Nice. Just what I'm trying to avoid. Eh, track car, right?

 

Please tell us you have a decent-sized backing plate under the car for the feet of the bar. (I'm assuming that the feet of the bar are large plates; if not, they need a added plate, too) If not, that bar won't do anything useful.

Real cages connect somehow to the sills; they aren't just welded to the floor. If the legs of the main hoop are just bolted to the floor without something to spread the force outward, the legs will just punch through the floor if you land on the roof hard enough to need a bar. It will do little or nothing to stop the roof from collapsing and the harness will be yanked down relative to the seats. That's part of why a bogus bar is worse than nothing.

 

Autosports come with backing plates. I personally have the roll cage to mount my harness and because it looks cool to me. Even though I do track my car I'm not worried about the risks. Harness is there to keep me upright and not usung the steering wheel to support myself under heavy braking.

 

Yea I track it and going to enter time attack next year. I started tracking a few months ago and have done 3 track days. Pretty addicting.

If you mount the bar where it's supposed to be you might not have a problem. I wanted the main hoop closer to the front seat. One because it looks better and two so the harness didn't have to be so long a reach. It's still sold mounted. The backing plates are big enough I think. I used the black caulking to go around the bolts and plates just to keep water from getting under them. Plus I SUCK at installing things like this. I can measure 100 times and still be off. Lol. If you are good at that stuff then you shouldn't have a problem.

Honestly though, guys see one mustang with feet through the floorboard and they think all boltons will do that. There are a lot of variables and there is always that one in a million freak accident that **** beyond anybody's control happens.

 

So far everything is lining up pretty good. Had to disconnect some of the wiring harnesses on the rear wheel wells for room to work. The bar is further towards the rear seat in order for the rear stays to mount on the wells. I'm not that tall, so the driver seat isn't all that far back. However when I moved the passenger seat all the way back, it's pretty clear why the bar mounts that way.

I have a second set of 3/16" steel plates that are going on the inside floor to guard against punch through as several here have recommended. I'm still only doing DE, but I discussed my whole install plan with NASA NE Tech to make sure everything was acceptable. Anything more than DE, I'd go full welded.

 

If folks have inferred that the problem is directly related to the method of attachment, then I agree that the anecdotes have caused misunderstanding. It has nothing to do with bolt-in vs welded. It's about spreading the load. The problem is that bolt-in bars are often far from the sills and don't have large enough plates.

 

where did you wind up getting plates done? i STILL cant find a shop. didnt see you at season opener last weekend?

 

Metal Supermarkets in Albany. They even cut them to size and put in the bend.

I was at the cold rainy pre-opener at Lime Rock
Unlikely I'll get down to NJMP this year, so I'll do both events at the Glen and Thompson.

 

also just fyi for everybody, an evo guy had a shop use the autopower as the base for a welded in cage over the winter. knocked about $1k off the total price...haven't really seen anyone go that route before.

 

Cool. Looks like it will be strong. I saw I think an old thread on the Ryan Gates roll bar. That thing looked pretty hefty.

 

Yes. One thing that stands out about the Gates311 half-cage is that the plates for the main-hoop feet are bolted through the floor AND TO THE SILL. (Don't worry. That shout was the end for me here.)

 

there does exist a "bolt in" cage made by safety devices that utilizes welded in/boxed plates that the cage then bolts to. its not terribly expensive, but getting a hold of it in the US is a pain.