Harness Mounting Options

[Hazman]

Moderator Please Delete this post

We seem to have more and more members catching the TRACK habit. One of them recently contacted me about how to mount a 6-point harness in a Mustang. I run a 5-point with a seat that has the right openings but for stock seats 6-point is the way to go. Any way I got to thinking about the setup my wife has in her Corvette. :idea:

For attaching 6-point harnesses she uses the Brey Krause kit

http://www.bkauto.com/corvette/r9115.php

And Harness Bar

http://www.bkauto.com/corvette/r1115.php

The long bracket attaches to the inside mounting point and the smaller plate fits under the winding mechanism. This allows you to still use the stock belts for street driving and easily clip in your lapbelt and sub-straps when you get to the track. I do not have pictures of them installed but I will try to get some and post them. The attachment points are low right at the intersection of the seat back and bottom cushion. I must say that in the wife's car this is a very easy to use and convenient setup. I had them powder coated black to match the interior and you do not notice them unless the harnesses are connected.

The harness bar uses the upper sholder belt attachment points and gives you a good place for you shoulder belts if you don't have a rollbar.

So I have contacted BK to ask if they have thought about making them for Mustangs. They said they considered this but (now get this) from what they had seen at track events there just are not enough Mustangs used as track / race cars to make it worth while for them to develop a kit!! :shrug:

Any way the fellow I spoke with said if there was enough interest from the Mustang community they would look at this. He said to have folks e-mail him and include what year Mustang they had so BK could evaluate what models they should focus on.

His email address is [email protected]

I think that this would be a great item for Mustang drivers who want to do a couple of track events now and them but want to keep their car stock otherwise. :thumbsup:

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

Would this be ... instead of a roll bar??? for the mounting of a race harness???

I hope I'm understanding this correctly... :smmon:

 

[Hazman]

The harness bar gives you a proper height atttachment point for the shoulder harness and the seat belt hardware gives you a properly placed attachment point for the lapbelt and anti-sub straps of your 6-point. The harness bar only works for coupes. No open track without a rollbar for verts!!!

I have a rollbar in my vert and I wish I had the seatbelt brackets. It makes it a breeze to clip in your harness at the track and then pop it out for the drive home.

 

[SnkBtn99]

Do you really want to run a racing harness without a roll cage? What happens in a rollover situation and the roofline gives? With a harness, there is not the ability to go sideways like you have with stocker belts.

 

[Hazman]

op:

 

[SVTmojo]

I am going to get this threade started again, as it was kind of started for me. I now have hazman's 4-point roll bar installed in my 03 cobra vert. (he will be running a weld in 6-point). I will be recieving a 6-point harness in the mail soon. I was hoping to find a similar bracket to mount the harness near the lap belts. Obviously I will not need the upper bracket, since I have a rollbar installed. Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well. Thanks, Mike

 

[SVTmojo]

Nobody has harnesses mounted in their cars? I recieved the 6-point Scroth on the mail yesterday, I installed the 2 shoulder belts with no problem. I plan on using the existing lap belt mounting points for the lap belts, just switching them over to an eye bolt and some floor mount clips on the belts. But I have no idea where to mount the anti-sub belts. They are the kind that are designed to sit on, and come up from under your thigh. The problem is that they are not long enough to go all the way back to where the lap belts mount. They are bairly long enough to go under my thighs, over the edge of the seat (right where the seat bottom and back meet) and down the to floor. So I was thinking about removing the seat, and making a bracket on the bottom side of the seat, so that they would just wrap around the side of the seat and be bolted to the floor right there. Once again, any suggestions would be great, Thanks, Mike

 

[SGL]

Nobody has harnesses mounted in their cars? I recieved the 6-point Scroth on the mail yesterday, I installed the 2 shoulder belts with no problem. I plan on using the existing lap belt mounting points for the lap belts, just switching them over to an eye bolt and some floor mount clips on the belts. But I have no idea where to mount the anti-sub belts. They are the kind that are designed to sit on, and come up from under your thigh. The problem is that they are not long enough to go all the way back to where the lap belts mount. They are bairly long enough to go under my thighs, over the edge of the seat (right where the seat bottom and back meet) and down the to floor. So I was thinking about removing the seat, and making a bracket on the bottom side of the seat, so that they would just wrap around the side of the seat and be bolted to the floor right there. Once again, any suggestions would be great, Thanks, Mike

In my humble opinion, harnesses go hand in hand with racing seats or seats that have an opening through the cushion to route the sub belt directly down to the floor. Mixing racing harnesses with factory seats is asking for trouble in the event of a crash. But what do I know, I'm just a seat engineer...

 

[SVTmojo]

Could please explain a little more. I am just learning, not trying to be an a$$. A 6-point harness is designed not to drop straight down to the floor, but run under the thighs and bolt near at at the same place as the lap belts(at least that is what the company says on there webpage). THat would have nothing to do with the seat. My car is still a street car, and I love the look of the cobra seats, not ready yet to move to racing seats. MY coar seats have more than enough support for me, and would work perfect with these 6-point harness. Just have to figure out how to mount them.

 

[SGL]

On the 99 and up factory seat the buckle attaches to the seat track. There is barely enough threads to attach the factory belt let alone trying to attach a harness and a sub belt. On the outboard side (door side) the lap belt attaches to the rocker (as you probably noticed). The sub belt is not long enough to reach. So that leaves you with a problem. If you make a steel bracket to reach the floor where the seat attaches, will it be structurally sound? Keep in mind that it cannot move when you adjust the seat position.

 

[SVTmojo]

So you think that as long as the brackets are mounted to the floor where the seat attaches, it should be secure?

 

[bat-stang]

Sounds like he is saying that to add another mounting point to the rocker of your car probably isn't secure. I'm sure that can be worked around by safely adding the proper plating/reinforcements. However, I think that to add your sub straps, you would first need to have your seat in the 'racing position' so that you are secured in the position that you would normally race in-- not the position that you probably drive in (daily chillin', if you will). Also suggested, was that the stock bolts aren't long enough for the added straps. I also use my stock location bolts for my lap straps-with my stock belts in the same location. Serpentnoir, please correct me if I am putting words in your mouth.

Batman

 

[SGL]

Sounds like he is saying that to add another mounting point to the rocker of your car probably isn't secure. I'm sure that can be worked around by safely adding the proper plating/reinforcements. However, I think that to add your sub straps, you would first need to have your seat in the 'racing position' so that you are secured in the position that you would normally race in-- not the position that you probably drive in (daily chillin', if you will). Also suggested, was that the stock bolts aren't long enough for the added straps. I also use my stock location bolts for my lap straps-with my stock belts in the same location. Serpentnoir, please correct me if I am putting words in your mouth.

Batman

I would prefer that you not make me say things I haven't. Why would you add another mounting point to the rocker? The sub belt probably wouldn't reach that far. If it did [reach], it wouldn't be comfortable and it's not designed to be attached that way. Also, the lap belt from the racing harness should not be bolted to the "existing" factory mounting point (console side). The factory does that to improve comfort (the buckle travels with the seat i.e. "travelling buckle"). But it is not the optimal way to manage crash loads. Drill a hole in the tunnel and stitch weld a large/thick plate to the floor (outside of the car obviously, NOT INSIDE!!!!!!!!!) and use that to mount the lap belt. Schroth also supplies those plates and they come with a 7/16"-20 nut already welded to the plate. I made my own because I felt the Schroth plate was on the small side. As for the sub belt, I don't know what to tell you (i.e. I prefer not to...). They are not designed to be used with factory seats.