http://www.hmsmotorsport.com/docs/Competition_Instructions.pdf
This is the source i have been trying to follow. I agree that the sub-strap will not work appropriately with stock seats. One thing i rarely see mentioned is whether or not the lap strap harness ends are free to swivel. Schroth states that the metal end links for the lap should be allowed to swivel to allow for perfect alignment in tension. I don’t think my RCI harness has this provision. Thoughts?
DB2-R81, i like your side bracket seat mounting! What type of sliders are you using, and are they mounted to the factory seat holes?
In the document you linked to, it states that your shoulder belts should drop no more than 20deg below level (page 12), and this is what I was referring in my previous post.
What do the ends of your belts look like? If the metal pieces are not sewed on permanently, then you can use the same item I linked in my other post. Just remove the flat metal piece that’s currently on there, replace it with the “clip” end. Then install the eye bolt on the car and clip the belt to it. Mine are currently just bolted to the car (no swivel) and it works fine, but I’d like to add the clips so it fits a little better.
Yes, you should be following that guide and the mounting points for the lap belt should defiantly be allowed to swivel or the belt will not be stressed evenly across the width of the belt in an impact.
The seat brackets are custom made by me and they were cut out of Aluminum angle extrusions. They are mounted to the stock sliders and the sliders are then mounted to the stock floor seat mount locations.
A safety inspector will look over your car and provide you with some kind of certification for whatever sanctioning association you intend to run with before you will be allowed to compete. If it is not done correctly you will be asked to correct any deficiencies before you receive certification.
Here is a better picture of how I mounted the seat brackets
Here is my current harness setup
Here are how my lap and shoulder straps are mounted. I am working on acquiring some racing seats, at which point the sub straps will go in. There are more pictures of the harness bar and the lap belt bracket install in the “build” picture folder in the first post.
I am using eyebolts and hook-type ends on my lap belts and my shoulder belts are wrapped on the horizontal bar of my Autopower roll bar. My sub strap is bolted through my floor which is reinforced. Personally I would not use harnesses with stock seats since they aren’t designed to work together.
You may have a death wish!
Way too much distance and webbing material to the harness bar, think about material stretch and where your noise will end up in an impact.
And get the belts through the webbing buckles correctly, the proper method should be in the guide you have been looking at.
[QUOTE=DB2-R81;2286268]You may have a death wish!
Way too much distance and webbing material to the harness bar, think about material stretch and where your noise will end up in an impact.
And get the belts through the webbing buckles correctly, the proper method should be in the guide you have been looking at.[/QUOTE]
I have the webbing double-backed through the buckles at the ends, if that is what you are referring to.
the extra slack will allow for extra stretch which will make an impact less severe due to increased distance over which i decellerate. :-p
Marc,
First off, that bracket is beautiful! I’ve always liked the stuff you make, really makes me wish I had access to some more machinery (lathe, drill press…etc). In regard to your comment… What’s wrong w/ the wrap job he did on his “harness bar”? Best I can tell the webbing goes thru the D-ring, around the bar, back thru the D-ring, then once more thru the D-ring (as seen on pg 26 of the document he linked to). Although it does look like there’s a different method diagrammed on pg 27 with no explanation of which setup is correct or if one method is for one type of setup and the other method for a different setup. Am I missing something here? Also, is there a regulation on length of belt past the seat back?
Hello Colin and Hufflepuff,
Sorry for the slow response, running special events has its disadvantages, 40.5 hours work in three days means you do not have much time to do anything else.
Second looking at pictures on a cell phone is not the brightest approach to trying to keep in touch.
My sincere apologies, your wrap of the belts through the D-Rings looks great, my silly mistake.
On the belt length, from shoulder to mounting point, I am not aware of any specific sanctioning body’s regulation (SFI/FIA/SCCA). However most manufactures will come forward and say keep the distance as short as possible within reason.
