roll cage swing out bars

[melsie68]

I am working on a 1968 Camaro which I am installing a 10-point roll chrome-moly cage. I am told by the installer it will certify to 8.50 ET. My question is regarding swing-out bars on the doors. He has indicated to me that I am only allowed one swingout bar on the car- whether it is driver side or passenger side is up to me. I have however talked to other sources which tell me I can have swing out bars on each side. Whereas this car is “pro-street”, tagged and insured, I would like the swing bars on each side. Can you tell me if this is legal or not? It seems to me the swing bar kits should be engineered to have a strength value equal to or exceeding a solid bar- especially on the driver side. Otherwise what difference would it make to have it on one side, the other side or both sides? Thank you in advance.

[melsie68]

I just talked to NHRA tech and they said NO door bar is required on the passenger side up to 8.50 ET and a swing bar on the driver side is okay. I also called S&W Race Cars (where the kit came from) to confirm and they gave the same response. I suppose since I have the swing bar kits for each side, I will use them and install both bars.

Last call I will make is to my local NHRA certification tech to get his opinion but he doesn't take calls until 9:00pm.

[BirdMan]

On my 65 Falcon I made the drivers bar to swing down at the front, not swing out where you are always banging it into things. I just unhook the window net at the top (small seat belt type connector) and lay it back before pulling front pin and dropping bar to floor and out of the way to make entry and exit easy!

The only stipulation from the tech person was that the pin will be a Solid one with spring ball retention. I was going to use the T-handle w/thumb button and he said no, no! Not enough strength to it.