Ratbag's 2006 Fox XS - Roo2

Gidday Folks

Guess I should start a journal. Seems a goodly system of keeping this stuff organised ... :poke: :lol:.

Anyway, I have fitted the OEM roof bars and Rola basket to Roo2 in the last couple of days.


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Took it for a spin into town today on the Nepean Highway.

From about 70 km/h, it started to purr.

By about 80 km/h, the purr had become a more of a roar ... :( :(.

This will drive me NUTS, in short order ... Fortunately, it is my intention to fit the basket to the lid on my rebuilt trailer, where it should be out of the wind, and the noise should be well behind me ....

Will keep you posted about all this ... :iconwink: ;) :raspberry:
 
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Leave it hammertone, form over function. Could get it powdercoated gray, would cost more than the bar did though after sandblasting and then getting hit with powder/baked.
 
Gidday NL and Id

NachaLuva said:
It's always a good idea to paint the back of the tubes black to reduce glare.
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Even though it's already dark charcoal, albeit fairly high gloss?

Much easier before you fit it...
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Too true! :lol: :rotfl: But really very easy to remove and refit.

idw said:
Leave it hammertone, form over function. Could get it powdercoated gray, would cost more than the bar did though after sandblasting and then getting hit with powder/baked.
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I'm sort of leaning towards painting the bumper part and leaving the bars hammertone (but painting the rear of the bars matte black). However, agree about preferring function over form.

BTW, Pedro. I weighed the reinforcing bar alone at 7.8 Kgs. Don't know what the OEM reinforcing bar weighs yet, but it seems to be made of aluminium, so probably a good deal lighter than the SubaXtreme reinforcing bar, which is made from about 6 mm plate steel with the bar being pretty heavy structural box section ...

My back is rooted today (did too much yesterday ... ), and the bathroom scales I use for weighing trailer stuff appear to have hidden themselves inside the trailer - so have neither the inclination to get them out, nor the strength to weigh the bar assembly even if I did!

Maybe I will have a rest for the rest of the day, and help my SWMBO by proof reading her Uni assignment and helping her with her PowerPoint presentation. I also have to have a blood test before I see my Cardiologist on Wednesday, so that may as well be today too. I'm bloody useless for anything else!

Anyway, I don't want to rush in to whatever I decide to do regarding the bar, paint wise. Once I start painting it, I will be committed to that course of action. Leaving it as it is preserves my options. I can see if the lights reflect off the existing hammertone at all; or if it bothers me if they do. I can also see whether the aesthetics bother me if I do nothing to it. At my stage of life, the less I have to do, the better!

As you have said, getting the bar assembly off the car is very simple. Remove a few easy body clips and the six 12 mm bolts holding the bar assembly on to the reinforcing bracket, and the bar assembly falls off onto one's feet ... or whatever ...
 
My 2002 has a polished bar and the 2004 has the same colour hammertone as the bar you have. I would never get another polished bar. Too hard to keep clean and to stop the headlight glare I put two inch wide electrical tape on the back of the tubes (very durable). With the hammertone finish on the other bar this is not necessary. The hammertone is very durable and to repaint the bar would be a very expensive and time consuming exercise.
 
Gidday HC

I really, really like that advice, mate, as it involves me doing absolutely nothing extra apart from fitting the bar ... :poke: :biggrin:.

The hammertone is in very good condition after removing the bug guts and accumulated dirt - I will post some before and after photos later or tomorrow.

I can put the money saved towards a basic light bar ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin:.

Thanks for the info regarding the reflectance of lights off the hammertone bar. That is invaluable advice, specially coming from a man who owns both.
 
Bought six 12 mm HT bolts, nuts and various washers today. $22.60.
 
SubaXtreme bullbar, before and after bath

Some before photos:

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And after:

E-510_JAK_2015-_6148222_Ew.jpg


E-510_JAK_2015-_6148223_Ew.jpg


E-510_JAK_2015-_6148224_Ew.jpg


I reckon it scrubbed up OK for just a wash with some TurtleWax.

The recalcitrant and well set bug guts requires the attention of some RePo Number 2 cutting polish ... After that, I will polish the whole bar with Porzelack carnauba wax polish. Far easier to do this before fitting in some ways. Less bending and grovelling :poke: :ebiggrin:.

