Harness bar and seat belts?

I have been shopping aroung for a harness bar and belts for my 89 coupe. Has anybody purchased one? I'm getting quotes from $99 to $250 for the bars. If you have purchased one, who did you use? Thanks ahead, Michael

You may want to consider spending a bit more (well, a lot more) and get a Brey Krause harness truss. They retail for $495. However, short of adding a roll bar or cage, I believe they are the next best and safest thing. They are engineered so that the harnesses can be mounted directly on the truss - they will not bend in a servere crash (or they will bend long after a standard harness bar has failed and loosened your shoulder harness) thus shoulder straps will remain tight. It is easily removed - 5 minutes and it looks cool. Have a look at http://www.bkauto.com//ht1025.html
chuck

Hey thanks, and yes, it does look cool. This seems like something I could find used eventually. I'm doing more and more track events and my car has the sport seat options. For resell reasons, I just don't want to stick a full cage in the car but would like the security of being held in, (I like to let my 911 hang out as much as possible!) Is this what you have? What belts if so did you get? Thanks, Michael

I found, by sheer luck, my BK harness truss used on the Pelican Board. $350. It had been used very little by the PO (who in turn was moving up to a cage). I installed Simpson harnesses, but any will do, with cam release. The lap harnesses are snapped in to eyelets bolted into the 3 point belt mounting points. This permits the original belts to remain in the car and makes harness removal a 2 minute job. For the present, I am using stock seats - thus I cannot use the sub belt - a real disadvantage. If you try to use a sub belt with stock seats, the longer seat bottom results in the sub belt pulling the lap and shoulder harnesses AWAY from your body. NOT GOOD. My next investment will be a set of seats that will permit my using the car for a daily driver but still offer more safety, i.e., holes in the seatback (for shoulder harnesses from the BK truss) and seat bottom itself for the sub belt.
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Using a four point harness is obviously not nearly as effective nor safe as a five or six point, but it certainly held me in my seat during last weekend's DE far better than my three-point seat belt. I have known folks to use both their four point harness AND the three point belt at the same time. It all boils down to money, risk and compromise and how much of each you can tolerate.
Chuck

Pat,
When you say 5 minutes to remove the BH Truss, what all is involved? How does it fix to the B pillar?
Thanks.
britt

Britt - -
If you go to the BK web link above, you will see a picture of the truss. In the lower left hand corner of the picture, you notice a vertical piece, with two black dots directly behind - (angled to the northwest in the picture.) The two run-together black dots are really bolts.
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OK - the vertical piece is the mounting bracket, steel I believe, and is bolted under the B-piller seatbelt mount with the same bolt presently holding the seatbelt.
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The bracket has a square piece coming out towards the rear, perpendicular to the B-piller. The truss itself - as you can see, is really two pieces of aluminum sandwiched together with spacers. The two truss surfaces go over and under the square mounting bracket (sandwiching it). Two afforementioned bolts then go through the sandwich.
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So it's two bolts on either side - and the truss is mounted or removed. The mounting bracket itself remains in the car.
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The shoulder harnesses attach to the next two bolts with a D ring. Two for the passenger and two for the driver. Thus you can leave the harnesses attached to the truss - just remove the truss and the attached shoulder straps come out too.
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Sorry for the wordy description but I hope it's clear enough. It really is a five-minute job. The truss itself, without the end brackets, is very light weight and easy to handle. Its light weight belies it strength! -
Chuck

Thanks for the great response. I think I am going to go with this unit.
britt

Has anyone tried to mount one in a Targa?

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E. William Reinecke
1988 Carrera Targa

89911-

If you plan on doing any track events, I would HIGHLY recommend purchasing a racing seat. Those factory sport seats are sweet, but don't even come close to the lateral support that a good monocoque racing seat (especially if you opt for an expensive carbon fiber model!). Plus, all (worthwhile) racing seats have shoulder, lap, and sometimes anti-submarine belt access holes to accommodate your restraint system. If you used a 4 or 5 point restraint system with your factory seats, you would probably develop wear spots over time. My recommendation: the Sparco "Evo" driver's seat, and a Sabelt/TRW 5-point 3" harness system. Once you are cinched down in the seat, it's truly like you are a part of the car! Also, my "Evo" is comfortable enough for daily driving. Once you put one in, you probably won't put your factory seat back until selling time!
-EJ

I've got the simple, cheap alternative -- a Weltmeister harness bar, and five-point harness from AJ-USA. I think it was about $100 for the bar (got it used) and $160 or so for the belts (seemed like a good idea to go with new, there).

I'm using this set-up for the first time tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe

I'm glad to see reviews of old post from the archives. Since that post in June, I've added an AutoPower rollbar with harness mounts, Recaros SRD's with Sub belt pass through, Schroth 5 point belts with Cam locks. A point worth making is that these are not for safety alone. The security of being locked in your seat and one with your car cannot be duplicated with conventional seat belts. You can then focus your attension on the course ahead of you. I did leave my original belt in for everyday driving. With the 5 points on, I can't even reach the radio.

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8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.