C-pillar bars have a major problem in that they sit in the space that the heads of rear occupants would be. Taken from a design by a person names ATS PEE from another honda forum, the C-pillar bar can be modified to fit where the rear hatch struts secure to the chassis. Here is his bar:
Items you need:
A multi-piece C-pillar bar
14mm socket wrench
drill bit slighly larger than 1/2 inch
Long 2 X 4 to prop hatch up
The bolts for the hatch struts are, by my micrometer, 0.514 inches in diameter. I did successfully use a 1/2 inch drill bit to enlarge the eye-holes, but I don’t recommend it due to the bit “catching” on the metal and whipping the drill out of my hand.
Prop the hatch up with a lengthy 2 by 4 all the way up. Make sure it is sturdy or it will slam on your arms. Unbolt the struts from the chassis, then unbolt each eyelet from the C-pillar bar. The eyelets go on top of the struts when reassembling. A photo of what the assembly looks like is below:
Note that the position of the eyelet must be out of the swing range of the strut. The other person was able to point it towards the speakers, but I used the ebay bar and it was a bit too long. In the up position the look is better but a sleepy rear occupant can hit his head. Also, this new place for the bar requires a lot of lengthening of each end to tie the points together.
if you swapped the brackets around you can make them face down towards the speakers i’ll try to get pics of mine… i have the same bar i think… also to get it tighter you can set it in the mounts with one of the bolts not all the way tightened then tighten it
My bar is the generic ebay bar; its also for civics and accords. I highly doubt a one piece bar will fit in this place so I suggested using only an adjustable bar here. The ebay bar needed to be lengthened quite a bit from the c-pillar length.
and what kind of bolt did you use to connect them both?
if you have more pics of a close up on the bolt and how its connected, that would be awesome.:rockon:
Bolt? You only need the 3 piece bar and a socket set. To get the fatter hatch strut bolts to fit the eyelets drill them out to the specified diameter in the first post.
If you do it this way, you can put another one on the seatbelt bolts, pad them, and enjoy more stability. :gunright: I know it’s not needed but it would look cool.
I tried this with a Megan racing one and it is too short. I cut my plastic and now it won’t work. On top of that, I broke my antenna because it got caught under the hatch. I guess I will have to go old school and put it by the seatbelts.
