My dad died in 1998 and I still miss him dearly. I can shed a tear on his birthday reminiscing about him with my siblings.

I too have convertible inner rockers, and a roll bar with removable cross bar. I put it in cuz I thought it'd look cool. It did stiffen the chassis to where I noticed it while jacking the car from the rear torque box. I have no rear seat and made rear trim panels to fit the roll bar. Butt... it's a real pita to get things in behind the seat. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm now at a point where I've lived over half my life without my Dad.  He passed back in '99, and every year I get closer to the age he was when he passed and it messes my head up a bit.  My kids are a lot younger than my brother and I were when Dad passed, and I worry about what would happen to them if something happened to me.  All the financial stuff is handled, but money is a poor substitute for a loved one.  Its just one of those irrational fears we all have as parents. 

As for the roll bar, my thought are if you don't need it, don't.  Hardtop cars don't need a bar until they are running 11.49, and then it must be a 6 point bar and meet NHRA rules.  So a 4 point doesn't meet safety criteria if you were running that fast, and its just going to be in the way no matter how well it fits.  These cars don't have a ton of room in them as it is, so every square inch matters. 

Bullet Bob wrote:

The question I've asked prospective car builders/restorers over the years is:

What are you going to build?  Racer, show piece, or a driver.  You cannot properly do more than one on a single car.

BB1

Yep, I've many times said a race car makes a bad street car and a street car makes a disappointing race car.  Either can also be a show car, BUT its a LOT of work.
 

I got a Shelby “Roll” bar more for looks than functionality. I put 2005 Mustang roll bar high mount third tail light in it for safety as well. It is only attached at the interior side behind the door. The car is a convertible so not much protection in case the car goes over.
As for the other component of this thread, my story.
My dad passed at 49, I was ten at the time. Growing up, my 9 year older brother was a role model , mentor and best friend. In my teens from picking tobacco to later as tool makers,we worked along side each other every day, 5 days a week till we retired. We hunted, fished, built and flew planes together and so much more. We were always there for each other, thick or thin.
He passed this last December at 90. There has not been one day since that one or more things remind me of him.

MS wrote:

Just no yellow spark plug wires. No matter how well you install them, they are still ugly!

I might make this my new signature
 

Yeah...........me too on the gear drive. They sound really cool...........on other guys cars.

You could always do what 'one-guy' I know did.........Build a roll bar outta 2 1/4" PVC    Painted it black....wrapped it in foam...and  'posed' away!  Really couldn't tell with a casual look.
This clown did it to save weight on his race car!! Believe it or not he got away with it.
6sal6

500HP is enough power to run 11.5s or below, but without slicks and a drag type suspension probably not. 

Why can't you guys looking for reverse eye springs just buy a stock one and have the main spring flipped and rearched?

My old springs are so rusty I wouldn’t even think about trying to reuse them.  As for Eaton I haven’t heard enough feedback on them as far as preventing wheel.   Add to this the leafs are going to cost just as much as the mono leafs. So I thought it was a fair question to ask.

I've used Eaton many times, and they always provided good quality springs.  The issue you will have with anything they have to make is you are looking at 4 weeks or more to get them.  I just talked to them on a set of springs for my F250 and they were 4-6 weeks out.  I ended up going another route.  Cost on the Eatons was also WAY high.  I could almost buy new springs from Ford for what they wanted.  They were always reasonable for typical musclecar stuff though.  The way I look at it is a phone call never hurts. 

Caltracs also has a great reputation.  Its worth talking to them also IMO.

If you are ever going to put slicks on it make sure everything is up to snuff, or the most likely scenario is you start breaking parts.  The rear, trans, driveshaft, etc. all need to be up to the power at that point.  You can get away with stuff like running a stock T5 behind a stroker in a street car because it will just annihilate the tires, but slicks will shock load it and it will eventually break.  An 8" rear at that power level isn't going to live unless its built (and I'm not even sure you could get everything you'd need to build it), and even a typical stock 9" won't hold up (they have a great reputation, but also have some Achilles heels in them once you make real power and put it down). 

Everything should live.  The only area where I would caution you is make sure that 9" is set up without a crush sleeve; use a solid spacer.  It sounds idiotic, but I've seen that stupid sleeve cause oscillation induced failures in 9" rear before.  The problem is that the pinions bearings are too close together, so Ford added that pocket bearing on the end of the pinion.  Under load that sleeve actually expands and contracts like a spring, and bearings can get cockeyed in their orbit, which fractures the case at the pocket bearing bore and turns the rear into junk. 

If you use a stock 9" differential there is an upgraded cross pin I would use as well.  I've seen the stock one sheer off causing a complete loss of differential action and a vehicle that wouldn't move. 

We broke a lot of 9"s racing and mud bogging over the years.  Is a tough rear, especially for how little it weighs compared to a D60, etc., BUT it does have a couple weak links that should be addressed. 

TKOPerformance wrote:

Everything should live.  The only area where I would caution you is make sure that 9" is set up without a crush sleeve; use a solid spacer.  It sounds idiotic, but I've seen that stupid sleeve cause oscillation induced failures in 9" rear before.  The problem is that the pinions bearings are too close together, so Ford added that pocket bearing on the end of the pinion.  Under load that sleeve actually expands and contracts like a spring, and bearings can get cockeyed in their orbit, which fractures the case at the pocket bearing bore and turns the rear into junk. 

If you use a stock 9" differential there is an upgraded cross pin I would use as well.  I've seen the stock one sheer off causing a complete loss of differential action and a vehicle that wouldn't move. 

We broke a lot of 9"s racing and mud bogging over the years.  Is a tough rear, especially for how little it weighs compared to a D60, etc., BUT it does have a couple weak links that should be addressed. 

I have the crush sleeve kit in my old 9.75 axle I built with 3.73 gears.  It needs to come apart so i can install the trac loc in my truck that now has 4.10 gears.  It uses the same crush sleeve kit as the 9 inch axle.  So I'm familiar with them.  I would have used the crush sleeve in the other 9.75 axle I built with 4.10 gears but the newer 2011 and up factory ford gears for the 9.75 will no accept a crush sleeve.  I had to use a special crush sleeve to install those gears in a 2010 9.75 housing.

The detroit locker is a rebuilt nascar unit.  It's suppose to be very aggressive but I couldn't pass up on the price I got it for so i'll give it a shot.

6sally6, it's unlikely I will make it this year and it's mostly due to trying to get more time off from work than I've already requested.  I really want to attend the bash but even more, I would prefer to have the car finished so I can bring it.

I guess I could add some of the reasoning for my choices for this build.  Many years ago I built a 460 SCJ and stuffed it in a 70 fastback with a big in big out 4 speed.  The car was so scary to drive with a 710 lift and a 314 duration cam.  It would not idle below 1700 rpm!!!  I could drop it 2nd gear at 50-55mph and the car would loose traction.  I way over built the motor for that chassis.  This time around I want to make it right from the get go and just do a few things I've always wanted to do but could never afford to do before.

I was actually not going to put a roll bar in the car but my son has really wanted to put one in since we started this build.  I have always wanted one anyways so when the deal popped up, I figured why now give it a go.  After this post the offer to purchase got really attractive.  I do appreciate everyone's input.  If nothing else this post may help someone else who is searching for this topic. 

TKO it's really helpful to hear from real world experience!!!