I will post images of the back of the bar and the reinforcement bar that attaches to the car in the next post.

A question for HC.

What do you think about cutting a slot/channel front to rear in the aerial mounting plate just wide enough to allow the coaxial cable to be slipped through it?

This would make it easier to remove and refit the bar, without having it tethered to the car by the UHF aerial cable.
 
^ Thanks, mate.

It surely did. Worth the day in bed recovering from hurting my back moving it around and washing it and Roo2 ...

Exchanged the 30 mm HT bolts for 40 mm ones today. The aluminium plate bracket on the bar is 10 mm thick, not 6 mm.

Just gouged and wire brushed some small areas of the car side bracket that had damaged paint work, and sprayed them with some cold galv primer.

Just need to pull the tubes off and check them for squareness; cut out the aerial mounting plate so the wire can slide through it; spray some top coat on the mounting bar tomorrow. Then it should be ready to take the OEM bumper off and put the SubaXtreme one on :biggrin: :lildevil:.

The current clearance from lower edge to ground is 310 mm under the fog lights and the centre. It will be interesting to see what that figure is with the new bar.
 
Ratbag said:
A question for HC.

What do you think about cutting a slot/channel front to rear in the aerial mounting plate just wide enough to allow the coaxial cable to be slipped through it?

This would make it easier to remove and refit the bar, without having it tethered to the car by the UHF aerial cable.
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Not a dumb idea RB, as once the cable is run though the fire wall you don't want to have pull it out and reinstall it if you think you will be taking the bar off/on.
The slot won't need to be very wide.
 
^ Thanks, HC.

I'll put my metal cutting wheel through it from the rear tomorrow. Should make a cut about the right width. Then chamfer the edges with a file. Touchup the paint while I'm doing the mounting bracket.

At the very least, the bar will have to come off in 120K kms for the next timing belt ...
 
^ Thanks, TB.

It looks as if my bar will possibly be going on the car this w/e ... :biggrin: :cool:.

Hope you had a good trip home :poke: :ebiggrin:.
 
UHF aerial bracket modification

Gidday Folks

Did this today, with a bit of help from a friend to hold the bull down ... :iconwink:

Before:

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Marked up (hahaha ... ):

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Dodgy bit of work with a metal cutting wheel and circular saw ...

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After some work with a file, it works ... Will paint it before fitting the bar to the car.
 
SubaXtreme series II SG bullbar and mounting bar weight

SubaXtreme series II SG bullbar and mounting bar weight.

Just weighed the bar (with tubes, but not the mounting bracket). It weighs about 25 Kgs (NOT the most accurate scales ever made, but close enough. Calibrated against our torsion bar, digital bathroom scales).

As mentioned previously, the mounting/reinforcing bar weighs about 7.8 Kgs.

So total weight is about 33 Kgs, including the six extra 12 mm mounting bolts, nuts and washers.

I will weigh the OEM components after removing the car from behind them ... :poke: :iconwink:.
 
^ Thanks for the offer NL, but the easiest way to get it to you is to mount it on Roo2!

A friend who lives just around the corner will help me. AFAICT, the hardest part is steadying it while attaching the bolts that hold it onto the mounting bar so that one doesn't damage the paintwork ...

I thought I might get the cold galv onto it today, but it's a bit cold for painting, and I'm a bit knackered!
 
Great job!

Please do not forget to tell us the weight of all that you removed. So that we get 33-...=... :)
 
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Removing the OEM bumper from Roo2

Gidday HC

havachat said:
RB ,
Well done!
On the Subaxtreme web they have YouTube video guides for fitting the bar. It misses a few steps but will give you the basics.
The hardest part is removing the OEM bumper.
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Too bloody right, mate! :( :cry: :puke:

The most solid thing so far holding the bumper onto the car has been the two bolts that attach the number plate ... :eek:. They were the easiest thing to remove ...

I'm now at the stage where (I think ... ) all I have to do is get the two body clips on the inside of the wheel well liner out ... Then the flaming thing should fall off ...

So far, all the body clips have fought all the way, and all have been jammed up with silt. I wonder how water and fine dust gets into these things on the underneath of cars? To add insult to injury, I can't find my body clip removal tools. I suspect they are in the spare wheel well, under three boxed computers and two boxed monitors ...

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike body clips, perchance?
 
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