I wonder, would having a harness bar of reasonable thickness installed between the two stock seatbelt points (which are supposed to be structurally sound), with a minute amount of preload (to prevent any slack in the bar or mounts) be a structually viable substitute for a rear strut tower bar?

Now, it doesn't help tie the suspension together like a rear strut tower bar does, but would it not be able to provide some sort of reinforcement to the generally weak hatch area?

Not to mention provide a place to properly and easy mount a harness, without getting in the way like a harness bar on a roll bar (which would probably be mounted reguardless), and a camera mount point... and it could even keep all my crap from sliding forward when I go somewhere (cargo net anyone?...).

The stock seatbelt mounts don't do anything on S5's anyway, so if it could at least give some rigidity to the car...and mount a harness without stopping the seats from reclining (...kind of a moot point as I'm going to install a bucket seat very soon...no, really, I am... just waiting on brackets :p).

 

Its supposed to eliminate frame flex

 

Hmm... too bad the one's they sell at IO Port racing aren't intended for high-speed events.

 

The points are WAY too far forward and you'll give up TONS of room by running a bar there.

 

where did you find the harness bar? ive been looking for one

 

It's more of a harness "guide bar" than a harness bar... I think the problem is that the bar isn't stout enough, rather than the mounting points not being strong enough (iirc, stock seat belts have to hold several thousand pounds for a short period of time, by law).

I can't really see how you'd loose much space, although you might not be able to open the bins...

I don't see how they're too far forward either, since they should match up with the height of the seat's harness slots (give or take a few inches).

I suppose a stout half-inch bar, with two threaded ends, and a threaded adjutment in the center (that is also close to half an inch at it's thinnest) wouldn't be that hard to fab up (with some loops for the harnesses too, and a spot thats as thick as a roll cage tube to mount seat braces, cameras, fire extinguishers, etc... that should be strong enough to support the harness (seeing as how it uses TWO stock seatbelt mounts)

 

Yes, I also want to build a harness bar for my TII instead of doing a roll bar.

I was thinking two THICK tabs bolted through w/ longer upper seat belt bolts and connected by a 1 1/2" diameter tube. Then an additional 3/4" tube per side running down from the large bar to the lower seat belt bolts- agian w/ a thick tab and longer bolts.


It would reinforce the weak hatch area and perhaps the large door openings a bit.

Our FC chassis only managed to be AS stiff as the 1st gen due to its larger openings (stated in Yamaguchi 2nd gen bible).

The real reason wouldn't be chassis rigidity, but to have a harness to hold me in tight without extra weight an holes in the car body.

 

cpracing has a 4 point rear strut bar that my belts are bolted to.

 

I have a pretty and stiff CF rear JIC rear bar though

I guess I could sell it and get the CP bar though it might be nice to get the belts a little higher than the strut bar.

 

where do we find the cp racing bar at?

 

Strut bars are NOT proper places to mount harnesses to.

The reduction in space is because the bar will limit rear seat travel (the seat will hit the bar before it's all the way back). The bar will stop the seat from being able to move as far back as possible, or keep you from reclining too much. If you did a Sparco style bar then it would be better for space.

 

Oh..PLEASE...check the Good guy/Bad guy forum on this..Unless you Like throwing Cash down the Toilet!..Because the Stuff is Crap and his Name(CP Racing) is on Everyone's **** List!

 

I took a look at the location of the mounts and you wouldn't loose any noticeable seat movement, depending on where you put the seats... if they're very far forward you might not be able to lean it all the way back, but if you have them slid back, you'd loose very little (because the bins block the seat).

However, I don't think I'd trust the mount as it is on my S5, since it looks like it's set in a rubber bushing or something (you can make it move with your finger), and I doubt it would be useful as a structural support (unless I'm mistaken, and it at least won't compress back and forth).