dc_s2k

the s2k dude

what is the problem with mounting the belts to the seat rail?

would mounting the lap belt to the same screw that secures the rear seat bracket to the car be sufficient? i have mine bolted to the seat rail where bride has made an area for on the rails. the pass side was altered a bit so i had to use a different mounting point but it works the same.

dc_s2k

Not sure I understand exactly how yours is mounted, on a rail mounted bracket or to the bolt that mounts the rail to the floor...

Neither one is a good idea for 3 reasons.
1. If you share the bolt that mounts the rail to the floor, you are going to be adding somewhere around 1500 - 3000 pounds of force to a bolt that was not designed to take it in a hard crash. It may snap. the lap belt mount on the rail of a taitec is a dinky POS, and its probably the same on your rail. I wouldn't trust it with my life or the life of my track day instructor.

2. Mounting the lap belt back this far will mess up the angle at which the lap belt is supposed to go across your hip bone, I think the hip area you want the belt to ride is called the iliac crest. the belt needs to go down and back at a 60 degree angle I think. Read the Schroth manual i reference earlier in the thread to get the exact angle. I may be a little obsessive, but I used a protractor when installing my harnesses to get the right angle. You don't want the mount points too far back as the belt may ride over your hip and into your innards if the angle is too extreme (too far back). if this happens you'll probably suffer major organ damage in a bad wreck.

3. The further away you mount the belts (like behind the seat) the more belt there is to stretch in a crash. Harnesses are designed to stretch in a crash to dissipate energy, but if you have too much belt between you and the mounting point you will get too much stretch which will cause your body to move at a bad angle or cause you move too much and hit something or will let the belt ride up and hose up your innards.

I'm not an expert on this subject by any means. I have just read literature on the subject to try and keep myself safe, and hopefully this helps some of you guys running harnesses. Please read the Schroth manual referenced earlier.

I really hope your are not running 4 point harnesses as you didn't mention sub belt mounting. There are a number of preexisting threads on why this is an extremely bad idea.

rob.ok

Great Job

s2kobsession

really good thread for such an important subject!

dc_s2k

thanks guys. I couldnt find any good posts on how to install a harness on the forums, so I hope this helps the next person who is wondering how to do this.

Voodoo_S2K

Isn't that a good thing?

rwheelz

Great write-up! It seems you have taken safety one step further than most

So tell us, did you wear a helmet while driving your S2000 to VIR, or did you tow it there? The rollbar looks very close to the skull the way the driver's Recaro sits.

dc_s2k

Thanks. I actually did think about wearing a helmet while driving down there but the blind spot is just too bad. Installing the bar basically turned this into a track only car for this very reason.

The hard dog rollbar is very close to your head in a s2000 any way you slice it. Its a little exaggerated in the pic because there is about 1 1/4" of padding on the front of the bar. One of the reasons I went with the dual durometer stuff was to convey some order of protection to an unhelmeted head. The other option is to move the seat forward a few inches on the street. I doubt that would make a difference but it cannot hurt. The big deal is wearing a harness vs a normal belt with the bar in. The harness will minimize the amount your body can be thrown around in a crash, and therefore minimize the risk of your head hitting something unpadded and hard.

At the end of the day, its all about what type of risk is acceptable to you.

goldenfri

Very informative post. I have been struggling with the decision to get a hard dog roll bar and this helps.