I want to buy a Sparco harness seat belt. I was at a shop looking at some and we didn't think that a 4 connection harness was appropriate. I need to see pictures of where you guys are mounting your harness. Do you take off the bolt of the stock seat belt connector behind the seat at the drivers head & connect a 3 point harness to that bolt and then put the bolt back in so the stock belt is still functional or do you guys run it down to the bottom rear bolts on the seat. It didn't look right to run it down. it seemed like it would damage the leather on the tops of the seat.

Please help! i'm tired of being tossed around in the seat w/ the stock belt.

Thanks guys

 

Chris :

You can't run the lap belts all the way down. In case of an accident you could sustain injury or the belts/seat could fail.

Always have maximum 45 degree angle on the shoulder belts. In other words the best place is around the factory roll bar, which places them almost flat.

In our race car the roll bar integrates a harness bar that crosses from side to side and that's were we attach the shoulder belts. For the lap belt we drilled new holes on the transmission tunnel and side of the car.

 

You could be making your car less safe with the four-point harnesses. If you're going to use them on the street or for autocrossing or drivers' schools, I'd suggest you rethink your desire to install them unless you add a real rollbar too.

If you roll your car and you're wearing four-point belts, your head could be the first thing to hit the ground. If you roll the car when you're wearing the stock lap-and-shoulder combination, you can at least lean over to the center of the car (or forward) to stay under the level of the stock rollbars and windshield when the car lands upside-down.

I know this probably sounds a little overdramatic and like one of those things that will never happen to you, but I have seen it happen twice on autocross courses

 

Pepe, I think you mean shoulder belts, no?

Jason S. solved this problem with using wrap-around style shoulder belts around the stock roll hoops. Not a perfect solution, but easy and strong.

Outboard lap belt to extension of stock seatbelt mounting bolt, inbourd lap belt to new bolt through the transmission tunnel.

 

Ozy, try this autocrosser's trick. Sit in the driver's seat, buckle the stock 3 point belt, grab the shoulder belt and firmly pull the slack out of the lap area as you push yourself rearward with your legs. Now feed the slack into the shoulder spool and give it a quick yank forward to lock the spool. With the spool now locked, relax your legs and redistribute the belt pressure between the lap and shoulder area. This may take a few attempts to get it right, try it a couple of times and then go for a drive! You're in snug! The spool will stay locked as long as there is pressure against it. When you unbuckle, it unlocks.

If this doesn't do the trick for you, the next step is a five or six point harness.

 

I'm with Spa2K. You shouldn't run a harness without a roll cage. There are fewer issues with them in a convertible as the door isn't as likely to become jammed if upside down.

I *watched* a miata roll over three weeks ago. If it wasn't for his roll bar... well lets just say we're all glad the rules enforce roll bars. They should also enforce rollbars to allow harnesses.

You really need one just so you can mount the harness properly and avoid the possibility of spinal compression.

Our roll hoops are pretty much useless and now subsequently the reason why I've stopped Solo 1 racing my S2K. Without my helmet, I clear the PLASTIC on the hoops, with my helmet I clear it about 2 more inches. The hoops are probably half an inch under the plastic. You really gotta be a 5-foot-nothing Japaneese guy to walk away unscatched. Then again, one of our other class competitors is about 5 and a couple and with a proper seating position, HE clears them.

You buys better practice your slouching and emergency hunch overs.

$%$##$@ Honda and their stupid lack of headroom.

 

I've had some success using one of those seatbelt lock things that come with baby seats. They're available at any baby store and lock the seat part of the harness. Cheap too.

That said, I don't think you'll be doing anything to readjust your body during a rollover. The roll forces are just too much. I know.

 

Actually, Jason S., SoloIIRacer, Juliann, and myself discovered in the course of other threads on this topic that the wrap arounds aren't SCCA legal, so we don't use 'em. I don't remember the exact reason, but it should be in the archives someplace.

They use a lap belt with the standard seat belt for the most part. I use a three point belt (crotch and lap), mainly because the cam on the harness I bought is on the crotch belt. I take a nylon strap and run it around the seat tracks in the front, and it holds it in well enough to keep me in place. Of course, I just autox, I don't do track days (yet) or road race (I'd need a cage anyway).

YMMV,