Hardcorvette

I'm looking to purchase a Harness Bar for my '02 Z06. With the top three choices as B/K, ASM and Hardbar. Does anyone have any feedback regarding any of these three?
TIA!
Mike

tcmc5

I battle tested my Hardbar in a head-on with pit wall. I wouldn't use anything else.

Lancer033

I started out with a BK bar, which was great until I tried to put aftermarket seats in and ran into conflicts with the support tubes. eventually I switched over to a Hardbar. If you're going to stick with OEM seats and use the BK lap belt mounts, it's great, but don't plan to mix/match it with other stuff. Never tested either one.

toolman44092

ASM worked great for me, especially with camera and extinguisher mounts built in.

beerkat

I have the B-K harness bar and lab belt mounts..

UstaB-GS549

B-K here.

A friend crash tested his B-K with stock Z06 seats. The car was destroyed in high speed impact. He survived with cracked collar bone. Seems to work OK.

Bill Dearborn

Go with the BK or Hardbar and forget the ASM. The way the ASM tries to prevent the bar from pivoting (letting your shoulder harness mounts move forward) really couldn't hold up under the forces of a crash. The other two have some engineering design behind them and several people (including Gary) have inadvertantly tested their Hardbars and survived. Not exactly complete scientific data but at least a some points of information.
Bill

AU N EGL

I use a BK also. Just mounted my seat back braces to them too.



When I grad one of the seats and rock side to side, the whole car shakes

Hardcorvette

Thanks for all of the input!

The Spark

BK here.

A few years ago the NCM did a tour through here with a C5R and a C5 pace car (don't remember what race the pace car was for). The pace car had a BK bar in it. I figure GM (or whoever produces the pace cars) could use any harness bar they wanted. They chose BK.

beerkat

Whos seat are your using and would they work for a big/fat person?

AU N EGL

Ultra-Shield. My seats are 13" wide driver and 14" wide Passenger.

Ultra-Shields come in 13" to 17" widths. Deluxe and Pro-Road race 10* or 20* lay back

Deluxe Pro-Road Race Drivers seat 20*


Pro-Road race passenger 10*


Difference is the extra support around the back and mounting points.

HardBar seat rails

Lancer033

Tom,
how did you get the support tubes mounted with the HB seat mounts? That's why I sold mine and went to the Hardbar.

jlucas

I'm quite happy with my BK. No experience with the others.

AU N EGL

What support tubes? and partly why I have the seat back braces.

rudyarias

Mine was tested when a Semi Truck slammed and ran over my Z16. The hardbar prevented the tractor from breaching my cockpit.

ghoffman

Wow Rudy, I did not know that, holy crap! Just a few thoughts:

1) Ours is very thick wall aircraft aluminum alloy and is under tension like a guitar string. It is extremely stout. When was the last time you saw a modern steel airplane, or one with wing struts like a Cessna 152?

2) We do not want the shoulder harness to be below the shoulders so that there is no spinal compression with a forward hit. The lap belt holds you down, the shoulder harness constrains you from going forward.

3) We have done our homework, and it is no coincidence that it can take more than a 35 MPH hit, please see the finite element model under a 25 G (F1 chassis spec) with (2) 200 pound drivers (model is exaggerated for clarity, just click on it for motion).

4) I actually personally use what we sell. I walked away from my own 100+ hit at NHIS and was unhurt.

trumper Z06

OUCH !!!

BK here on both my C-5 & C-6 Z06's... fortunately I haven't stessed tested them... yet.

ghoffman

Yea, I really liked that car! Here is what it looked like before:

BTW, for those that do have the BK or other bars with down struts, we now have a lap and sub belt solution for you. It mounts very easily, and with the optional stud extenders shown below, accomondates the struts. It requires zero mods to the car, allows clip in harnesses for removal or installation of both the sub and lap belts in seconds, and has no seat travel restrictions. Shown in my C6 ZO6, but it fits all C5, C6, and C6Z models.

rudyarias

It happen on the I-65/24 north interchange at metro in Nashville on Oct 30, 2006. I just finished with surgery number seven a week and one half ago. Hopefully surgery number eight (my shoulder) next month will wrap things up. My wife was spared with going through two surgeries.

The image below was taken when the vehicle arrived at the Chevy Dealership about two hours after the wreck. It really does not show the full extend of damages. Conway Transportation admitted full liability and would not "total" the car because the lower cowl was intact. The car is STILL in the body shop (shipped to one in Chicago after its initial repairs in Nashville) getting its paint and leak issues fixed. Body repairs were both front outer/inner fenders, upper cowl, Z16 hood, windshield, entire driver door, rear glass, rear quarter, rear deck lid, rear bumper, left rear trunk floor section and rocker panel replaced. It sat at my dealer to have its trans/diff, steering rack, front/rear suspension, brake components, springs, sway bars replaced. I'm told I have it back by next week.