Long story short, my shoulders are too big to make the CE door bars work. I had em notched and everything, went for a final test fit with someone holdin it in place and its hitting my shoulder, no matter where on the main hoop it is mounted. Anyone else run into this problem??

The good news is that I have 2 swing out kits that I can get rid of now

 

i'm a pretty big guy and they're still 2 inches away from my shoulders at least, although they do make comfy arm rests. you'd have to be built HUGE to have a problem, remember the lower they mount on the main hoop the further out they are. My bars are so close to the door panels that I can't run the factory arm rests, I highly doubt you'd have a problem there unless you always have your body pressed against the door?

 

Im wanting to keep my armrests, but I dont think thats gonna be possible now. Whats the rulebook say though about where the bar has to cross to be legal? I know it said something about between the shoulder and elbow but is that with your hands on the steering wheel or with your arms to your side?

 

between shoulder and elbow, although i've never been teched at a track where they made me get in and out of the car to check it. been to NHRA and IHRA tracks all over chicago area. I'm going to cut slots in my arm rests to get them to mount and the door to shut and then cover in vinyl or something similar.

 

I also noticed u got a TH350. I got a T5, and I didnt really think about where my legs are when I shift. When I go to shift my knee hits in between the door bar and the steering wheel. Plus its just a very cramped feeling. I know its a "race" car and all, but I think if I leave out the doorbars I would feel a little more comfortable driving. Im still debating on if I wanna even try to put them in or not. If I dont Ill put up a post in the for sale section for the swing outkits.

 

a 4 point cage is pointless to have at the track since it won't allow you to run quicker than 11.99 which is what you can always do anyways without a cage.

 

i thought it was 11.99 for a roll bar(4pt basically) and 10.99 for a roll bar with at least one door bar?

 

slower than 11.99 is nothing
11.99 to 10.00 i believe is 6 point
faster is 10 point on the hard tops I believe. NHRA does not accept a 4 point for anything at all.

 

dude I got a favor to ask. Can you take some pics on how/where you mounted the plates down near the rocker panel for the door bar? Im gonna go back over there tomorrow and remove the arm rest and see if that helps me, and Ill also lower the mounting point on the main hoop. I had it mounted kinda high, above where the hoop starts to curve. But Im curious how you mounted yours to the floor plan, I just cant see in my head how Im gonna make it work.

EDIT: I was thinkin about mountin the door bar where the cross bar mounts to the main hoop, but Im thinkin that because of the seats Im runnin it wont work. Its got upper side bolsters that some out a good bit, which might make it hard to run around.

 

I believe the rules are 11.49 and quicker now instead of 11.99 except convertible cars. Might be different from track to track though.

 

11.49 is IHRA tracks i believe, 11.99 is still NHRA last I checked, since the tech asked me while I was there last time if I'll be quicker than 11.99 with my roll bar. As for pics, move the plate as far over on the floorboard as you can, I believe I cut some slots and bent it to fit better on the passenger side then welded in the slots I cut and around the bends in the floorboard. I have some pics in my sig, under "my car that's never done" on one of the pages....unless cardomain deleted them on me.

 

NHRA rules,

Roll bar mandatory in all cars running 11.00-11.49 seconds.

Roll cage mandatory in all vehicles running 10.99 and quicker or any car exceeding 135 mph.

Convertibles must have roll bar if running 13.49 and quicker.

 

Here's a pic looking straight back from the front seat. When I looked at it today I think the only way around that side bolster is to have the bar bend down slightly and still mount it lower on the main hoop.



And honestly how concerned should I be about the rule saying that it has to pass between the shoulder and elbow? I mean as long as it aint hell bent low u think they would even say anything?

 

mine is mounted about even with the top of the door. i have no idea why your seat seems to be "that" wide, I just walked into the garage and my 4th gen seats don't look anywhere near that wide around the cage. But mine is essentially a little higher than the door when shut...and it still passes through my elbow and shoulder, but barely....it's on the lower side and makes getting in and out much easier than my original door bars like the pic in my sig, since I've had those cut out and new ones welded in.

 

just wanna make sure, you know those arent my factory seats right? They some kinda cheap APC seats I got a while back. sorry I shoulda mentioned that earlier when all this started.

 

well then that explains your issues in mounting up the cage and working around those huge seats. you sure you have them mounted evenly in the car, or are they just that much bigger. Can't really help you out with those since all I've had in my car is 4th gen and 3rd gen seats and those plastic jegs seats which are as uncomfortable as they come.