Thanks for that.

 

Well I got the bar back from the powder coaters last night. I checked the number and it is 60952. All I can think is maybe their numbering has changed since this was built. From all the photos I have seen of the bar in an X, mine lines up like theirs.

Anyways, I installed it last night. Took me from 7pm until about midnight. It shouldn't have taken that long but I ran into a problem. So for those of you thinking about this bar, if you get it powder coated make sure to tell them not to get any powder coating inside the legs. I spent an hours trying to figure out why I couldn't slide the legs on and another hour removing the paint from inside the leg with a screwdriver. (That's all I had).

The bar itself was pretty easy to get in and out with the passanger seat removed. Just slide it in through the drivers side rear door. I ended up mounting it more forward then most since it looked better and just seems like it should be more centered. I'm having plates made to
Go under the rear legs but for now I just used washers as a spacer.

Here are some photos

 

What do you plan to do about the harness bar not lining up with the slots in your seats?

 

I think the seats are just too low. From photos of others the bar seems to be around window level. So for now, I'm using it like it is, but I think I may go with the Cobra Suzukas. Sat in them when I was at a shop looking for harnesses and really liked them. Plus the harness holes are higher.

The bar is a little high but I think the photos make it look higher than it is. Not where it should be optimally, but it will work for now.

This looks kind of the same but the seats are out of view.

 

I, personally, like to be as high as I can be without having my helmet ever hit the ceiling, so I agree with raising the seat (unless you're a giraffe). At the same time, it's typical in some forms of racing (e.g., rally) for the passenger to be much lower than the driver, mostly for CG height, which is one reason why you sometimes see harness bars at different heights on the two sides. But for your uses, equal heights would be better and both seats being higher is probably the way to go.

With that said, I'm still not very happy about the lean-back of your main hoop as you plan to install it. It really should be more vertical, even if that means extending the rear supports.

 

I prefer a little lower. Plus the height I am now seems to match with the information I read on driving positions. Besides isn't lower better for center of gravity on these cars? Although I'm not sure it's something I would notice.

It's funny, in my old Range Rover I had the seats as high as possible, in the Evo I have it the opposite.

These seats just place the harness holes a little lower than the Cobra. That and they are just little slits on these where as the Cobras are a little bigger. I can raise the seats one more notch but that will only give me about half an inch.

I get the harnesses Monday so I will see. But like I said, I really got the harnesses more to hold me in place. If they do that in the position I'm in, I'm cool until I decide to get the Cobras.

Thanks for the replies.

 

I agree, I told him that over on the other forum. Not really sure why he is trying so hard to move the bar forward when it was built for a specific placement in the car.

Again, the main hoop needs to be vertical. Honestly I think a good tech person would not allow that on track.

You need to be careful on harness mounting angles. You are installing safety equipment, remember?

 

Where is it said it needs to be vertical? Everything I have read says it can have a little angle. Also read that it shouldn't be more that 6" from the head. So if I moved it back you guys would be ok with that?

What rule book can I look at to see the allowable angle? BTW, even moving it back it still had an angle. The bar follows the line of the window.

As far as the harness bar. I understand that as well and I'm going to try to get it as close as possible to the correct angle.

As far as the statement "you are installing safety equipment, remember" I already stated my reason for installing it. I'm not worried about my safety. If it helps it helps, if it doesn't it doesn't.

 

BTW the bar is at the same angle it was in the very first photos and those photos were taken with the bar in the position it is "supposed" to be.

I'm doing this for the sake or argument because it's not a out my safety, but I measured the angle, the best I could with what I have and it's about 10 degrees. I don't know if the photo is making you guys think the thing is completely laid back or what but it's no different than having it set back. But that's within tolerance with everything I read. I actually read that there is no set angle given.

But most importantly is the assumptions. I appreciate you guys caring but you can't assume that everybody is concerned with their safety. You can't assume it's everybody goal to survive as long as possible.

 

The first thing I should say (admit?) is that I should have applied a bit of what I study, such as the fact that humans perceive angles that deviate from a canonical (i.e., horizontal or vertical) as being about twice as deviant as they really are. This is what causes foreshortening. (No foreshortening has nothing to do with the effect of cold water on a certain part of your body; it's the fact that things lying flat on the ground look less long [or "shorter"] than they actually are. The best example for car folks are the arrows that they paint on the pavement in lanes. Look down at them from the above and you'll see how distorted they must be in order to be seen as arrows from the driver's seat. But we digress....) In any event, the angle looks worse than it is.

Second, as long as you have good back-stays on the hoop, it will be strong. The key is having triangles, and you do.

Third, if you don't need to satisfy some particular set of rules, then you are free to do as you wish.

Finally, use big plates or somehow add plates that make it all the over to the sill. Evo Xs have great sills, but lousy floors. That's the one piece of real safety advice I can give.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I think it's solid enough for me. Just need to attach the harness when it gets here Monday and have them carpet the back seat area and I'm done.

 

Off-topic, but related: What are you doing to deal with the missing seat airbag? Did you make a jumper with 2 ohm resistor that was discussed in other threads?

 

Yea the resistors worked fine. Just havent found a way to trick the weight sensors yet.

 

When you drilled the floor, did you stick with 3/8" to match the bolts exactly? I'm test fitting and marking mine now, thinking about going with 1/2" to have a bit of wiggle room.

 

My holes are all messed up. Lol had to drill them out bigger to get it to line up.