:. Projects/Mods .:
Beginning |
Rollbar Install |
Harness Install |
Seat install |
Impressions/Summary
MATERIALS:
The following is what I used to get this job done, you may have better/easier ways to get it completed:
| Tools |
Get From: |
| ·Drill & Drill bits |
any hardware store |
| Materials: |
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| ·Simpson 5-point camlock harness |
~$160 - Jegs, Summit, etc |
| ·Harness Snap-hook |
$3 - Racer Wholesale - GF-107 |
| ·Harness backing plate |
$3 - Racer Wholesale - GF-100 |
| ·Harness Eyebolt |
$3 - Racer Wholesale - GF-109
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Harness Considerations
Harnesses are another thing where there are a ton of options and configurations to consider. Here's a short list:
- 3-point vs 4-point vs 5-point (vs 6-point)
- pushbutton vs camlock vs latchlock
- Y-type vs V-type vs individual type
- 3" belt vs 2" belt
- pull-up adjustment vs pull-down adjustment
Here's some indications of the above specs.
The "point" description, like a rollcage, describes in how many spots the harness attaches. See This page on RRE's site to see the differences between 3 and 4-point harnesses. Note the difference between the 4-point "Rally 4" and "Rally Cross". The latter is an individual type harness, whereas the other is a "V" type, I believe. 5-point (and less-common 6-point) harnesses add a 5th attachment between your legs called a sub-belt. This has the dual purpose of preventing you from sliding under your harness in a crash, of keeping the locking mechanism appropriately located low on your hips.
Almost all aftermarket seats have allowances for 4-points, but not all have the 5th hole for a sub-strap. Sparco, in particular, tends to leave that out of their non-insanely priced models. Note also that unless you do some cutting or ghetto-master work, the 1g seats don't allow you to run a harness through anywhere at all. The Grommets in the VFAQ seem to be a pretty cool solution though, if you don't want to endure the cost of an aftermarket seat.
As an aside, a nice feature of the Simpson harness (I'm not sure if all are like this), is that the camlock is attached to one of the lap-belts, which means you can choose not to attach the sub-belt if you don't want to, or don't yet have a seat that supports its use.
3 different types of mechanisms exist to latch the belts to one another. Scroth, and some other harnesses maintain the stock-style pushbotton release mechanism. More common is the "Latchlock" style. With this, you have to place the various harness pieces into a somewhat complex latch mechanism, and it locks itself in. More expensive is the camlock, which has a center piece (the cam) that each belt slides into, similar to how stock seatbelts slide into their slot. (fig.1)
Y-type versus V-type versus individual type refers to the shoulder harnesses, and any connection they have to eachother. I'm not sure what the implications of this are, but the individual type seems to be preferred for maximum safety and flexibility.
3" harnesses are generally required for most racing series, since they spread the pressure out on your shoulders a bit more, and are stronger. 2" harnesses are a street compromise for autocrossing and such. They allow you to move around a bit more still, but aren't as safe as the 3" ones seem to be.
the last criteria is the type of adjustment - pull-up vs pull down. This is tough to describe, you'll just have to try each style and determine which you prefer.
So, for reference, what I installed in my car were Simpson 3" 5-point camlock harnesses with individual shoulder straps that have pull-up style adjustments.
Attachment Points
When attaching the poitns of a harness, unless you're attaching them to a rollbar, you will likely see ends like this. When attaching the harness, the first thing is to ensure that you're attaching it to a reinforced spot on the car. Usually, there will be enough stock seatbelt attachment points (don't forget all the backseat locations) where you can put these.
The second important consideration is the direction of tension placed on these bolt-ends. You want to attach them such that they are going to be pulled in a direction parallel with where the belt moves. You don't want to mount them such that if the belt is pulled on strongly, the bolt-end will be bending. See fig 7.
Installation
First off, it will probably be best to go and check out the harness install VFAQ. As an important starting note, make sure you keep all the fasteners you remove from your factory seatbelts, as it is useful to use them when installing the harness.
The first thing to decide is if you're keeping your stock belts or not. The stock choker belts and I have long waged war, and after many battles fought, I can finally claim victory over them - they're gone. I took out everything involved with them on both sides, and it ended up being 30 pounds of weight! (fig. 2)
If you do want to get rid of these, you have to pull off the A and B-pillar trim to unbolt the track and motor. There is also a 'brain box' on the driver's side you can unplug and remove to get rid of the buzzer and flashing light. Or you can just disconnect the door buzzer and seat-belt light, which is what I'll be doing. Note that you'll want to pull off and reinstall these trim pieces before the rollbar is in place, since it will be significantly easier!
If it's not obvious, I installed these harnesses along with my Autopower rollbar, so that I could mount the shoulder straps to a harness bar on the rollbar. It is very important when installing a harness to make sure the shoulder straps are as close to horizontal as possible, and the rollbar made this simple. That took care of the top two points. If you look at the diagrams on RRE's Eclipse Safety page, you can find a few places to attach the shoulder straps if you don't have a rollbar.
For the side-belts, you can use the stock belt mounting locations. For my inner one, I chose the bolt-hole where that curious gray rail used to bolt in. (fig. 3)
Temporarily, for the outer belt, I didn't follow my own advice, and attached the belt to the outboard rear seat mounting point. After the OMP seat goes in, I will try and relocate it to the stock belt location, to make the belt's tension direction more parallel to the belt, rather than the 90* or so angle this creates. (fig. 4 - good job Jake...)
[Update: Since I installed my race bucket, I relocated the outboard lapbelt mount to the stock location, as intended. See fig. 8.]
The sub-belt is the last part of a 5-point install. This is where those parts from RacerWholesale come into play. (fig. 5, fig. 6) You won't have a reinforced spot to install this into, which is why the backing plate is included. If you draw an imaginary line between the rear seat mount bolts, you'll feel a reinforced section.
You will want to mount the plate in front of or behind that reinforced section. Because of the proximity of the frame rail on the underside, you'll have to offset the plate to the outboard of the car a bit.
I found it easiest to measure how far forward of the rollbar feet I needed to be, and drill from underneath. This helps keep the drill bit from getting caught up in all the sound deadening under the carpet. Position the plate where you want it, drill a hole, and put the eyebolt and washer through the floorplan. (figs 9,10). Put the backing plate on and tighten down the nut. (fig 11) Feed the sub belt up through the hole in your seat.
From here on out, it's just a matter of adjusting the belts to where they make you comfortable. Happy (and safe!) racing! Any questions/comments/flames/love letters to:
mrjones@holly.colostate.edu
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fig 1.
fig 2.
fig 3.
fig 4.
fig 5.
fig 6.
fig 7.
fig 8.
fig 9.
fig 10.
fig 11.
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Harness Pricelist
| Item |
Cost |
From |
| 5pt camlock Simpson Harness |
$75 |
Used from OSOFAST racing |
| Sub-belt parts |
$15 |
Racer Wholesale |
| 5pt camlock Simpson Harness |
$185 |
Jegs |
| TOTAL: |
$275 |
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Additional Information/URL's
Here is a bit more info to get you started on looking into the rollcage addition:
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