Rear wind shield

[cobragene]

Had this made locally and it cuts at least 50% of high speed back of the neck wind and hardly noticeable. I hope my pictures show up,if not I’ll try again

[twobjshelbys]

Necessity. The mother of invention.

Edit: Now that I look at it I'm not sure of the safety of the sharp edges of the standoffs that attach to the roll bars and possible head injuries in the event of a front/rear collision.

[cobragene]

I am hopping that would be less severe than hitting a steel pipe. I guess I’ll have to come up with a crumple block. Or maybe a small clear head rest? Heavy duty vinyl air cushion?

[eschaider]

Maybe a block of rubber to replace the aluminum standoff/support?

[Buzz]

Ingenious solution and you're right - It's hardly noticeable. I have to agree with Tony and Ed though - that solid block with it's relatively small surface area would do a hammer-blow number on the back of the cranium in the event of a fair to middling rear impact.

I hate to preach about safety as I'm a bit of a risk taker myself, but adding solid objects behind yours and your passenger's head in the name of improved safety or comfort actually puts them at greater risk. Cobras rarely roll over on the street. They most often tend to spin out and go off the road backwards with the roll bars waiting to do their thing and bash you in the back of the head when you shunt into an immovable object. I had a roll bar in mine because I liked the "competition look" and accepted the risk for myself but I would never, ever put one behind the head of anyone I care about unless of course they wanted to wear a crash helmet on every drive.

Rear end collisions are the most common accident on the road but we hear little of them because in normal cars a crumpled rear bumper and a sore neck are relatively minor inconveniences. Remember when "whiplash" was a big thing? It's not so much anymore because of ergonomic high back seats and energy absorbing bumpers - neither of which work so well in Cobras. In a tiny car with seat backs around or below shoulder height and steel pipes right behind your head it can be - and has been as we've seen in Cobras over the years - life altering.

Sorry to poo-poo on your actually quite nice idea for cutting the high speed buffeting but discussion and feedback is what happens in discussion forums. It is an elegant solution but wouldn't be worth the risk to me as is. If I really had to do it though, I would try to mount the shield flush to the surface of the roll bars without that protruding block so close to my and especially my beloved passenger's skull.

[twobjshelbys]

I'll add that your shoulder harnesses are improperly mounted. The anchor point is below shoulder height so the action is to compress the body towards the seat and slide torso to the foot box. The proper mounting is a cross member mounted to the roll bar.

[cobragene]

You guys are starting to make me nervous, but I appreciate your concern. My belts are 1” below seat top I could move them up level with the tops, would that be any better?

[twobjshelbys]

If the belts are at a downward angle from your shoulder to rear anchor point they are too low. I think you'd be pretty short if tour shoulders aren't above the rear deck. There is a cross bracket that mounts across the roll bar that gives the correct height. It has eye hooks to attach the belts. In addition the bar that the belts are attached to in the trunk isn't really meant for attaching belts. As a matter of policy shelby American will not attach belts that way.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

If the belts are at a downward angle from your shoulder to rear anchor point they are too low. I think you'd be pretty short if tour shoulders aren't above the rear deck. There is a cross bracket that mounts across the roll bar that gives the correct height. It has eye hooks to attach the belts. In addition the bar that the belts are attached to in the trunk isn't really meant for attaching belts. As a matter of policy shelby American will not attach belts that way.

You have mentioned this before. Can you post a picture of your car? If I envision this correctly, I don't think I've ever seen a Cobra with the belt mounted like that. If there are, then it must be an extremely small percentage, unless I'm envisioning it wrong.

[Tom Wells]

Bob,

Here's a page from the horse's mouth - all you ever wanted to know about racing harnesses and how to install: https://www.simpsonraceproducts.com/...lation_guides/

Hope this helps,

Tom

[DanEC]

I don’t think you are wrong. I don’t have to worry about it with a street roadster.

[twobjshelbys]

I don't have any pictures of the cross bar, just some with it in it...

I did a google search for "shelby cobra roll bar shoulder harness kit". This is one picture that showed up. Note: Approach finishline with due caution. See elsewhere on the forum.

https://www.finishlineaccessories.co...ss-member.aspx

[twobjshelbys]

Here's my story of the most botched passenger side harness installation ever... This is how my car came from Barrett Jackson.

The passenger side harnesses were mounted to the rear seat rail screws. The right side harness attached under the left side rail and vice versa and were crossed behind the seat and held together to keep them from flopping around by something like an elastic hair band.

That coupled with the warning that shoulder harnesses without the roll bar convert YOUR HEAD AND SHOULDERS to the roll bar, meant they came out. A few months later my wife asked why she didn't have shoulder harnesses and after the explanation never rode in the car again.

[HTM101]

Cross bar.

[RallySnake]

Back to the subject of this post. The clear panel behind the seats is a very good idea. I made one years ago for winter road rallies. We participated in a Rally from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on the 2nd Saturday in December. It was 18 degrees in Wrightwood when we went through there about 1 a.m. With top quality ski hats and lightweight jackets over velour shirts, we were very comfortable. We won the event, too. I can remove it with 2 bolts. So, I install it only when needed.

RS