I have been trying to fit my harness bar for the past 4 weeks! All this cold weather and not much space in the garage has been really BORING!
Anyway, the first bar arrived… wont fit as my car is one of the last ‘K’'d S2’s and I (think) it has the transition toyota rear bulkhead trim!.. LONG story about all of this that I wont bore you with! (RANT!)
Anyway, 2 other bars arrived today for me to try! Excellent I think, so on with the woolies and out I go. Put the 2 bars on the ‘bench’… (well not really a bench … actually a BBQ!) and go about removing the rear trim to see if one of these would actually FIT!
You can see this one coming I know… CRASH! The whole BBQ side table collapsed under the weight of the 3 bars and deposited them all over the rear side of the car…
Garage was quite warm now with the language!
So know, Johnny and I will both be having stripes fitted!
Seriously, any ideas how to remove ‘star crazing’ please!
REALLY P’oD in a big way… and to make matters worse NONE of the 3 bars bloody fit either!
RANT!
It’s the bloody curved bulkhead trim with the speakers right at the edge that makes it all such a pain…
Does anyone have any suggestions… aside from bying my (now) Left Hand Drive Exige back!
I have a Hanger 111 bar you can try, it has M10 bolts which should not be a problem as I bought the Schroth conversion kit so you can change the harness from M8 to M10. Let me know and I can get it delivered to you. Fits just behind the seat belts but you have to cut the plastic thingy bob, it didn’t cause an issue with the speakers. Not that I have them anymore
PM me a picture mate, I’m the master of disguise…:whistle:
Star crazing is usually a kippered gel coat, tricky to remedy and cant be painted over as the cracks will re-appear.
Secondly I have some Lotus sport wrap around style harness bars lying around, one came off an S2 S190 though I couldn’t guarantee it will fit yours. Just another option if you haven’t already tried it.
Sorry to hear your frustrations Pete.
I had similar last year trying to fit sports seats, one fell against the back of the Exige.
Grown men are allowed to cry sometimes!!
Hope you get the problem with the harness bar sorted soon - had to dremel the trim panel to get mine to fit in the Exige!!
Does your bar mount into the seat belt shoulder belt bolt, or into the bolt hole lower down the roll over bar to the rear?
I have managed to polish out the scratches, but there is still a star craze! Bugger! [/quote]
My new one bolts into the seat belt holder, this other one I have goes into the bolt behind. Is it an M5 journey I could get it there Thurs/Fri on some transport?
Hi Mate, they are a bit of a pain to get the bar on with the speaker panel in place. If i remember when i refitted my bar i had the speaker panel loose and pulled forward, giving access to the bar bolts. Also there is cut out in the speaker panel to allow the bar to pass through to the roll bar.
Thx for all the replies! Almost feel like not bothering with this anymore… The weather is cold, grey and I am pissed off with this whole nonsense! This is NOT rocket science… just dont understand why the brain surgeon who designed the rear bulkhead panel did not think more about it!!!
Anyway…
1: The ‘old style’ bar that attaches below seat belt height to the rear facing side of the roll over hoop will not fit with my existing bulkhead trim as this trim is just too far forward! The ‘touring pack’ also places a one piece yellow dense foam/rubber moulding the exact shape of the molding that goes over it! So if I get a different rear molding panel that foam won’t then fit. No big deal but I guess it helps keep the noise down!!! (SWMBO!)
2: The new bars from MSAR are designed to attach to the shoulder seat belt mounting using a longer bolt.
This attachment then carried rear at an angle that is meant to allow the bar to clear the molding and fit behind the seats! The problem has been that the bulkhead molding in my car is more ‘curved’ and as such the angled attachment is not at a suficient angle so it then bears up against the bulkhead molding. I have considered dremmling, but then the next problem is that the speaker housings are also so far ‘forward’, they too stop the bar from fitting!
ARRRGGGHHHHHH!
It seems to me I need to get a bar made up to fit! If the angle on the MSAR bar was about 20 degrees more, it would then clear the molding!
WHY dont Lotus fit (weld) this bar in as part of the roll over hoop design. Not only would it make the hoop stronger, it would allow EASY fitment of harnesses by those of us who wanted them!
I find doing those bolts up a right PITA tbh. As there isn’t really enough room to fit a ratchet in I found the easiest way is to use one of those short extensions with a hole in on the socket and a extension bar through the hole (small to spin it round then bigger to tighten).
… actually a BBQ!) and go about removing the rear trim to see if one of these would actually FIT!
