[DeTomaso] seatbelt bar

Wed Jan 9 16:31:30 EST 2008

Agree with both of you! The cost of a 3-6 point bar or cage relative to your survival in a bad accident is well worth the low cost investment...I have a 6-point cage Dick Drenske built that unbolts in less then an hour. 

  Dawg

Tomas Gunnarsson <guson at home.se> wrote:
  I agree with Greg. The bar mounting points being where they are relative to the belt attaching points will make the bar flex and bend forward considerably under load. The upward arc of the bar will soon turn to a forward arc and when your body returns it'll be right at the base of your neck, protuding forward from the bulkhead.

Tomas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Jacobs" 
To: ; 
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] seatbelt bar

> The seat belt bars as less than ideal if you expect it to save yer life.
> Under heavy breaking the bar will stress and flex. I cannot imagine that it
> would prevent injury if an actual accident were to occur. I had one and
> swapped it for a four point roll bar. It felt much more solid and provided
> the added assurance that I would not take the passenger with me when the bar
> broke loose. Just not a good design. 
> 
> The seatbelt shoulder mount point is used to tie it to the bulkhead. The
> tension is not directed to the correct location and the bar deflects under
> load. Very dangerous. 
> 
> Greg "dude, where's my car?" Jacobs
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
> Behalf Of adin at frontier.net
> Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 7:05 AM
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] seatbelt bar
> 
> 
> Don't forget, during any unplanned physical tricks the G forces may 
> reach unthinkable ranges. My fat ass X multi g loads . . . .
> 
> Of course, if it comes to that, there may be other issues. You DO 
> wear you HANS, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting MikeLDrew at aol.com:
> 
>>
>> In a message dated 12/30/07 19 58 8, dferrato at aol.com writes:
>>
>>
>>> Do I remember some problem with mounting belts/harnesses to the
>>> vendor supplied seatbelt bars with regard to their strength or
>>> positioning?
>>>
>> The beauty of the vendor-sourced bars is their simplicity. They go into
> the
>> car in minutes with no modifications to the car required. Some have
>> speculated as to how they would react in a crash, i.e. would they 
>> distort since they
>> are only supported on the ends? If the engine is out of the car, it would
>> probably be a good idea to add a third mounting bolt directly in the 
>> center of
>> the bar. But when you think about it, the only way the bar could distort
>> forward to any degree would be if the ends of the bar were 
>> compressed. It would
>> take a LOT of forward force to pinch the sides of the car together enough
> to
>> let the bar and harnesses move forward to any degree.
>>
>> I think we can all agree that four-point harnesses are infinitely better
> than
>> the stock belts (which, let's remember, are getting a bit long in the
> tooth),
>> and five-point harnesses are better still.
>>
>> If you're thinking of upgrading your belts, I would install the bar
> without
>> hesitation.
>>
>> Dennis Quella sells a weld-in kit consisting of a piece of U-channel with
>> provisions for an eyebolt. This thing is flawed for a number of reasons.
>> First of all, it places the shoulder harness mount quite a bit too 
>> low. It is
>> imperative that the shoulder harnesses be mounted close to shoulder 
>> level, and
>> perpendicular to the expected force. Dennis kit mounts them a few inches
>> below the shoulder bar. (Anything lower than shoulder height reduces
> their
>> effectiveness; mounting them on the floor makes them perfectly useless!)
>>
>> This kit also requires you to both weld on the car, and cut holes in your
>> back panel to feed the eyebolts through. And finally, the belt 
>> hardware rattles
>> something awful on the eyebolts, which is annoying.
>>
>> I have five-point harnesses from Hall Pantera in my car, consisting of
>> three-inch lap belts, two-inch shoulder harnesses and a two-inch 
>> crotch strap.
>> Although the strap has a secondary benefit of preventing you from 
>> 'submarining'
>> under the dash (out from under the belts) in a frontal collision, the real
>> intent is to keep the lap belts from 'riding up', which they will 
>> tend to do with
>> a seating position as reclined as ours, when the shoulder harnesses are
>> tightened properly. Basically, the shoulder harnesses tug up, and 
>> the crotch belt
>> tugs down, keeping the lap belt centered on the hips properly.
>>
>> Besides being important in a crash, such belts do a great job of keeping
> the
>> driver planted during aggressive driving, enabling him to have a much
> better
>> seat-of-the-pants feel for what the car is doing.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> **************
>> Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.
>>
>> http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
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