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Roll bar/harness bar and seats...let's talk (2021 GT500)

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17
17
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Atlanta GA
After a year of HPDE, I've decided to make my 2021 GT500 (base model) a "dedicated" track car --- time to fully commit to the HPDE rabbit hole!

Going to add a roll bar/harness bar, and replace the base model seats with some racing seats. I'm 6'3" without a helmet on so headroom and proper shoulder height/angle for harnesses is critical.

Roll bar -- looking at Competition Motorsports and Watson at the moment. Any others I should consider? Recommendations?

Seats -- plan on heading to a race shop next week to sit in some seats to get right fit.
I'm hoping to find a seat that allows me to sit lower in the car, as well as give me more headroom to sit closer to the steering wheel (so arms are as close to 90 degree angles as I can get).

Next up -- better camber plates for more camber, and likely Steeda springs for lower center of gravity.

Thanks in advance for any input/thoughts/advice.
 
188
290
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
75024
You can catch some of my threads for mods and results.

Roll bars - CMS is a few pounds lighter than watson DOM version, but drilling the mounting holes in the cross car beam is a terrible hard job. Watson requires drilling in the rear pan for the legs, but it is not as tough. CMS will powder coat the bars to match your car though. I have CMS, once mounted it is rock solid, no squeaks or groans. Watson sometimes makes a cromoly lightweight bar, it is the lightest of all of them. Rear seat delete panels, I have shrader ones and they are decent looking.

Seats, vorshlag makes the sturdiest and very low seat mount. Planted and brey krause are next. Look at a halo seat to complement your hans device.

Camber plates - if you have the factory plates, you can get an extra 1-1.25 degrees with camber bolts (bmr) or slotting of the strut mount upper hole (1mm). That gets you over 3 degrees negative without enlarging the top of the strut tower. Any aftermarket plate will require enlarging the top of the strut tower to get past 2.5 degrees. I was not ready to cut up mine that way.

Springs and suspension - I have tried all bmr, it is an improvement. Now all steeda, and it feels a bit more planted. I did the dsc sport mage ride controller to give me some adjustability, and it is a very nice improvement too.
 
6,360
8,180
I'm a Ford Performance guy all day long, those collected parts are designed to work together. I would also suggest the Watson bar as they were a contractor to Ford, maybe still are. There are several decent camber plates out there, I used a jig to cut my shock towers and use Maxim Motorsports plates.
 
67
123
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Melbourne Australia
Effectively did the same thing you are starting.
Less choices here in Australia but i like the Watson 1/2 cage, we get the double diagonal version here.
2nd the comments about a Halo style seat, have run one in my proper track car, would put it in the Mustang but its more a road/track and our police here would have a field day.
Suspension wise i've gone Euro as i've come from a Porsche back ground. KW make a range of ST branded shocks & Spring combo that give adaptability.
If you look at my build thread you can see all the details of what was required to go from road car to very competent track car as opposed to all out race car.
Enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole, its a fun journey.

 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,276
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
No personal experience on roll bars / cages in the Mustang. I know Watson seems to be most popular on this forum; just throwing this out to see if anyone else has opinions on Autopower or Kirk Racing, as they're popular for other makes. Looks like Steeda sells both, but only lists Autopower for the S550. Kirk is near Birmingham, AL, so within driving distance of ATL if you want something custom or maybe can get a discount for letting them take measurements of an S550.
https://www.steeda.com/2015-2020-mustang-roll-bars
https://www.autopowerindustries.com/applications.html
http://www.kirkracing.com/bolt-in-roll-cage.html
 
17
17
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Atlanta GA
You can catch some of my threads for mods and results.

Roll bars - CMS is a few pounds lighter than watson DOM version, but drilling the mounting holes in the cross car beam is a terrible hard job. Watson requires drilling in the rear pan for the legs, but it is not as tough. CMS will powder coat the bars to match your car though. I have CMS, once mounted it is rock solid, no squeaks or groans. Watson sometimes makes a cromoly lightweight bar, it is the lightest of all of them. Rear seat delete panels, I have shrader ones and they are decent looking.

