Harness bar without rollcage - Lateral-g Forums

67ragtp · #1 10-13-2010, 05:02 AM

Ned,

We integrated one in to my chassis/body on my 69 camaro. I drew up some rough pics and sent it over to Mike Riggs he ran with it while preparing my sheet metal body . He had so many pics up on his website but took them all down. Im looking at this one pic of the car with no rear quarter on it and said to myself, how cool would it be to add a solid 1 inch bar from the b pillar to the end of the quarter where the striker is bolted in all reinforces with 1/8" plate and a 1/4" tab welded to the bar to protrude out a slot in the top beauty reveal. A couple of cletes in the trunk and the bar has storage as well. Its not for everyone but my logic is, Im not going through the windshield in the event of a front end collision and dont want a 3 point harness. Should hold you in the seat firmly during vigorous driving excursions. I wish I had the pics when Mike had the quarter open, here's one that gives you an idea. If you look closely at the right corner of the pic you can see the bar going to the b pillar, clears all the quarter window hardware nicely.

Rich

The WidowMaker · #2 10-13-2010, 03:52 PM

obviously some reinforcement is needed where the mount is welded, but do you guys think we (the ones with quarters on) could do without the extra reinforcing bars that we've seen. my thought would be yes since the stock belts mount through sheet metal and the piece we are talking about isnt a flimsy piece and it is welded to tons of stuff around its perimeter.

thoughts?

DRJDVM's '69 · #3 10-13-2010, 04:29 PM

Rich
That's simiar to what they did on the Kyle bush car. I'm leaning towards doing that.... I looked at that area yesterday and it looks like it wouldn't be too hard to reinforce that area even with the quarter panel on. In my car there's quite a bit of space in there and the access to get in there isn't too bad

I've been thinking about how much force it would need to support and if you look at the way the stock upper belt attaches to the c pillar area, it ain't too beefy up there

and neither is the floor for that matter

When it comes to safety it's always better to over engineer something but in my mind alot of extra bars etc wouldn't really be necessary. A big flat plat the distributes all that force over a large area and the way the b pillar and inner structure all connects it's pretty stout to begin with

I think something pretty stout could be done with the quarters on. With the DSE car the took the top part of the b pillar off to get better access but did it with the quarter on

The WidowMaker · #4 10-13-2010, 11:24 PM

ned, not to derail, but i think your thoughts are in line with mine; kids equal no roll bar but i still want the harnesses for the autocross and any other spirited driving. but what do you do about shoulder belts when the kids are in the car? i drove the chevelle for 5 years with lap belts only, but i wouldnt ever do it again. whats the solution? a removable bar makes the kids safe, but how do you quickly get yourself a 3 pt?

DRJDVM's '69 · #5 10-15-2010, 02:01 PM

I was planning on doing some stuff to reinforce the package tray with either a bar under it/inside the trunk and/or adding a big flat plate under the tray and then bolt through it. Then a 4 point harness for each passenger

The principle is the same..... Take the force placed on that one attachment and spread it out over a large surface area. No different than the way the stock belts work

Look at the stock belt hole in the floor..... It usually just has a big flat washer or plate to reinforce the floor

The WidowMaker · #6 10-15-2010, 09:26 PM

so your plan is 4pt per passenger all the time? that would work if thats the case. still not sure if i would want a bar back there even with the 4pts though.

i had thought about doing 3 pts in the rear for the kids, but they will be in booster seats for a long time to come. still looking for ideas. looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Tim

Fluid Power · #7 10-16-2010, 05:27 AM

I am at this point with my convertible as well. I don't want to run just lap belts only, but running a roll bar with kids in the back seat is out as well. This is the one item that I have not been able to move beyond and finish the interior and the car.....

Darren

DRJDVM's '69 · #8 10-16-2010, 05:06 PM

If there is one bar going from B pillar to B pillar and its essentially right up against the back of the seat, and the rear passengers are in 4 point belts, there is no way anything critical (like you face/head) is going to hit that bar.

Yes, in the event of a huge rollover etc, arms or legs could come into contact with it, but they may also hit the roof, window, seat and a million other places too that could do just as much damage. I think the risk is pretty small.

Now if there are big down bars, main hoop and a halo..... thats where "head vs bar" starts to come into play......

96z28ss · #9 10-18-2010, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRJDVM's '69

If there is one bar going from B pillar to B pillar and its essentially right up against the back of the seat, and the rear passengers are in 4 point belts, there is no way anything critical (like you face/head) is going to hit that bar.

Yes, in the event of a huge rollover etc, arms or legs could come into contact with it, but they may also hit the roof, window, seat and a million other places too that could do just as much damage. I think the risk is pretty small.

Now if there are big down bars, main hoop and a halo..... thats where "head vs bar" starts to come into play......

Thats why I had my rear down bars follow the roof a bit before they turned down. But i also wanted to use a factory headliner but if I was doing a totally custom unit they it would tuck up against the roof and sides, the headliner would cover it.

jonkiwi · #10 11-03-2010, 01:39 PM

a simple harness bar for 4 point belts is exactly what i'm after for my 67 camaro. i have an otherwise finished car and am simply retro-fitting for schroth's 4-point profi II asm harnesses (awesome belts by the way). i figure that after 10 years of driving around with lap belts only, i've already spent 8 of my 9 lives, and i'm not interested in having shoulder belts dangling from the roof liner.

couple questions to those on this thread that appear to best informed:

- does the b-pillar need to be heavily reinforced like it would appear was done on the DSE/kyle busch car? really want to avoid having to remove quarters

- can anyone in southern california recommend a fabricator to fab a bent harness bar with drop pin ends so its removable? as opposed to a straight bar like on rich's (69ragtp) convertible, i want one that kinks back a little

- any ideas for drop pin mounts with polyurethane bushings to minimize the squeaking from the connections

thanks in advance for any comments, jonathan