Sandblaster Roll Bar

I'm restoring a Sandblaster and the car is missing the roll bar can I make something out of thin metal rods and maybe use lights from a Tamiya Grasshopper or frog.

Sandblaster wrote:I want to take my Sandblaster body from the frame, it looks like it just pops out but i noticed a metal part where the body connects to the frame, the wheels also have been on for 4 decades is there a way to loosen them up. The car is missing the roll bar can I make something out of thin metal rods and maybe use lights from a Tamiya Grasshopper or frog

Hey Sandy, nice avatars...   Here's a suggestion for the roll-bar... If you don't care to keep the buggy "stock", measure the holes in the body where the roll bar passes through; so you know what size of tubing to get. Find a wire coat hanger, cut and straighten it out. Make a template from this by cutting/bending it to the length/angle of the original bar or close to it. You only need to make this template for one side. The length of the wire in the template x2 will tell you how much tubing you need for the 2 sides. Then you have to determine how long and how many cross-braces you want to make.. and add-up that length.  

Try to find the approximate size aluminum tubing from a hobby shop. Most good hobby shops stock "K & S" metals brand tubing and may still have the tubing in 36" lengths. If you can only find short lengths.. you can get the amount you need to make up the total length... and join them using a piece of the next smaller size tubing that fits "telescopically" inside the main tubes, and cut short (1") pieces of it to join the tubes together with epoxy. It actually might be easier to make the new roll-bar in "sections"... rather than try to bend it when installing in the body. The body; no doubt is brittle with from age.. and you don't want to risk cracking it by bending to get the bar in place. It would also be easier to run wiring inside the tubes for the lighting that you're considering.

To bend your tubing to size, you need to support it by slipping it inside a tension spring, that is just larger than your tubing's diameter. Take a piece of your tubing to the hardware store and test-fit it inside of the springs they carry, until you find the right size. Putting the spring over the tubing, keeps the tubing from kinking in the bend-area. After you make your bend (matching your template angles) just pull the spring off afterward. After your done.. you could actually return the spring and get your money back... (kinda' like borrowing a tool) as long as it's not damaged... which shouldn't happen.



Here's a photo of a K & S tube bending kit for small size tubing. As you can see.. they're nothing really more than varying size tension springs. You would probably need a larger spring for your tubing size I would think.



I almost forgot... for making unions/joints to join the cross-bars (fish-mouth joints) .. you can either make a 90 degree drill-jig "intersection" for drilling straight through the center of the tubing, with a drill bit of the same diameter as the tubing... or use a rat-tail file that's close to the tubing's diameter.. and file the radius into the end of the tube. Sandpaper glued around an appropriate size dowel-pin would also work fine for the soft aluminum tubing.