If you have installed a Vette Works Shark Bar in a C7, can you tell me if you had to cut/saw out part of a panel? If you did, is that cut visible after the install or does it hide behind another panel. I'd like a harness bar in the car but I didn't really want to cut up interior panels. Thanks.

 

You have to cut holes in both side panels in order to install the bar. Installed bar goes thru the panels. You can however buy pre-cut panels and save yours or better yet buy new panels when and if you decide to take the bar out. Replacement panels are pretty cheap so it's not really a big deal either way. I hope this helps.

 

Yea, I knew that and was going to order the "pre-cut panels" from Vette Works along with the harness bar. However, there is a "Body Lock Pillar Trim Panel" that looks like it needs to be cut and that is the subject of this thread. None of the photos I've seen show the cut part of this panel after the fact.

 

If you want the cleanest looking install possible have them build your Shark Bar with out the belt retaining loops. Even with the pre cut panels you will have to slice them to get them over the belt loops when installing the bar. If you don't cut them the panels are too close to the side of the car and you don't have any room to install or tighten the mounting bolts. Without the belt loops you can slide the panels to the center of the bar and have plenty of room to get the bar bolted into place. To hold the belts in place on the bar purchase four shaft collars from Grainger and fasten those to the bar so the belts don't slide across the bar. Don't worry about the belts sliding over the collars since proper belt mounting requires the belts to very tightly looped around the bar and there is no way they can go over the much thicker shaft collars. If they are loose enough to go over the collars they have to be refastened since they are too loose.

Here is what I had to do with the precut panels I purchased from Vetteworks. Notice the line in the panel below the bar in each picture. That is where I used an especially sharp set of scissors to cut the panel so I could get it over the bar.





I had a Shark Bar in my C6Z as well and it had Shaft Collars to hold the belts in place. I was using seat back braces attached to the harness bar to support the back of my aluminum race seats so ordered the bar without the belt loops. That is why I didn't realize I would have the mounting issue on the C7.




I think the shaft collars make for a cleaner looking installation.

Bill

 

Great explanation and great photos. You need to work for Vette Works. One further question, with the cut you made right below the pre-cut panel hole, couldn't you have slipped the panel over the bar even if the
belt retaining loops were there? Sorta looks like it in your photo.

 

Yes, once I put the slit in the panel I was able to mount the bar and install the panel later. Without the slit the hole wasn't big enough to go over the belt loops and I couldn't get tools or hands behind the panels to install the shark bar mounting bolts. In the C6 I just pushed both panels to the center of the car, mounted the bar moved both panels out to their normal locations and added the shaft collars when I had everything bolted back together.

There is another person on the forum who addressed the problem differently they drilled a small extension hole at the top of the main hole in the panel. This let the belt loops pass through the panels so they could push them to the center, mount the bar and then move the panels back over the belt loops.

Bill

 

Bill, I'm considering this set up as I too had one in my c6z. What are you using for a harness and sub belts? or are you using a team tech? With the harness comes a Hans, correct?

 

I am using the BK Racing C7 Lap Belt Mounts and the Schroth Profi II ASM belts with the DOT legal cam lock. The Profi II is typically used as a 4 point set up since it uses Anti Submarining (ASM) Technology to duplicate the action of 3 point belts in an incident. The cam locks have provisions for adding a sub belt if you want to put a hole in your seat. I do use a HANS. I have been using the Schroth Formula belt installation when I run with organizations like NCM that won't recognize the 4 point ASM belts. I fasten the sub belt to the same mounts as the lap belts and sit on the sub belts. The mounts that attach the sub belts on a bar behind the seat with the idea of running the sub belt through the gap between the seat bottom and seat back don't work with the C7. It is very easy for sharp edges in that gap to damage the lap belts and ruin them. Those mounts are also sub optimal for mounting the lap belts because they are too far behind the seat and don't let the belt come across your pelvis at the correct angle. They also tend to make the lap belts loop around the back side of the seat thus making the seat bottom part of the restraint. In an incident harnesses are easily subjected to shock loading forces as high as 3000 lbs and that seat bottom will cave in with that kind of pressure or could cut the belt.

Bill