OEM Harness Bar + Back Panel??

The Oily Bits S2 Specific Topics
1

Anyone know if you can retro fit the OEM harness bar plus back panel trimmed ready for the bar? How hard is the installation going to be and what is required?

My car has the new style dash w/ alpine speakers but presume the rear speakers are the same on all cars?

I’m thinking of going this route as it gives the seat a bit more backwards adjustment than the normal bolt in bars, that is from what I can gather.

2

It should be possible to buy an aftermarket bar and then just trim the back panel to fit. Thats what I’ve done with mine. The speakers have been retained. The seats went all the way to the back on their slides without any problems. I’m 6’2" so need all the space I can get, so have gone with the Sector 111 down low seat rails. These tilt the seat back slightly to give you more head room, but are fixed. This tilts the seat towards the bar, but it still fits.

3

Which bar did you go for? Hangar, Sector?

4

Hangar 111 with bolt eyelets to allow harnesses to be clipped in and out.

5

Bell and Colvill do a kit with everything needed to retro fit the Performance pack inc harnesses, bar and back panel
here:

6

Think I’m just going to cut my own back panel as the one trimmed by Lotus looks like it was done in a shed anyway so may aswell give it a shot before forking out. If [censored] hits the fan I’ll just buy the pre-trimmed one but I’m sure it can be that hard to trim my own.

7

When I bought my car one of the bargaining points I used was to get the salesman to agree to fitting a harness bar prior to sale.
I had thought it would be likely to be an expensive or fiddly thing for me to do myself, and it seems I was right.

The technician told me it was a good move as it took them a total of 8 hours start to finish (including throttle cable replacement at the same time) and was a real pain in the backside. If a bolt in bar is good enough, I’d do that if I were you.

8

Problem I have with bolt in bars is you loose one to two clicks off full back adjustment of the seat and I can’t get away with the position it feels wrong on the road so would hate it on track too.

I’m going to give it a go, in no rush so I can take a few weeks to do it slowly instead of rushing trying to get it done in a few hours.

9

All done, it is a bit fiddly and you need some patience but once done its very satisfying. Got some pictures which I’ll post at a later date, the annoying part is trimming you’re own touring back panel but other than that everything else is easy.

Now all I’m waiting for is my harnesses to arrive.

10

Do you still have those photos?
I would be very interested in seeing them as I’m about to install my OEM harness bar, and I also have to cut the plastic panel.

One question beforehand. On this pic (taken from a Fed Elise) you see 2 speaker panels, which don’t exist on my 2009 Elise (unless I’m mistaken)…but I have checked today, and my Alpine speakers look like they’re installed right on the main plastic panel.

[image]http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/attachments/f95/107101d1230931531-fs-oe-trim-speaker-panels-oe-harness-bar-dsc02098-medium-.jpg[/image]

11

and here is a pic of how the speakers are installed in my car (2009 Elise):

[image]http://sites.internet.lu/folders/jschartz/photo2.jpg[/image]