...should I get a strut brace and harness bar? Or one or the other? Are they worthwhile?

In reference to the harness bar, I do not have harnesses and I have stock seats. The only purpose would be to stiffen the body up....and maybe mount a camera to.

 

Hi Matt,

If you do not have a competition seat that has a sub hole, do not get a harness. And if you get a harness, you can only use a 4-point if you have stock seats ...NOT safe!! The only safe one I've heard of is Schroth's 4-point that is designed such that it won't let you submarine in case of a frontal. Still, I'd personally feel uncomfortable about anything less than a 5-point doing a track event. And the harness bar will do nothing to stiffen up the chassis ...it's only purpose is to properly locate the shoulder harness.

Strut brace for a Targa: I would think you would certainly benefit from a strut brace, more so than a coupe. Hope that helps ya. And again, congrats on the project! Gotta feel great ....both the car's handling and You for doing it yourself!


Edward

 

I have used a Schroth 4-point in my past life. GREAT street belt. Not one I would use if I had a relatively easy alternative though. They weren't (when I used them) SFI-spec'd. Even the local dragstrip was going to boot me until a common-sense tech guy told my inspector "better than a stock 3-pointer". Mounting safely will require a more horizontal rear mount point than say the rear seat seatbelt mount points... the angle's too steep & may cause compression in impact. Ideal would be rear deck, etc. - near horizontal. I think they list something like 15 degrees as maximum downward angle (that's from memory, pls. research).

Other than that, the Schroth belt was a nicely built unit, no fraying, easy to get in / out of.

 

adding to edward's:
stock seats don't allow shoulder harnesses of any kind. sorry, but you need new seats for use with harnesses. for autox, you could use the stock belt (do the yank tight and slide the seat up trick) an autox mid section belt (basically wraps around your torso) or a CG Lock device.

i also used a Schroth 4 in my street car for 7 years. worked great with the correct seat, in my case, stock BMW Recaro. I did use it briefly in my 911 mounted to the rear seat belt holes, and the stock front belt holes, again with a proper seat.
David

 

Sorry for the confusion guys. I would never use harness on stock seats that aren't made for them.

Since I only autocross I don't have any plans for harnesses or new seats. I was looking into that mid-point belt though. I saw someone at an event that had one.

I was only looking into a harness bar because I thought someone had told me it could be used to stiffen up the body as well as support harnesses. But looks like I was wrong on that. So maybe I'll just go with a strut brace.

What about that targa body brace? Any opions on that?

 

Will tell you the bolt-in roll-bar DOES stiffen up the Cab quite a bit on mine. However, that's also that much more weight too.

I'd probably opt for the strut bracing for autocross, you'd want to be a light as possible I'd think.