One of the most striking upgrades you can make to your MX5, Miata or Eunos Roadster is fitting a Roll Bar or Style Bar.
Prior to obtaining my MX5 Mk2, I had fitted a chrome TT hoop style roll bar to my Mk1 Eunos. Not much has changed between the Mk1 and Mk2 with regards to the rear parcel shelf area, and so in this case the style bar was interchangeable. This was the case for my own roll bar, but other versions produced by other manufacturers may not be so easily transferred between the two models, due to the rear glass window clearance.
Fitting a Roll Bar / Style Bar
My particular style bar is fitted using four bolts, two of which fasten the bar to the inside of the seat belt pillars. The remaining two bolts attach to the center of the parcel shelf.
The first step is to remove the clips that hold the parcel shelf carpet in place, that are located in a line behind the seats. In the picture below you can see the carpet pulled back to expose a number of screws (leave these alone) and two bolts. These bolts needed to be removed to provide the holes for our new style bar central bolts.
Use a screwdriver or similar to punch a hole through the rubber and carpet that is immediately above our bolt holes, allowing our bolts to pass through the roll bar, through the carpet, and bolt down into our newly exposed holes. Replace the carpet and fix it down using the clips removed earlier. Place the style bar into location and insert the bolts, tightening them down until about 1 cm of bolt is exposed.
The style bar now lines up nicely with some holes already located on the inside of the seat belt towers. On the Mk1 Eunos, the longer supplied bolts were fine, but due to the addition of some plastic trim, they were too long for the Mk2 MX5, so I used the screws that previously held the wind-blocker in place. The wind-blocker cannot be used with this particular bar and so I needed to remove it. The Mk1 does not come with a standard wind-blocker. The screws were tightened but left loose enough to provide some movement.
With the roll bar now in place, the central bolts on the parcel shelf were fully tightened, followed by the seat belt pillar screws.
With all bolts and screws now tightened, the fitting job is done, all that remains is to raise and lower the roof a couple of times to check the hood and glass clear the roll bar frame and do not make contact, or interfere with the operation of the roof. Not such an issue on the Mk1 Eunos that uses a flexible plastic rear screen.
It should be noted that this is a Style Bar and is for cosmetic use only, it will provide little protection in the event of a crash. A full racing type Roll Bar will likely require more effort to fix to your car and may even need to be welded. Check carefully how a bar needs to be fitted before purchasing.