Essex Harness Bar: Now Available!

[JRitt]

Hi Guys,
Our harness bar is now available for pre-order. You can see details on our blog (we are offering a pre-order special price). Below is a quick refresher on the specs. You can see the installation instructions here, which should clear up any construction or install questions.

Essex has created what we feel is the ultimate harness bar for the FT86 chassis. While our bar is definitely attractive, our goal was not to create a 'style bar.' Our design objectives were focused almost exclusively on function. We wanted to make the stiffest, lightest, and most versatile bar possible, and we believe we have succeeded:

• No modifications to the OE sheet metal are required- All of the pieces in our harness bar kit bolt to existing holes in the car. There is no cutting or modifying required. Our bar can be seamlessly and completely removed to put the car back to stock condition.
• Retains OEM front seat belt mounting points- Our bar can be installed while keeping the front seatbelts functioning as intended. Also, the OEM shoulder belt mounting location does not change. We simply provide a longer bolt, and the factory belt rests on top of the plate for our harness bar.
• Both OEM seats slide all the way back and recline comfortably with bar installed.
• 1-3/4” O.D. steel tube for maximum rigidity- Our bar is a single piece that extends from B-pillar to B-pillar. There are no mid-tube connections, as mid-tube connections are typically not as rigid. While we're not making any claims with respect to chassis stiffening, we will note that the load paths through our assembly are in a straight line. This does increase stiffness more than a design that follows a tortuously crooked or curved path.
• Adjustable height with 4 positions- The four positions allow for a wide range of vertical adjustment. We've provided an appropriate mounting point for drivers of different heights, and for those running various types of seats and mounting methods.
• Four primary attachment points to the chassis- All four primary connection points are directly to factory belt mounting locations, and there are no flimsy sheet metal connections. Our bar has billet aluminum end plates that attach to both B-Pillars. The end plates are bolted to the factory shoulder seat belt mounting points (near the roof, behind your head). A tension rod attaches at the bottom of each plate and runs back to the shoulder belt mounting location for the rear seat. Having multiple mounting points securely locks the bar to the chassis, and the tension rods have left and right-hand threads allowing infinitesimal length adjustments to simplify fitment.
• Mounting plates are machined from ½” billet aluminum plate- Light, precise, and strong, our low-profile machined billet aluminum end plates allow the bar to be accurately positioned in the car without intruding into the cabin. Only one small piece of interior plastic must remain out of the car when the bar is run in the default top position (the piece closest to the top OEM shoulder belt mount).
• Durable and attractive black powder coat finish- All of our components are powder coated semi-gloss black. When the bar is installed, it does not attract any unnecessary attention, and it blends nicely with the interior of the car. Only the bar itself and a small portion of the billet aluminum end plates remain visible.
• Highest quality fasteners- Only high-strength fasteners are employed.
• Weight with fasteners is 14.5 lbs.

The image below shows the bar installed, before the plastic panels have been reinstalled to cover it.

[JRitt]

Below is a pic with the plastics back in the car. As you can see, the install is about as stealth as you can get overall, and blends nicely with the car. Only one small panel at the top of the shoulder belt area remains out of the car. Everything else is hidden behind the factory plastics.

[gmookher]

lil matte black spray can on the blue bits and presto!

[Alan]

Can you (a) still fold down the rear seat and (b) stack four wheels and tires under the bar? (I'm guessing the answer is no, but it would be awesome if you could)

[Mister_Sir]

$600 for this!?!?!?!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...

[Z3D]

Originally Posted by Mister_Sir

$600 for this!?!?!?!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...

I heard this quote once, "You gotta pay to play"

I dont know how much I believe in it......

[d1ck]

Originally Posted by Mister_Sir

$600 for this!?!?!?!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...

Businesses operate to make money. Low volume products like this take plenty of time to develop and they have to make sure they get return on their investment in R&D. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. Please, just don't bitch about it.

[JRitt]

Originally Posted by Mister_Sir

$600 for this!?!?!?!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...

Posts like this always provide me with a good laugh. How much do you think it costs to design and manufacture the product we're selling?

I'm not sure that you realize what is involved with the design and manufacture of our harness bar. This is not a 'metal bar' that some 'group of guys' decided to shove into the car.

