Because race car!, Harness bar Options

[UVZ164]

Disclaimer: I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE TRYING TO REPLICATE THE FOLLOWING AND CAUSING INJURY TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. THIS IS SIMPLY A ROUGH OUTLINE OF HOW I WENT ABOUT MAKING MY HARNESS BAR.

CAUTION: If employing the use of a harness bar, in the event of a crash this is what keeps your steering wheel free of an imprint of your face. Do not cut corners! If you do not have the means or skill to complete the task seek professional assistance!

Ok now we can get to the good bits!

I've been racing the Celica a fair bit lately, and decided the stock seatbelts were throwing me around WAY too much so I would need a harness. I thought about doing a dodgy and bolting the shoulder straps to the floor but then wised up and decided to build a harness bar.

Here is the final product:






And how it fits in the car:





Materials required:

2m of 2.6mm wall thickness 38mm diameter round tubing
2m of 1.6mm wall thickness 18mm diameter round tubing
300x300x5mm steel plate

Building Steps

Befriend someone who has a workshop with a pipe bender(want mandrel bent not crush!) or if you have the $$ buy one!
Bend the 38mm diameter pipe so there are two 90 degree bends with a centre distance of 1160mm.
Cut the bent bits off so they are 230mm in length.

Using an angle grinder cut the steel plate into strips to be used for the brackets.
I used 50mm x 130mm for the top and 50mm x 70mm for the base (because otherwise they will hit the seat)
Bend the 50x130mm strips at 90 degrees in the middle and drill a 13mm hole in the centre of one of the halves.
Bend the 50x70mm strips at 90 degrees 20mm from one end and drill a 13mm hole in the large part.

Unbolt your existing seatbelts and let them hang there for the time being.
Using the existing bolts, bolt the 50x130mm bracket in the top seat belt holes. Making sure that the 90 degree bend is facing the boot.
Get the bent 38mm diameter tubing and place it in the car.

Now this is where your going to need probably two friends to hold the thing so it can be tack welded. I would advise TIG welding so there is no sparks, or feel free to cover up the interior of the car very well and use MIG or stick.
Now making sure the bar is flush with the two brackets and level, tack the bar in place. Once tacked, remove from the car and weld it up properly.

Now bolt the 50x70mm brackets into the existing lower seatbelt mount positions leaving the 20mm part facing up. And place the welded cool! bar back into the car and bolt it on.
Get into the drivers seat with your helmet on and set the seat into your driving position. Do not move the seat now!
You want to angle the bar so that its at the same height as the top of your seat (want the shoulder straps to go straight back not down on an angle).
Get the 18mm diameter tube now and place it 120mm away from the edge of the top bend and down onto the bottom bracket and tack weld them up.
Remove the whole thing from the car and finish all welds up properly.

Optional: If you want to reinforce it like i did in pictures 3 and 4 you will not be able to leave the bar in and the stock seatbelts in so when you go to the track you will need to unbolt the stock seatbelts and put in the bar. I just cable tie the seatbelts to the bar to stop them flapping around when in driving. I cant believe that this would be road legal so dont use it!

Unfortunately i don't have any pictures of when i was building it coz we were in a hurry! But i will give you this pic, a guy in the car club owns a 672hp twin turbo 2JZ and tracks it! Photo is from the last Wakefield park track day



And my semi slick race tyres, lefts are 225 50R15 Toyo's for the front and the right ones are 205 55R15 Falkens for the rears:



If people want pictures of how i mounted the lap bents and crotch strap let me know! this is still my DD so nothing has been removed!

The bar works very well and is sturdy as anything!

Any questions, let me know!