| Please read before going into install!!!! Okay, so I had some time this weekend to install an Autopower Rollbar in my new slicktop this weekend and figured I would give the jist on what is involved. Now, keep in mind this is in the slicktop which is harder to install in than a T-top version. With T-tops you can easily pop the tops and have room and space to make life even easier for doing this, so I spared no loss of luxuries. I wanted to do a write-up on this because all the posts on it before are either with dead pics or they were not very detailed and honestly didn't help me the first time I butchered my install all to hell so here you go. First thing you should know about instillation of a rollbar is the tools to make it easier. I recommend a few zipties, a water based marker (or Auto Writer as I call them), a drill with assortment of bits, a dremel with either an aluminum oxide bit or even a mini-saw bit (either work well). You will also need 14mm (standard bolt that comes with the kit) sockets both deep and shallow and a 14mm wrench as well. And a roll of green or blue masking tape...you will see why for that item. Lastly...a buddy...this is one of those few jobs where two people just make this install so much easier. It can be done with just one person but don't recommend it unless you've done it before and simply need this as a reminder of how much of a PITA this can be by yourself. Now, I can't stress enough patience needed for this install as once you drill your holes.....that's it.....no turning back other than "massaging" out the holes to clear a bit of room for play. But there is a small amount error allowed but again not much. **************************************************************************
Let's start with the simplest things first. We will remove the seats to make room for instillation. You will have 2 14mm bolts in the front and 2 14mm nuts at the rear of each seat.
Depending on the seat, you will also have a number of connectors on the bottom. My slicktop only came with a white connector to let the dash lights know that the seat is buckled. Other seats that have power connections will need to also be disconnected to allow for removal of the seats. 
Okay, now you should have both seats out. Now go back and simply put your nuts and bolts back into place. This does two things...keep you from loosing them and when you step on the stud in the floor it will keep you from knocking the crap out of your toes. Just a tip. You should be looking like this. 
Now that the seats are out, we have now made room for the hoop mounts on the floor but we now have to make room for the mounts to the rear strut areas. The Autopower mounts high under the plastic panels behind the seat. This piece is easily removable and will later need to be cut to make room for the bars and to give a clean install (I will provide some options for this later). Here is panel we need to remove. Should simply pop off. If your aiming lights are still there, go ahead and removed them for now as well as moving some wires out of the way for ease of working area for now.
 After you've popped them off this is what you have for the drivers. You will need to move over the wire and tuck it to make life easier on you for now.
 This is a pic of the passenger side. Again, move over or relocated wires out of harms way for now.
 This is the Autopower Rollbar, which I purchased from I/O Port. I had this item powdercoated as the stock black that it comes with simply peels away too damn easily. I do however recommend asking them to send you an unpainted one to save you a few buck at the powdercoater on sand blasting prep.
 There are two tricks that I will show you to make instillation a lot easier on you as you go through this. One is zipties. Stick a ziptie through each connector bar rather that putting in the original bolt. Don't tie it too tight just snug. This will give you a little snuggle room to nudge it into the perfect place later on for your drill markings that we will do shortly. PS- don't mind the mare marks on my bar it is rather old powdercoating...2 years in and out of project cars. :)
 The next trick is one that is going to save you plenty of headache and it's simple as can be. As you start to find a way to get the bar in and out of the vehicle, which you will need to do for this install at least 4-6 times on average, you want to take some precaution. Taping the sharp edges of the bar will be a little more forgiving on your fabrics and delicate plastics that we know as a Z's interior. Take this step to save the interior of your car. I also took the initiative to do the interior quarter glass panels in some areas as well just for good safety.
 Now let's get the bar into the car. Your first install attempt should be at this point.
 Now let begin a rough mounting of the bar. Remember what I said about needing to clear the area of obstructions. This is to give you an idea of NOT how to do it. Clear all that out of the way and we are looking for both a flat mounting surface to the floor as well as a flat area to the rear sheetmetal as well.
 This is the part of the instillation that takes the most time and attention to detail. As you are fitting the bar you are prepping to take your measurements. At this time, stick in your bolts that connect the rollbar to the roll bar extentions (1 per side), hand tight should be fine. This will give you the bar in the most stable platform. From here let's look over it all. Now you want to run your hand in between the bar and B-pillar and check for equal distance. You also want to look at the roof line and make sure everything is even and as equal as can be from bar to roof. Lastly look on the underside of the vehicle to make sure you aren't in the an unequal area in comparison from left to right. Again....take your time here. This is where patience will pay off. When it's all in, you should be looking like this for now.
 This is my Auto Writer. It's an water based marker that I use for all sorts of jobs and is one of my best tools. Now that we have the bar in the best possible fit that you think you can get, we want to make our marks for our drill holes.
 At first attempt for drill holes I only recommend making one mark per connector bar. In other words, only mark one hole and try to pick an outside hole. I then pulled out the bar and made my punch where I would begin to drill shortly. I like to use a drill bit that is smaller than the bolt diameter (aka, guide holes) so that I can simply massage the holes later with a bit, rather than going at it with a large bit and having my holes walk on me later. I drilled all my guide holes, should only be four holes total, and then put my bar back.
 After putting the bar back in, you don't want to massage out the hole just yet. You still want the availability of wiggle room. So we are going to use some long screw drivers to give us a rough idea of if our holes have walked in our drilling process.
 From here make adjustments according to your best fitment and re-assess the centers of your markings for the next set of drilling marks. If all good then take the bar back out yet again and drill your guide holes again for the rest of the bar. Re-install the bar yet again, get a few more long screw drivers and stick them in your recently drilled guide holes. We are looking for holes that simply allow the screwdrivers to go in easy and come out easy. If they are bent or fight you, then take a mental note as we will need to "massage" them with a dremel for best fitment later. My top screws were a hair off but we will clean all this up in a second.
 I used this as my "massage" method to get better fitment. Again, if you did all your measurements well, you will need this little to not at all. But still a good tool to have as a back up.
This is what we want. Handle to the base all around.
After all your quide holes have now been opened up a little bit to allow your hardware to mount up, go ahead and attempt your hardware install.
 The longer bolts with the kits will go on the floor, so 6 longer bolts on the floor and 6 shorter bolts on the upper sheet metal connection. You will notice also that the kit came with backing plates. You will need install those on the backside as well. Torque everything down to 40 foot pounds starting with the top bolts and work your way down to the floor. Note - the floor and backing plates. Sometimes, depending on the models, you will run into uneven surfaces on the floor of the vehicle. You have three things you can do here if you fall into this problem. Cut the floor...never liked this idea of cutting up my floor to fit a bar but it's an option. You can rubber mallet the floor to get the flat surface you need. Lastly, you can fab something that alters the underside bracket. My install didn't have any issues but I ran into this on a 91 TT years ago, so keep that in mind if you get to this area and run into this issue. Okay, so you've got the bar installed. Put back in your seats and test for fitment issues with the seat. You should look something like this if everything is done correctly.
 If you installed everything correctly, you should be slightly hugging the seat in full back condition. This is very tight, but then again, I never go back that far. But just wanted to show you a tight fit for all you tall guys out there.
 * 2 bad things about the Autopower bar that cannot be helped. 1) Your passenger will now loose a little leg room. So if you date a super model or a WNBA player, maybe you might want to rethink this. 2) The bar does get in your way of your rearview mirror so consider that as well. If you can live with these two things and can spare around $400 for the bar and have an afternoon to spare...you've got yourself a new rollbar. Good luck and remember.....patience. Hope this helped to update this subject.
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autopower rollbar install how-to - 
