Kappasphere Luggage Rack

[fkeillor]

I received my Kappasphere luggage rack this week and just had to get it on the car. Went on fairly easy but you do need a large hex wrench for the BHC screws that are used to attach all the hardware to the rack.

Here's the BUTT!!

Now I'm one of the people who think that the turned up portion of the rack should be at the rear not the front. So I did something about it.

Making the change was fairly easy.

1st I cleaned of the trunk lid to make sure there was nothing there that might scratch it.

Then after putting together the rear rails I laid them on the trunk lid.

Next with the hardware attached to the luggage rack I turned it around so the the up lip was to the rear and place it on the rails to see what needed to be done the mount it this way.

The one thing need was to replace the 2 1" metric BHC screws with 2" ones. Then adding 15 washers to elevate the now front of the rack.

Bingo Done.

The only thing the I might do in the future is to cut the rubber strip in half where the two pieces of the bracket come together. That would make putting the straps onto the trunk lid a lot easier.

If any else was wondering how to do this little mod I hope this helps.

[Sierra Shark]

Nicely done....BUT...... You do understand that the turned up part of the rack is that way to keep the luggage from taking your head off in the event of a head on wreck. I do agree it looks more logical in the back. Anyway, to each his own. Here's to hoping you (or anyone else) never have that happen.

[ggccg]

A couple of short lengths of pipe might make cleaner looking spacers. Nice job!

[bigdog]

Fred,

The front of the rack looks very close to the humps. In real life how much clearance is there? If it's too close and I'd worry about the rack making an impression on the trunk.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on getting the rack - your solution looks great.

[1Man1Sky]

Hmm...again, the lip protects your head...be careful driving. Better to have the luggage fall off the back than your head fall off your neck.

[Sierra Shark]

Originally Posted by 1Man1Sky

Hmm...again, the lip protects your head...be careful driving. Better to have the luggage fall off the back than your head fall off your neck.

I know it sounds like urban legend stuff but a true story... About 9 years ago a guy I grew up with bought a completely restored Austin Healy roadstar with its original luggage rack. He did the same thing and reversed it with the lip down hill. He was on a trip to Los Angeles with the top down and got into a head on. The hard case luggage on the rack let go and took his head off. The crash alone proabaly would have killed him anyway but I wouldn't mess with the laws of physics.

[1Man1Sky]

Well, figure a case of luggage can be around 20 lbs, on average. At 40 miles an hour I'd think that is more than enough to take your head off if you crashed or slammed on your brake. The braking might not take your head off, but I'd bet it could brerak your neck, perhaps seperating it from the brain stem causing death anyway. Hell, just hitting a wall at high spped can seperate your nech (look at Dale Earnhardt Sr.) We may not travelling at that kind of spped, but, add 20 lbs to the back of your skull and I'm sure you'd get the same effect.

I say there's no need to turn it around anyway. Your luggage should be nice and secure the way the rack was designed.

But hey, its up to you.

[ceeker]

Looks to me like with the front elevated it's higher than the top of the wind restrictor.

Now I don't know about all of you, but when I'm sitting in the car the top of my head is maybe just a tab bit taller than the top of the wind restrictor.

So my guess is that on a front end impact, the luggage would sail well over the top of your head based on this angle!

But then again, maybe not... ouch

[1Man1Sky]

Originally Posted by ceeker

Looks to me like with the front elevated it's higher than the top of the wind restrictor.

Now I don't know about all of you, but when I'm sitting in the car the top of my head is maybe just a tab bit taller than the top of the wind restrictor.

So my guess is that on a front end impact, the luggage would sail well over the top of your head based on this angle!

But then again, maybe not... ouch

You go test it. If you're alive post back with the results!

[fkeillor]

WOW !!! Didn't mean to start a firestorm about the position of the lip on the luggage rack. First I want to thank everyone for being concerned about my head. I hope to never have to report you the "You were right", but we all know that an accedent can happer out of nowhere and in the blink of an eye. When I talked with Kappasphere they told me the samething. That the design was done to protect the occupants of the car in case somethine did happen. However I do like the look of the rack turned around. I will try it for a while to see if I the funtionality of it. Can always be returned to stock real easy.

Originally Posted by ggccg

A couple of short lengths of pipe might make cleaner looking spacers. Nice job!

ggccg, your idea of the tubing was my first thought, but the washers were cheaper and more readely avaiable. If I deside to keep the rack this way I'll be looking for some sturdy tubing.

Originally Posted by bigdog

Fred,

The front of the rack looks very close to the humps. In real life how much clearance is there? If it's too close and I'd worry about the rack making an impression on the trunk.

bigdog I measured the distance from the Areo farings to the bottom of the rack and its amost an inch. After I put the rack togeather the first time (the right way) I laid it onto the trunk lid to see how it looked. I didn't make a measurement at that time but I remember the there was not a lot of clearence.
Maybe the next run I'll put it on for show and tell.