Like page 12 of SCHROTH guide, Hufflepuff has been referring to “For the best restraint of the occupant’s upper torso, ideal anchor points should not be further back than 200 mm [8”] from back of user’s seat.”.
Here is another, SFI Guide: http://www.sfifoundation.com/SeatbeltGuide06-05-12.pdf
Page 1
“SHOULDER BELTS
Shoulder Belt Angle: 0 to -20° (-10° optimum) from horizontal
• Clear passage of webbing from top of shoulder (or head and neck restraint) back to the harness bar or mounting point without any interference of the seat openings
• Belts should be as short as possible back to the mounting points”
In other words, you really don’t want “bungee cords” to reduce your forward movement in the seat.
Lap belt fastener upgrade
I decided to go the more legit and safe route and use the swiveling end link hardware for the lap belts. This hardware meets the Schroth guidelines stating that the lap belts should be allowed to swivel freely to ensure they always align themselves in the direction of tension.
More pictures in the build photo album. The eye ends just clear my factory seat, which i’m not planning on keeping for long anyways since i am definitely installing the sub strap correctly. The outboard bolts thread into the OEM seatbelt spool location. Easy!
Good Thinking! Now your looking after yourself.
I need to get some of those, especially if they thread into the stock locations!
I have those exact GForce snap hooks with my eye bolts. Good stuff!!!
In for more updates. Nice work Hufflepuff. And DB2-R81 the inside of your car looks beautiful.
New seat and harness
MORE PICTURES OF EVERYTHING AVAILABLE IN THE BUILD LINK IN FIRST POST.
So I finally bit the bullet and picked up a pair of Sparco Sprint V because:
- They are FIA certified (will work for Honda Challenge without back brace)
- They fit me well, 6’1" and 180lb
- They are pretty lightweight
- They were available locally
I bought a set of junkyard Integra sliders and used a mill to remove all of the brackets, leaving them flat on top. This allowed me to adapt the Sparcos to OEM seat rails and seat mounting points. You could use a drill, but it would be a painful process.
Fitting the seat to factory sliders was pretty much a pain, as you have to be very careful with measurements. The factory Integra seats are offset from the center of the steering wheel, so i had to compensate for this off-center mounting, get the correct front/back angle, and get it pointing square to the steering wheel. I used a combination of side mount and bottom mount to get my arrangement to work. For the side mount (which is towards the door), you can use angle iron or L-channel aluminum (if its thick). For the bottom mount (which is towards the center tunnel), i used some shallow c-channel steel bar stock. The seat is mounted very rigidly. I had to cut off the seat adjustment handle to get the front bottom mount to work, so i have to insert a screw driver from behind to pry the adjuster up to move the seat. This is very inconvenient, but luckily i don’t adjust my seat much now that it is where i want it.
I bolted my sub strap to a short piece of thick L-channel aluminum right behind the frame member that runs transversely from the door frame to the center tunnel under the seat.
In summary,
PROS: Retain factory floor mounting points. Cheap. I sit VERY low (could be a con if you are shorter).
CONS: VERY time intensive. Lost convenient sliding option. Doesn’t look at sweet as a “purchased” setup.
A 6-point roll bar (with future expansion to meet HC requirements in mind) is planned to round out the safety features. At that time i can switch to a harness bar and shorten my shoulder straps.
I just bought a 90 integra ls and want to focus on track racing. I have started to gut it and was just wondering if you guys have had any problems with not having door panels, ie from police or for passing safety and emissions. The teg is still my dd
I’m registered as historic and only drive it on weekends. I haven’t been hassled yet.
For a few years and with two different cars i tried the “my daily driver is my race car” thing, and my advice is build a track car for track and have a DD for DD.
Agreed. If you want to track your daily then that’s possible but having a true track car as a daily isn’t going to be too comfortable if you have any sort of serious driving to do. If it’s only a mile or two here and there then maybe it’s not a big deal.
Good point don’t want to hate driving my car on the road. It will be a dd that I track just to improve my skills with thanks