Seat harness - roll cage a must?

[AWD-Tony]

Is it a must to have a roll cage/roll bar to run seat harnesses? Was thinking about having a bracket made that is bolted down by the rear seat bolts (to body) and anchor it that way or is that a no no?

 

[pauleyman]

Do not mount a harness as you suggest.

Installing A 5-Point Harness Properly

The right way to install a 5-point harness for safety and make sure you don't fail tech inspection.

www.dragzine.com

 

[AWD-Tony]

Do not mount a harness as you suggest.

Installing A 5-Point Harness Properly

The right way to install a 5-point harness for safety and make sure you don't fail tech inspection.

www.dragzine.com

I won’t. It was just a thought. Never knew you could use the stock seatbelt bolt hole which is nice but I mentally would not be able to drill a hole in the floor.

 

[AWD-Tony]

@luv2rallye its mostly a street car and drag strip maybe 5 times a year. Just weighing my options on what to do with my drivers seat. If I go aftermarket, I would like to a install harness. I’ve seen them attached to the rear strut bar also but if that’s not safe, I’m not doing that. But I really don’t want a cage this time around. I did have a 6 point in my 2g and loved how much it stiffened the chassis. For now, the goal is 11 second street car, maybe high 10s. These are the NHRA rules so I’ll most likely stick with my initial goal and turn it down at the track after a high 10 pass

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Dam, I gotta have a CHUTE????

 

[NWHTanK]

I have a bar that mounts to the upper seat belt slides in the b pillar. It allows u to run a harness. The thing that sucks it dosnt allow very much room for the seat to go back.

 

[AWD-Tony]

I have a bar that mounts to the upper seat belt slides in the b pillar. It allows u to run a harness. The thing that sucks it dosnt allow very much room for the seat to go back.

I was just looking at those. Seems like a viable option. Don’t think I’ve seen it in your build unless it was a while back? Do you change the harness when it expires?

 

[AWD-Tony]

Dam, I gotta have a CHUTE????

Just put two umbrellas back there. They won’t know

 

[NWHTanK]

Lol I bought alot of parts cars in the past and it was in one of them ( I'm part of the jack stand racing society) so it hasn't been included in the build yet, and well I'm 5'9 and I can't get comfortable with that bar running behind the raised aftermarket seat.

 

[AWD-Tony]

Jack stand racing society . I’m 5’8 so that might be an issue for me too then. Does your seat sit higher or lower than stock?

 

[NWHTanK]

Higher. Because of the seat adapters with aftermarket seats.

 

[KDittoe]

A roll cage is not required, but the shoulder harness mount points need to be at a specific angle to the shoulders. You can use the rear seat belts mounting locations for the shoulder straps and that should put them at an acceptable angle.

Check out the diagrams at the bottom of this page http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclsafety.htm

 

[AWD-Tony]

A roll cage is not required, but the shoulder harness mount points need to be at a specific angle to the shoulders. You can use the rear seat belts mounting locations for the shoulder straps and that should put them at an acceptable angle.

Check out the diagrams at the bottom of this page http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclsafety.htm

That would be a good option but I am keeping rear seats. Think the proper angle was 45* from what I read in the article Pauley posted.

 

[twicks69]

The issue with using the rear seat mount bolt holes without a harness bar is that the harness can flop around laterally so if you have a side impact, you could get tossed around. A quality harness bar would have retainer loops welded in so that the harness cannot slide side to side.

See link for what I am talking about - https://shop.redline360.com/product...rness-bar-eclipse-talon-2g-95-99-black-silver

What seats are you using? Stock? Aftermarket? If aftermarket, which exact model?

Be sure to use the proper 3" wide SFI 16.1 harnesses. You can install the anti-sub belt through the floor with some thick heat treated fender washers on both sides of the floor pan to bolt it through. I prefer a pull-down anti-sub belt. If you are using a stock seat you will not be able to use an anti-sub belt 5th point.

I have had a 5 point autocross harness with a V-mount and used the rear seat bracket mounting points for the V-mount but that was with a stock seat when my car was slow as hell back around 2002-2003. Even then, I still had a bolt-in Autopower 4 point harness bar back then that I later modified for harness usage. This was not really a compliant drag racing "cage", it was a harness bar only.

Note some seatbelt install details here - https://www.schrothracing.com/doc-share/competition_instructions.pdf

 

[jakelandry]

Depends if you’re worried about rules or safety. As far as safety goes, a 3 point and airbag is safer than 4,5,6 point on street. Head on collision snaps your neck, harness bar warps with side collision and you get what Tim described, and if you’re full cage you beat your head on the cage in several scenarios. Harnesses really are a race-only deal. You also won’t get the geometry right without doing a decent amount of fab work.

After rereading my post it seems to come off a bit forceful or arrogant. FWIW I have a full nasa spec 10pt cage and 6 point harness in my street car but have not completed it yet so only extensive design experience and research. No real-world experience.

 

[AWD-Tony]

@twicks69 I’m trying to decide what to do with my drivers seat, repair the leather or change to aftermarket. If I go aftermarket, I’d prefer to run a harness without installing a cage. Been there, done that so not the direction I want to go with this car. It’s mainly a street car and a trip to the drag strip a few times a year. Pretty sure we covered everything to make my decision so we’ll see. Appreciate everyone’s feed back. I’ll have to really think about this.