I picked up my new-to-me 99 Miata last weekend, and I've got a little less than a month now to sort out the safety equipment before my first track day. One of the reasons I was attracted to this car was that it already had a Hard Dog double diagonal bar. I knew it didn't have a harness bar but I figured that was a simple addition. I should have done more research.
The roll bar is old, I'm guessing it was installed pretty close to when the car was new. It looks like this:
With the bent rear supports. I thought a double diagonal bar was a double diagonal bar, but apparently there's the non-NASA legal "sport" and the full thickness Hard Core. I'll measure when I get home today but I'm guessing the one I have is going to end up being a sport.
Then I read this less than glowing review of the bolt-in harness bar, and now I'm second guessing this thing entirely. Assuming I do end up having the sport bar, should I just yank it and buy something with a welded in harness bar? Is the design of the bolt in harness bar sound? The previous owner has a single eye bolt poking through the parcel shelf that he used to mount his harnesses, but I'd rather not use a single mounting point. Could I run a second eye bolt through there? Or should I just stick with the plan of getting a harness bar?
EvanB
UltimaDork
5/4/15 2:19 p.m.
Can you just have someone weld a bar between the two rear supports right below the diagonals? Or would that get in the way of the rear window?
In reply to EvanB:
That's a great question. Good-Win advertises a weld-in option but it's not a standalone product. Still, it's just a straight length of tube, I figure people should do it all the time, but I can't find anyone who's done it on the internet. Makes me wonder why.
It's a moot point if I have the sport bar, though. Probably should have waited to measure the thing before I started this thread but I'm trying to kill time at work.
eta: Also wondering if it'd be worth modifying this bent-support bar even if it is the Hard Core version. Seems they changed the design at some point and the straight bars just seem better.
In reply to steronz:
Any local cage builder can put a bar in for your harness. You'll need to repaint the bar afterward. They could even fix the bars as well, worth asking while you're talking with them.
People likely don't do this because they may not use a harness with theirs (and really many trackdays using street cars don't allow harnesses without full safety equipment) or they sell it and buy one with it included. Also not everything done to cars is posted on the net for all to see.
+1 to welding in a bar. That's what i'd do.
Well, not me personally, because i'm a E36 M3ty welder. But i'd gladly pay someone else to weld it in for me.
That said, my Boss Frog bar didn't have a harness bar. I have the bolt in bar. No complaints.
Well, if my junior high geometry class taught me right, I've got a puny 1.5" diameter sport bar.
So... figure I should sell it, eh?
Bent rear braces = NB Sport. All the Hard Cores have straight rear legs FYI.
And you'll find that if you want a harness bar with a glass rear window, you're going to have to put it in the main hoop and not between the rear braces.
