rb185afm

I will be installing a shark bar, submarine bracket, and 6 point, to my existing Sparco Evo soon. This is my first time setting up safety gear on four wheels. It all seems pretty straight forward. Any tips or specific issues to the C7 I should be aware of? The Shark bar custom color looks like it came out close to my wheels! Hopefully, the color matches that well in person, as the bar is being shipped today. My bar is the top one. A C6 order happened to come in at the same time with the same color request.

fleming23

Make sure you wrap your harnesses correctly around the bar. Other than that, pretty straight forward.

Actually, where are you mounting the submarine bar? Hopefully you are not referring to the submarine bracket that mounts to the front seat studs as sold by Vetteworks and a few others.

R_W

Just keep harness angles in mind for safety reasons, in addition to what fleming23 said.




I run the Brey Krause bar + Marrad bracket with a Schroth 6pt through my Sparco Evo and love it.

Bill Dearborn

Did you purchase the precut inner quarter panels when you bought the bar? They are nice but you will need to make more cuts to get the bar mounted in the car. When you mount the bar in the car the quarter panels have to be on the bar. However, the bar's belt loops prevent the quarter panels from sliding inward far enough for you to get your hands between them and the bolts you need to fasten.

I used a pair of shears to cut a vertical line from the bottom of the panel to the hole in the panel which let me slide the bar over the bar after I got it fastened to the B pillar. Another way to to do it is to make a notch at the top of the hole so you can slide the panel inward past the belt loops.

Another way is to remove the belt loops and replace them with shaft collars. Then you can put the panels on the bar and slide them all the way inboard so they are out of your way. This will present a cleaner fit between the bar and the panel. You can get the shaft collars from Grainger. It takes 4 of them two behind each seat. They work well and actually look more professional than the loops.

This is how the shaft collars looked on the Shark Bar that I installed in my C6Z.



The scratches on the bar were from the seat back brace that I used with my aluminum race seat. Shown here before the seat was installed. I used to swap seats between street and race so the bar got scratched up quite a bit while installing/removing the brace.



I take it you are planning on using the stock Competition Seat as the Shark Bar is too low to work with a race seat.

The best way to fasten your lap belts is to use the BK Auto mounts that fasten in the same location as the stock seat belt mounts. This presents the proper angle for the belts to go over your lap. If the lap belts are mounted behind the seats they become part of the restraint path (wrap around the seat a little) and they aren't at the proper angle especially after the seat moves.

Here is what the BK mounts look like with belts attached in my C7Z.







Bill

rb185afm

Thanks all! It was a very easy install.

R_W

Good job!

You can run the harness straps one more time over the top and to the back of the buckles. (See figure 3 and 4 in Fleming23s pic)

rb185afm

Roger that! Pic was taken while still setting up final adjustment.

Dirk Miller

I recently installed the same as yours but can't say I love them. Prior to my Schroth 6 Pt with 3" straps I used 5 pt Crows with 2" straps. The 3" lap belts are so wide that it is difficult to tighten up quickly. I basically need another person to pull on these wide straps and I'm strong. Maybe quite possibly my Cobra tight fitting driver's seat adds to this difficulty but not sure. Are your lap belts 3 inches wide?

R_W

I'm not a big guy by any means (5'7, 140lbs, 30" waist), so the 3" straps on the Profi-2 fit me just fine. They do tend to dig into my neck a bit, but that is easily remedied with a collared shirt or HANS.
It is slightly tricky to tighten the lap belts (straight outward and downward with the flow of the lap belt) on these, but with enough outward force, I manage alright.

Koan

I suggest having someone take a picture of you with the belts on from the rear to make sure that the angle of the shoulder belts remains within the recommended tolerance. If the angle is too severe, in a deceleration accident, too much of an angle will cause spinal compression.

Bill Dearborn

The Profi IIs can be reconfigured to be pull up Vs pull down. Pull up lap belts are much easier in a Vette. Just make sure the adjuster is all the way outside of the seat pass through or inside on your thighs. I prefer the thighs since that way I can get to it if I need to push on the bar to release the tension on the belt or to give myself more space. If the adjuster is in the pass through when configured as a pull up belt the forces that are applied to the belt in an incident may stretch the belt enough the adjuster bar hits the edge of the pass through and releases the tension on the lap belt.

Bill

R_W

Interesting point. I'll tinker with it when I get home to see if I can pull that off. Thanks, Bill