soon as you stop welding, the viewing screen instantly returns to its unshaded clear-view screen.
Once the crossmember is in the proper location, have a buddy hold the bar while you weld i
After the main hoop is welded in place, trial-fit the side bars. Notice how the end of the side bar that attaches to the main rollbar loop is "fish mouth" cut to allow it to conform around the main rollbar loop. The other end of the side bar will need to be angle-cut to properly align with the front-mounted steel mounting plates.
After the main hoop is welded in place, trial-fit the side bars. Notice how the end of the

Just as with the main rollbar loop, the side bars need to be welded to steel mounting plates. For our application, the two front mounting plates (one for each side of the car) only needed slight bending to conform with the contour of the Chevelle’s floorboard. After you’ve mocked-up the side bars and determined the proper location of the front mounting plates, weld the plates into place.
Just as with the main rollbar loop, the side bars need to be welded to steel mounting plat
After the side bars have been mocked up, angle-trimmed to length and the front mounting plates welded into place, carefully weld the fish-mouthed end of the side bar to the main rollbar loop. Notice the thick piece of metal located behind the rollbar loop. The metal plate prevents burning the doorjamb paint, weather stripping and/or door panels while you weld. Remember as you weld that dozens of hot metal sparks will be flying off, so carefully cover anything that you don’t want burned or singed.
After the side bars have been mocked up, angle-trimmed to length and the front mounting pl

Once the top end of the side bar has been welded to the rollbar loop, carefully weld the bottom end to the front mounting plate. Notice how the end of the side bar fits flush with the mounting plate. The better the pieces fit together, the stronger (and better looking) the rollbar assembly will be.
Once the top end of the side bar has been welded to the rollbar loop, carefully weld the b
For our six-point rollbar, two support tubes travel rearward (through the rear package tray) into the trunk. Just as with the front tubes, heavy-duty steel mounting plates need to be installed. On the passenger’s-side trunk bar, we ran into bit of a snag. The O.E.M. spare-tire hold-down brackets were right where the mounting plate needed to go. But, not to worry--ace rollcage-installer Mark Gallimore contoured the plate to go around the stock brackets. Be sure to grind the trunk pan smooth (to remove paint and gunk) to ensure a good weld job.
For our six-point rollbar, two support tubes travel rearward (through the rear package tra

Just as with the other end of the trunk-mount support bar, the end that attaches to the main rollbar needs to be marked and contoured to fit. In our case, we found the end didn’t need to be given the full fish-mouth treatment, it just needed to be arched a bit.
Just as with the other end of the trunk-mount support bar, the end that attaches to the ma
After the trunk-mounted mounting plate is welded into position, carefully mark the angle in which the trunk-bar tube needs to be cut. To draw a straight line across the end of the tube, Mark Gallimore uses the end of a ruler to serve as a straightedge when marking.
After the trunk-mounted mounting plate is welded into position, carefully mark the angle i

As bad luck would have it, the trunk-mounted support bars didn’t go through the O.E.M. rear-speaker holes in the package tray. Thus, we had to cut a small section out of the package tray to provide clearance for each bar to pass through. Notice the cardboard box taped to the back window to prevent any glass-breaking antics from metal chips flying off of the cut-off wheel.
As bad luck would have it, the trunk-mounted support bars didn’t go through the O.E.M
After the ends of the trunk-mounted support tube have been cut as needed, be sure to double-check to ensure that the bar fits properly. If it does, begin to weld the bar into place. With all of the welding going on in such close proximity of the roof, you now know why we removed the headliner. Heck, our headliner was complete junk and in need of replacing anyway, so no love lost there.
After the ends of the trunk-mounted support tube have been cut as needed, be sure to doubl

After the fish-mouthed end of the trunk-mounted support tube has been welded to the main rollbar loop, carefully weld in the other end of the tube to the mounting plate located in the trunk. Our NOS nitrous bottle was close to where we would be welding, thus, to avoid any unwanted explosions, we removed it before welding the tube into place.
After the fish-mouthed end of the trunk-mounted support tube has been welded to the main r
We wanted to replace our O.E.M. gut-ripper seatbelts with a JAZ SFI-approved four-point restraint system. The two JAZ lap belts bolt to the floor using the stock floor-mounted seatbelt bolt holes. However, to mount the shoulder harness portion of the restraint system we needed to weld on these special tabs (shown). JAZ Products has a variety of different tab sizes/styles, or you can hand-fabricate tabs if you so desire.
We wanted to replace our O.E.M. gut-ripper seatbelts with a JAZ SFI-approved four-point re

To comply with NHRA and IHRA (among other racing organizations) rules, all safety equipment must meet SFI-approval. Moreover, to ensure that the safety equipment is regularly checked and/or replaced, there is a code system that indicates when the part was made. In general, SFI-approved items are good (legal) for two years from the date of manufacture.
To comply with NHRA and IHRA (among other racing organizations) rules, all safety equipmen
Check it out. Here is project Cheap Street Chevelle (complete with crazed CC test-driver Kiewicz) fitted with the new S&W Race Cars’ six-point rollbar assembly and JAZ Products’ four-point restraint system. Even though the rollbar adds about a little weight pounds to the Chevelle, chances are the car will run the same or quicker e.t.’s at the dragstrip because the chassis won’t flex as much and the car will hook up better. Plus, in the event that a CC staffer gets too brave at “sawing at the wheel” and throws the Chevelle into a guardrail, the rollbar assembly and belts will provide outstanding protection.
Check it out. Here is project Cheap Street Chevelle (complete with crazed CC test-driver K

The theme of Car Craft’s project Cheap Street Chevelle has been simple: Build a fairly potent street machine on a real world budget using real world parts. We’ve skipped the aluminum cylinder blocks, big ol’ honking 14-71 superchargers and clutchless Pro Stock-style manual transmissions. What we did opt for is a low-buck iron-block 355 V8 with a hydraulic camshaft, fed by a 750 Quadrajet carb. A TH350 automatic transmission, mild 3.73:1 gears, 3000-stall converter and Hotchkis rear suspension get the power to the ground. So far, Cheap Street has run a best "all engine" quarter-mile pass of 13.18 at 100.23 mph and 12.20s with a 125hp dose of NOS Super Power Shot nitrous oxide injection. For all of our testing, the Chevelle has been powered by pump gasoline, run through full exhaust and driven to and from the track.

Now that the car is getting more serious, we have been getting letters asking for a story on how to install a basic rollbar setup in a street machine. CC reader Sean Florea wrote, "I have a '65 Chevelle that runs in the 12s just like project Cheap Street Chevelle. I want to make the car safer by adding a rollcage but don't want to install a 12-point Super Gas-style cage. Maybe CC could install a basic four- or six-point cage in Cheap Street and show us readers how easy or difficult the job is."

Once again, ask and you shall receive. This month we show you how to install a six-point rollbar from S&W Race Cars along with upgrading the Chevelle with SFI-approved seatbelts from JAZ Products.

To ensure that we installed our S&W rollbar correctly, we turned to M&J Auto Body for guidance. The M&J crew transformed our Chevelle from junker to jewel in last years Paint & Body special, so we knew that they were good fabricators.

SOURCES
Jaz Products www.jazproducts.com	S&W Race Cars 11 Mennonite Church Rd. Spring City PA 19475
M&J Auto Body 142 N. 11th St. Santa Paula CA 93060	Speedglass 2374 Edison Blvd. Twinsburg OH 44087