Roll Bar / Half Cage Questions
 

I currently use a Simpson Hybrid S with OEM airbags and a Sparco Halo seat for HPDE and Time Trial, but I am seriously considering removing OEM safety system and getting a roll bar (aka half cage?) and 6 point harness.

Any tips or things to ask for when speaking to shops? Recommendations on hubs, etc. for an aftermarket steering wheel?

subscribed. this will be in my near future. looking at haft cage as well.

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If you're simply looking to just accomplish a roll bar for mounting a harness, the Autopower option is not a terrible one.

Installed it myself, with help of a friend w/a welder. But it was pretty straight forward.

If you'd want a builder to mimic that, I'm sure you'd get what you need.

Simplest/least expensive install is going to be the Brey Krause Harness bar, it's low impact on your interior (if you care about it) and space saving. No carpet to trim, pieces to cut, no drilling into your chassis, etc. and still have room to throw in a backpack or whatever in the back seat.
I know you trailer your car so that probably isn't a must-have need on the space part or driving the car around town.

Next best harness bar you can get ahold of fairly easily since you're local-ish is G-Speed sells a nice bolt-in harness bar for the 86. https://gspeed.myshopify.com/product...44820844413098

Third option I would say is take the car to Walker since he's in your area, and he can custom fabricate you something as well and maybe with the idea of doors and down bars in mind for future if you ever go to a full-cage. Although, if you're going that route you may just want to go the full-cage now vs paying the labor later. I am finding on my own car that the welded-in half cage it already has is going to be that much more labor to turn into a full-cage when the time comes because the main hoop is already set in place.

Quick release wise, the OMP one I think is by far the nicest one on the market, but it's $$$. For basically half the cost the NRG quick release has most of the same features and is a quality product. https://getnrg.com/products/srk-r200...37067015520406

Then you get to belts, don't cheap out on the belts. There's a Lot out there that are a PITA to adjust and buckle etc. Schorth is great but take a look at all of their models closely because they have a pretty wide variety and some models are not as good as others. Safecraft, Lifeline, and GForce all also have some really nicely designed belts. Gforce I used to dismiss, but they have a new model that basically copies the features of the higher-end belts at a good value. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gfr-7623bk
I personally like pull-down adjusters and you'll want 2" at the top of the shoulders to work with a hans. Don't forget if you get the clip-in ends (most common) to put a cotter pin in the ends where they clip because nasa TT tech will check for that.

Any other questions fire away, I've spent a lot of time messing with belts and seats with my miata and looked at a lot of cars with various setups.

I'm researching for a bolt in roll bar for a stripped interior. I don't trailer my car yet so I'm holding off on a full cage. Auto Power roll bars/cages require a mounting plate to be welded to the chassis.
Aside from the G-Speed roll bar linked above, a few others I've come across:
Studio RSR: https://studiorsr.com/products/subar...-cage-roll-bar
Renown Garage: https://www.renowngarage.com/4-point...ar-frs-brz-86/
Titan Motorsports (doesn't bolt to the rear suspension points, bolts to the rear upper structure of the chassis): https://titanmotorsports.com/product...-and-toyota-86
AGI Precision (located in Australia): https://agiprecision.com/brz/street-...ll-bar-bolt-in

I might give the Studio RSR bar a try as I hope they install/weld it in-shop

I'll be installing a weld in auto power here in a bit. Will let you know how it goes.

I just installed the autopower bar last week, I am very happy with it. The fitment was perfect, and the install was relatively straight forward. Removing the trim was easy, it's two bolts for the rear seat bottoms, a few screws for the center console and basically everything else just pulls out. Definitely take the front seats out, I've read some did it without removing seats but that sounds like a massive PITA. I have a friend who can weld well, so I drove to his place and we got it in together. It was probably about 4 hours all in, taking our time. Only thing left to do is put the rear side panels back in, but I want to take my time with a dremel to get a good fitment.



I went to an aftermarket seat, but also kept the three point belt and airbag for street driving.



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If you have race seats, you should really really install a roll bar.

I’m on a Gen2 86. Went with the Renowned Garage roll bar. Was easy to install and fairly priced. However, it is meant to let you keep the back seats intact, so it bolts to the bottom and side of the rear seat foot rest area which means that it takes up some of the space right behind the front seats which in turn limits how far back you can push/slide/install your race seats. I’m short so I’m ok, but I’d be concerned if I normally sit all the way back.

I believe the RSR roll bar for the Gen2 has the same issue. I went with Renowned Garage because it was significantly less expensive.

I hiiighly recommend NOT using a harness bar with a race seat and harness. If you roll over the seat and harness will not allow your body to slide out of the way, as you will with oem 3-point belt, and the roof will crush you. Properly engineered, large backing plates, roll bar at a minimum

There is nothing wrong with using race seats without a rollbar and using the factory 3 point belts.

Yes, you are giving up side airbags and some whiplash protection but that's it. The whole folding vs non-folding nonsense is just that. Porsche sells cars currently in the US with fixed back seats with fixed headrests and 3 point belts and has been doing so for many years. They wouldn't do this if fixed back seats and 3 point belts were inherently unsafe.

What you really don't want to do is using race seats with 4/5/6 pt harnesses with just a harness bar since you are now fixed upright in your seat so if the roof collapses you are stuck.

However to solve this you need a rollbar or rollcage, now the car is not safe to drive if you're not wearing a helmet. You'll notice that no manufacturer in the US sells a car with a rollbar from the factory, this is because it wouldn't pass any kind of crash test due to your head impacting the rollbar. You could pad the rollbar to help this but only going to help so much.

At the end of the day though its your car and your safety, so make sure you've done the research and understand the points and counterpoints and that your usage matches with the tradeoffs and also that whatever club you run with allows the setup you have.

Good tips. I don't like harness bars so BK is out. I was between Dashbuilt and Walker, just depends on who can schedule me but I trust either for a half cage. No plans to w2w this car yet.



Have an OMP hub but wasn't sure on NRG quick release. I think I was remembering the NRG wheels that were folding like paper in accidents so good call.

Any preference on 2" vs 3" harnesses?

I'm leaning pretty heavily one way but curious if there's any good counterarguments I'm missing.

I've run both before. In my race car I had 3" belts which were standard for most sets you'll buy that are meant for cages.

In my BRZ I have a Schroth harness that is ~2".

I never felt the need for any kind of extra padding for the 3" harness but I do for the 2".

If you are adhering a certain safety specification then I'm sure the ruleset indicates what's required. If not, then it's just personal preference.