Hey guys, im looking at buying some sparco bucket seats for my 2+2. However how would i go mounting sparco racing harnesses in the car for both the passenger and driver but still having the rear seats accessible? would i to get them professionally mounted to the floor or something? Cheers Jay
I don't believe that there would be a way of doing it while still retaining access to the rear seats. I have clip in harnesses and just have the rear seats down all the time. Mine are attached to the floor and the crossmember directly below the rear strut brace. Won't pass CAMS but is suffeciant for the road. A roll cage would be a better way of attaching the harnesses.
Cant have both! Cant be using the rear seats (have passengers in them) and have the harnesses in use. But you can use have the rear seats still in there. I drilled holes in the floor and put in plates under neath for the anchor bolts as putting in the racing seats removed the original seat belt mounts. Now they just anchor into the Rollcage. Another option is to get a custom bar made up that goes accross the rear strut towers to mount this to, MattB
How do the takata harnesses work then? i have seen them saying they are designed especially for 4 seater cars. I suppose what im looking for if i cant have the rear seats accessible at all times i would like it to be easy (or as easy a possible)to switch between harness and being able to use the rear seats. if anyone has ideas even 2+2 setup pics it would be greatly appreciated. Jay
Anchor the main belts in the rear/boot area floor! The others beside the seat in the floor. Keep your normal belt in for road use and just place the harness aside when not needed! MattB
Thread dig. Is there any way to mount a harness without drilling holes in the floor? I've seen a bar that goes across the back of the front seats that looks like it bolts into the rear seat belt holes. Needs to be CAMs and road legal, I don't mind if the rear seats become un-useable while the harness is in place.
you might want to speak to a cams rep about it or a certified roll cage maker as they have so many little specs you need to follow. maybe pm tass and see what he has to say
When you say CAMS legal it depends very much on which class you will be racing in, they all have different rules and guidelines.
I'm not sure, just general track work, no competition or anything. Can they be mounted to a rear strut brace?
If you're just doing sprints your standard seatbelt would be fine, you may want a seat with more lateral support though. The CAMS Manual of Motorsport that someone linked to above will have diagrams of minimum and maximim angles and such for harnesses, you'll be able to work out if your rear strut brace will be an acceptable mounting point or not. I think any 4 (or more) point harness will be illegal for street use as they are too slow to get out of in an emergency. For track use plenty of people have emergency strap cutters incase they need to get out of a car fast.
I've already got recaro's, it's more I dont want to be thrown around when taking a fast corner on the track. Happy to use my seatbelts on the street.
A seat with good upper body lateral support will do much more for you than a harness but I think you make be able to get a mounting system set up on your rear strut brace, you'll have to remove it when you drive on the road though or remove your back seats and re-register the car as a 2 seater, I'm pretty sure they'd count as pretty severe hazards to any back seat passenger and even if you don't have anyone there if your car is registered as a 4 seater it needs to have 4 safe seats. Read up in the Manual of Motorsport regarding angles from mounting points to shoulders and such and see what you can sort out but to be honest for a start I'd be getting out and having a go with your race seats and 3 point harness for a start, I was fine at some tracks with my stock seat and harness, the ones I found myself working too hard to stay in position that way I was fine in a race seat and 3 point harness.
Is are there such things as aftermarket bolt in floor rails to put a harness around, to suit a z32? I've seen the Evo boys use these - beams that bolt onto the floor at the back of the base of the front seat and have the straps go down to them.
That'd be cool, bolt in for track days, unbolt when you get home. There really wouldn't be much to it, just a matter of passing scrutineering...
The problem with those is that if you're in a serious crash, the seatbelt can potentially snap the seat's backrest off.
It's the angle of the strap. If the shoulder straps are mounted to the floor, then they apply a lot of downward force on the backrest when your body is thrown forward under braking/impact. If you're using a fixed-back fibreglass seat, it can potentially fail under such loads. That's why most rulebooks recommend that the shoulder straps aren't inclined more than 15 degrees from the horizontal. I hope that makes sense! See below for ideal harness strap arrangement:
