WTB: E36 sedan safety equipment

[Senor_Taylor]

Hey everyone. Getting a little ahead of the curve here on this search, but I've sourced 1 seat (Thanks Tian!) and brackets. I'm looking for a good deal/suggestion for the following:

E36 92-95 Sedan Bolt in Roll Bar (for now). I don't have money for a weld in cage just yet and a I think a half cage is overkill for DE, but I'd like to do this at least intelligently. I would do a harness bar, but having seats and harnesses with no rollover protection doesn't make sense. There seem to be a few options out there. Does anyone have a suggestion or recommendation? 

I need 1 fixed back seat, any safe condition and brackets to get it in the car. 

2 sets of harnesses. I think this one doesn't matter to just spend money on newish ones, but who knows. 

A wheel? Should I leave the air bag in if I have harnesses? Should I have harnesses without a Hans?

[Jake]

If you are going to drive the car to the track, leave the stock 3-point seatbelts and stock wheel/airbag. An E36 M3 wheel/airbag can be installed if you care enough.

Sedans will need seat mounts that have some sort of mounting tab for the 3-point belts. Some company makes them, VAC maybe. Bolt-in rollbar will be fine. Make sure to get two seats, not just one.

[Senor_Taylor]

If you are going to drive the car to the track, leave the stock 3-point seatbelts and stock wheel/airbag. An E36 M3 wheel/airbag can be installed if you care enough.

Sedans will need seat mounts that have some sort of mounting tab for the 3-point belts. Some company makes them, VAC maybe. Bolt-in rollbar will be fine. Make sure to get two seats, not just one.

Thanks for the information. Tian gave me a seat with brackets, which is why I'm only looking for one.

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[Jake]

Ah gotcha, missed that. I'll keep an eye out for the other stuff.

The bolt-in bar I had was a Kirk Racing bar and fit very well. They are different for sedan vs coupe because the cars are so different dimensionally.

[Senor_Taylor]

The Kirk bar is the same for both coupe and sedan. Just sunroof or non sunroof cars.

I'm not sure how quickly I want to commit to things. If I'm spending $600+ on a roll bar, should I just look into getting someone to weld in a half cage and take out the sunroof cassette at the same time?

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[JPolen01]

How did you manage to buy an e36 and not create a thread about it during the buying process?

[Senor_Taylor]

How did you manage to buy an e36 and not create a thread about it during the buying process?

I've been talking to someone in NASA for almost a year about an E36 Jake owned a long time ago. We're finally getting down to the final bits of finalizing the deal, but even if this doesn't pan out, my next car is an E36 325i so I'm looking for parts I need starting now.

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[Kaan]

I might have an OMP First R for sale some time this off season. I'll will have at least one set of take off 6 point harnesses you can have... we can just keep passing them around MM.

[*insertusernamehere*]

If you're going to weld in a half cage, why not just do a full one and skip the compromise? It is safety afterall. You do 100+ in any DE regardless.

[Kaan]

If you're going to weld in a half cage, why not just do a full one and skip the compromise? It is safety afterall. You do 100+ in any DE regardless.

driving to the track with a full cage is risky itself... I've seen it done

[Senor_Taylor]

I might have an OMP First R for sale some time this off season. I'll will have at least one set of take off 6 point harnesses you can have... we can just keep passing them around MM.

That would be great! I'll reach out.

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If you're going to weld in a half cage, why not just do a full one and skip the compromise? It is safety afterall. You do 100+ in any DE regardless.

I'm driving to the track for now. I'm not driving a car with a full cage on the street.

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[*insertusernamehere*]

Get a truck and trailer? Personally i see it worth it for the safety. I don't think i'm gonna put myself on the track without it whenever that happens. Just too risky, especially thinking about Tom last week.

[Senor_Taylor]

Get a truck and trailer? Personally i see it worth it for the safety. I don't think i'm gonna put myself on the track without it whenever that happens. Just too risky, especially thinking about Tom last week.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, that's not the route I'm taking, so I won't be able to do that.

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[D_Eclipse9916]

I might have an OMP First R for sale some time this off season. I'll will have at least one set of take off 6 point harnesses you can have... we can just keep passing them around MM.

I have a bunch of harness mounting hardware you can have, sadly all my harnesses themselves were in crunchy crunchy time.

I have lots of E36 left over stuff that is critical to a track E36 build (front strut reinforcement plates, control arm bushings, motor mount stuff etc).  I can't give away but we can work out a deal if you want that stuff.

Roll Bar + harnesses + hans + seat will do fine and have decent resale if you are buying all used.  It's when you go racing and buy new gear that expires and is now worth 40% that you get killed.

https://drivensteering.net/shop/deep-dis...ing-wheel/  this + hub from OG Racing for $80 is worth it.  Until 98, E36s had the largest and unsportiest feeling wheel ever ever. Worth it.  I have had multiple Driven wheels and they hold up really well.  You are tall, I highly suggest deep dish.

[Senor_Taylor]

DJ, I'll definitely reach out once I have the build underway and have an idea of what I need to do. This will help a gradual thing over many seasons.

Right now, I just want to get the car reliable and safe to be out there.

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[Senor_Taylor]

Spoke to Deren and the quote he gave for a half cage is enough to justify just going with a roll bar for now.

Grabbed one seat from Tian. So looking for the following still:

1 bucket seat
2. Seats of brackets for the seats
2. sets of harnesses and mounting hardware
1. Hardware to mount the stock 3 point seats to the race seat so I can drive to the track and back
1. Hopefully used roll bar for E36 sedan wit Sunroof still in place <-- Would appreciate everyone keep an eye out here.
2. E36 tow hooks

A hans needs a special helmet with the connectors, correct? My helmet does not have that. Probably dangerous to use harnesses without a hans, right? I think I'll retain the air bag for now.

What else should I look out for to snag before March?

[Jake]

You need a Snell "SA" helmet (i.e. a racing helmet, not a motorcycle helmet) if you go W2W, but HANS tethers can be added to any helmet. I'd recommend a SA helmet and the tethers instead of adding them to a cheaper helmet.

VAC sells the "adapter kit" for the seat belt which is the best option if you want plug and play: https://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac-fac...p2072.aspx

Keep in mind you only need that for the driver's side, technically.

The stock BMW tow hooks are allowable and work fine, should be able to snag another one from a junkyard so you have two.

[rherold9]

Autopower roll bar is usually a go to for the price. Had one in my Mazda3. Used roll bars will be hard to find:

http://www.autopowerindustries.com/Roll-...syear=1993
   

Also, yes get a hans for your helmet. You can drill holes for the attachment points. They should have reinforcement plates with the kits. They probably have kits on OGRacing

PCI, at least for my car, had seat brackets with tabs for the factory seat belts.

Glad you are looking at doing all this safety thing at once!

[Kaan]

PM me your address and i'll get you a set of harnesses you can use until its W2W time. They were blessed by DJ so they should help your BMW get faster.

[Senor_Taylor]

Thanks Kaan. I'll cover shipping. I'll FB message you.

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