• Our Engineering Director (who has designed championship-winning products for some of the top race teams in the world for the past 20 years) sat at a computer for hours and worked out the best design possible, looked at load paths, mounting points, etc. to make it as stiff and light as possible.
• All of the pieces are custom made to the specific size we needed, within thousandths of an inch
• When you look at the picture, it looks like a simple bar. That is not the case. There are 53 pieces of hardware in our harness bar kit!!! The bill of materials (the component list) for this kit is an entire page long!
• The end plates are custom cut from solid hunks of billet aluminum on a CNC mill
• Everything is TIG welded
• The hardware is all top quality grade 8
• After the pieces are manufactured, cut, welded, etc. they are shipped off to be anodized or powder coated, then shipped back to us. Shipping large, awkwardly-sized hunks of metal back and forth is not cheap.
• None of this even takes into account the time spent measuring, re-measuring, test-fitting, writing the instruction manual/taking pictures, labor cost to assemble and package, or actual packaging material costs
• All of the work put into this kit was done by USA workers, providing jobs to our peers
• Oh...and we bought a $27,000 car so we could have it handy to pull apart, measure, check fit, etc. and get these parts out to our customers who need them before the first autoX season even started.

Sure there are cheaper options out there, but if you lay them next to our kit, I can assure you they won't look anything like ours. Many of the other harness bars on the market are a bent metal tube with flanges tacked on the ends. Personally, I would never strap myself to one of those products. Then again, I wouldn't wear a $50 helmet, because I rather like my head. The worst part is, if you look at our competitors' prices, they aren't too far off from ours!

Oh yes...and as d1ck mentioned we would actually like to make a few bucks profit as well, so we can stay in business and continue to provide parts for these cars that our customers actually want and need.

It's true that it would have been easier for us to buy a $50 made in China, POS, flimsy extendable curtain rod from Lowes and repackage it as a harness bar. If we did that though, we'd have to mark it up to $75. That would leave us with $25 to pay for labor to go buy it, take pics of it, load it up on our website, add it to our price sheets, write an announcement for our dealers, take the time to post here on the forum about it, hold inventory, repackage it, pay for our building's mortgage, electric, water, and phone bills, keep the computers for our staff up to date, pay their salaries, and make sure we have our customer service staff on hand from 8-5 every day to answer any questions if people ran into any issues during install. Still though, $75 wouldn't be too bad for a cool looking curtain rod with an Essex sticker, would it?

Our harness bar costs the same as a set of race tires. The difference is, the harness bar will last for the life of the car, and you'll be able to sell it when you're done with it and get a good chunk of your money back.

[JRitt]

Originally Posted by Alan

Can you (a) still fold down the rear seat and (b) stack four wheels and tires under the bar? (I'm guessing the answer is no, but it would be awesome if you could)

We designed it so that with the bar in the highest position (which is where most people will set it), yes you can fold down the rear seats. You can probably get one set of wheels under it, but you can't stack them. I'm pretty sure you could still get all four wheels in the rear cargo area though.

[Fenrir]

I'm not in the market for a harness bar, but if I was, based on that reply alone I'd go with you guys. Bravo.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by JRitt

Posts like this always provide me with a good laugh. How much do you think it costs to design and manufacture the product we're selling?

I'm not sure that you realize what is involved with the design and manufacture of our harness bar. This is not a 'metal bar' that some 'group of guys' decided to shove into the car.

****

Our harness bar costs the same as a set of race tires. The difference is, the harness bar will last for the life of the car, and you'll be able to sell it when you're done with it and get a good chunk of your money back.

Fantastic response. After 13 years of modding cars I'm sick of people who have more time to complain than brains argue over pricing. Thrilled to see a vendor stand up and give a great answer.

[GTM_Challenge]

Originally Posted by JRitt

We designed it so that with the bar in the highest position (which is where most people will set it), yes you can fold down the rear seats. You can probably get one set of wheels under it, but you can't stack them. I'm pretty sure you could still get all four wheels in the rear cargo area though.

I would love to know if it can fit a set of wheels and tires in the car still. Please test it to find out when you get a chance.

[JRitt]

Thanks gents. We put a lot of time, thought, energy, and money into our products. It's very frustrating to see someone debase them without any actual knowledge or understanding of them! We really appreciate the support from those of you who "get it.":happy0180:

[JRitt]

Originally Posted by GTM_Challenge

I would love to know if it can fit a set of wheels and tires in the car still. Please test it to find out when you get a chance.

I think our engineers have the car in the air right now, but I'll see I can get this done later today or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.