Brey-Krause Boxster Roll Bar Extension

by Trygve Isaacson, copyright c1999-2002

Some car clubs have a problem with the Boxster's roll bar for certain kinds of track events. In their consideration, the Boxster roll bar is not tall enough, and they require participating drivers (no matter their height) to install the Brey-Krause roll bar extension. The extension costs in the ballpark of $600, and with a few bolts can be attached or removed from the Boxster in under 15 minutes.

This article will discuss installation, functionality, and aesthetics of the roll bar extension.

The B-K roll bar extension kit consists of the wide u-shaped bar, two connecting bracket plates for the sides (each attached with two small hex bolts and lock nuts), and two brackets for the tops of the roll bar hoops (each attached with two large hex bolts). A separate but highly recommended part is the B-K padding kit. The padding is well made, and consists of two pieces of dense foam cell material attached to backing plates that bolt to the roll bar extension. You really must have some kind of roll bar padding for the B-K extension, because without padding the upper brackets are dangerously sharp protrusions that look they would crack your skull open in a minor accident.

Before installing the bar, you need to pry the roll bar trim off using a flat head screwdriver or putty knife, protecting the roll bar paint as you do so. You do not need to remove the flat piece of trim between the hoops, just the curved pieces on the hoops themselves.

In essence, the BK bar bolts on in four places: at the factory seat belt bolt on each side, and the top of each hoop.

First, install the end plates. After flipping open the plastic cover for the shoulder belt attachment, use a socket wrench to remove the shoulder belt bolt. The end plate fits over the bolt socket, and then the bolt and cover go back on.

Apply the supplied thick plastic protecting tape. Each piece protects the top of one roll hoop from scratching by the roll bar's hoop attachment brackets. Make sure it's centered over the trim piece attachment hole so that it will align perfectly with the bracket.

Place the roll bar in place on top of the factory roll bar hoops. On each hoop, take the u-shaped attachment bracket and bolt it on about half way using a hex wrench. Check the bar to make sure it's centered—it should align to the plastic tape if you centered the tape correctly.

Attach the bar to the end plates with the supplied bolts and lock nuts. Don't tighten them all the way yet. Now the bar is completely in place but not tightened down. Check the alignment again. Then tighten everything down.

Finally, attach the B-K padding kit to the extension. Each piece simply attaches to the extension similarly to how the bar attaches to the top of the roll bar hoops. You'll have to eyeball each padding piece from the front of the car to make sure it's level.

Removing the bar is simple. You don't have to remove the padding. Just remove the bolts and lock washers from the side attachment brackets, and remove the top brackets and their bolts. Now the extension lifts right off. Finally, remove and replace the shoulder belt bolt to take the side attachment brackets off, remove the protector tape pieces (save it so you can use it again) and then pop the roll bar trim pieces back in place.

You can experiment to see how your seats belt retract if you leave the side attachment brackets in place. On my car, the brackets seemed to interfere just enough with the shoulder belt loop that the belt had trouble retracting. So I always remove the side attachment brackets. It's easy enough to deal with removing and replacing the lone bolt on each shoulder belt. The only hard part is keeping track of which bracket goes on which side of the car, and which side is out. This is easily solved by marking the plates.

Re-installing the extension later is a little easier because you can leave the padding pieces permanently attached and having done it before it should only take you 10 or 15 minutes. Just remove the roll hoop trim, stick the protector tape on, install the side attachment brackets onto the shoulder belt mounts, put the extension in place, and finally attach the 8 bolts that connect the extension to the side attachment brackes and the roll bar hoops.

There is plenty of debate as to how much safety protection the B-K extension adds. It certainly adds a little bit of total roll bar height, which will keep your helmet a little bit further away from the ground in a roll over. In addition, as a horizontal bar it is probably less susceptible to digging in should the car roll over on soft dirt. However, the extension certainly doesn't add any structural integrity, since it is only bolted to the existing factory roll bar, and it does add the potential that it could become a hazard should it break off in a roll over. It's worth noting that the Boxster's factory roll bar is a four-point roll bar—although it's not obvious from outside the car, the roll bar actually consists of two full-width welded pieces which spread the load onto four separate footings on the frame. This makes the stock roll bar stronger than a basic two-point roll bar. The B-K extension does not add to this strength.

How the B-K extension looks is a matter of opinion. Here are some pictures so you can decide for yourself how it looks from different angles.