Seats, vorshlag makes the sturdiest and very low seat mount. Planted and brey krause are next. Look at a halo seat to complement your hans device.

Camber plates - if you have the factory plates, you can get an extra 1-1.25 degrees with camber bolts (bmr) or slotting of the strut mount upper hole (1mm). That gets you over 3 degrees negative without enlarging the top of the strut tower. Any aftermarket plate will require enlarging the top of the strut tower to get past 2.5 degrees. I was not ready to cut up mine that way.

Springs and suspension - I have tried all bmr, it is an improvement. Now all steeda, and it feels a bit more planted. I did the dsc sport mage ride controller to give me some adjustability, and it is a very nice improvement too.

I'm a Ford Performance guy all day long, those collected parts are designed to work together. I would also suggest the Watson bar as they were a contractor to Ford, maybe still are. There are several decent camber plates out there, I used a jig to cut my shock towers and use Maxim Motorsports plates.

Effectively did the same thing you are starting.
Less choices here in Australia but i like the Watson 1/2 cage, we get the double diagonal version here.
2nd the comments about a Halo style seat, have run one in my proper track car, would put it in the Mustang but its more a road/track and our police here would have a field day.
Suspension wise i've gone Euro as i've come from a Porsche back ground. KW make a range of ST branded shocks & Spring combo that give adaptability.
If you look at my build thread you can see all the details of what was required to go from road car to very competent track car as opposed to all out race car.
Enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole, its a fun journey.


No personal experience on roll bars / cages in the Mustang. I know Watson seems to be most popular on this forum; just throwing this out to see if anyone else has opinions on Autopower or Kirk Racing, as they're popular for other makes. Looks like Steeda sells both, but only lists Autopower for the S550. Kirk is near Birmingham, AL, so within driving distance of ATL if you want something custom or maybe can get a discount for letting them take measurements of an S550.
https://www.steeda.com/2015-2020-mustang-roll-bars
https://www.autopowerindustries.com/applications.html
http://www.kirkracing.com/bolt-in-roll-cage.html
Thanks, guys! Great info and gives me a lot to consider as I go about making the move so to speak. 👍
 
1,040
1,088
Monaca Pa
I’m using PCI seat mounts. I’m 6-1 and shoulder harness holes are in correct spot I’m tall from waist to neck. If I had more cash I would have gotten Sparco seat.0F005B71-7219-4298-88BD-D38A7716D42B.jpeg3E8DAD30-491C-46AB-AF38-9696EAFDE6D2.jpeg
 
17
17
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Atlanta GA
I went to shop and sat in some seats. The Sparco Evo XL seems to fit me the best.

Anyone know how to navigate the electronics of the base model power seats? How do I prevent throwing any codes or somehow not having the airbags deploy?
 
5
8
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Vallejo Ca
After a year of HPDE, I've decided to make my 2021 GT500 (base model) a "dedicated" track car --- time to fully commit to the HPDE rabbit hole!

Going to add a roll bar/harness bar, and replace the base model seats with some racing seats. I'm 6'3" without a helmet on so headroom and proper shoulder height/angle for harnesses is critical.

Roll bar -- looking at Competition Motorsports and Watson at the moment. Any others I should consider? Recommendations?

Seats -- plan on heading to a race shop next week to sit in some seats to get right fit.
I'm hoping to find a seat that allows me to sit lower in the car, as well as give me more headroom to sit closer to the steering wheel (so arms are as close to 90 degree angles as I can get).

Next up -- better camber plates for more camber, and likely Steeda springs for lower center of gravity.

Thanks in advance for any input/thoughts/advice.
The wattson bar is a good choice.
As far as the seat some of the seats with big shoulder bolster will hit the door and not allow it to close. On the topic of putting a seat in get some m10×1.5 ×30 bolts 12.9 hex head . It will make the installation to the floor much easier. Sometimes the seat is over the bolts and getting a torques bit on to tighted the bolts is impossible.
Harnesses are always your personal preference,but you will need to aquire a bracket to attach the lower Harnesses in to the car.
Suspension.
For that car steeda camber plates are nice would also recommend rear camber brackets and a subfram alignment kit.
 

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