SeanSerino

I agree with Bullwings.

The single diagonal is approved by more racing organizations than the double diagonal, which may not be important to you if you're not competing. Definitely get the shoulder harness guide brackets, as they are NEEDED if you want to take out the stock roll hoops (which will need to be cut/modified if you wish to keep them) and still use the standard 3 pt seatbelt. A lowered welded harness bar is great to have also if you plan on running race seats/harnesses.

clarkster009

Are there any cons to removing the stock roll hoops? I mean, I don't plan on selling the car. I would probably like to utilize stock seats and harnesses for now...since I haven't even tried it to see whether I enjoy it, and will definitely want to drive the car on the street still. If I get the welded lowered harness bar, can I still use the factory seat belts and seats for now?

clarkster009

What if I just get the welded harness bar (not lowered)? Is that only good for factory seat belts?

SeanSerino

No cons at all to removing the stock rolls hoops if the hard dog roll is in place, with the shoulder harness guide brackets. Since part of the OEM seatbelt system mounts to the OEM roll hoops, the shoulder harness guide brackets must be welded on the Hard Dog bar in order for removal of the OEM roll hoops.

If you get the lowered harness bar, the OEM roll hoops need to be removed, but I think everything else can remain. However, with the lowered harness bar, once you run seats/harnesses, you will need to remove the OEM seat belts and rear bulkhead in order to have clearance to the lowered harness bar. Once you do this, however, this means the both the passenger and drivers side will have to have the OEM seatbelts removed. This means that both the passenger and drivers sides must have racing seats and harnesses (keep in mind that mostly every track/organization requires that you have equal safety restraints for the passenger and driver, which means you'll need a passenger race seat/harness regardless.)

You can get the higher welded harness bar, but this would likely not pass a lot of safety regulations if you get more serious about tracking. The harness bar must be welded within a certain range in relation to the shoulder hoops on your racing seats. If the angle of the harness from your shoulder hoops (on the race seat) to the harness bar are outside of this range, they can actually hurt you more/crush your spine in an accident. So, the harness bar shouldn't be too high or low in relation to the shoulder hoops on your seat. I think it's recommended to fall within a +- 10 degree range, though I'm not certain on the exact specifications of this.

SeanSerino

Oh, also, make sure you get padding for the bar. This is important for 2 reasons: 1. a lot of organizations recommend/require roll bars to be padded. 2. Most importantly, safety. In case of an accident, even with 6 pt harnesses, body parts (skull/limbs/etc) could come into contact with the un-padded roll bar, which could result in serious bodily damage.

miamirice

You should also consider the proximity of a roll bar to your head if it's a daily driver. What might seam like a fairly average accident on the street could be fatal if you hit your head on the bar.

SeanSerino

Yup, padding is a must