The Bashi Boi — Ropey Racing

Ever since owning my first Mr2 (a Sable mk3 which was cat c..) I always wanted to run the exhaust through the rear number plate surround. There's just something about having an exhaust positioned in the eye line of the car behind that screams sports car to me. The problem is the large metal factory bash bar in the way! At the time, I didn't have the resources available to me to take on the project and I've since sold the car and replaced it with my SW20.

Fast forward a few years and Deej now has a white mk3 with similar aspirations. There still doesn't seem to be a viable off the shelf option available in the UK so we went to work to see what we could come up with. We set off stripping the car down (a job I usually leave to Kris but he was still on crutches) to see what we were working with. It was easy to visualise what we were trying to achieve so it was time to work on the CAD designs.

We had a bit of debate around the design. Running the bars further apart allowed for more exhaust options to be ran through the centre. Having them closer together offered more form as it would be more visual through the rear. Inevitably, we decided to go with the version that would achieve our initial goal for the product, spacing the bars a good distance apart.

The vertical supports, whilst giving some additional strength, are there to serve a different purpose.

Kris is not someone i'd describe as patient. However it has it's advantages. It didn't take long for him to throw together the files we use now for the production version of the bar. A quick trip over to our laser cutter and we were ready to start putting it together.

Kris, still on crutches, had the luxury of sitting down for a change as we stripped Deej's car back down to see how the bar fit. Once it was on, it was pretty clear to see the difference it made. Not only did it make the car look a lot more aggressive, but it also allowed for multiple exhaust routing options and even gave a window to the existing exhaust system Deej has on the car.

We decided to leave some additional length either side of the bracket to offer more corner protection.

To say we're happy with the outcome of the product would be an understatement. It achieved exactly what we wanted and serves a variety of different purposes. As always, we did all we could to keep the cost down but the quality high. We're still waiting to get the bar back from powder coat, however, there was another reason why we set out to put this together...

Next up we'll be looking into fitting the chassis mount, hopefully giving an off the shelf wing for the mk3 Mr2 with a bit more style and aggression. We'll keep you posted!

Robin