5 point harness install tips

[haaken675]

It’s definitely not safe, that’s why I didn’t finish putting everything in. And I don’t see how going to the firewall is less safe so long as the metal will hold. The scrosch instructions as wel as dis says you can install harnesses greater then 20” away so long as you cross the harnesses. Am I missing something?

[Digitalwave]

That does not look safe. The right way to rectify would be to have a harness bar added to the roll bar at the proper height. Going back several feet to the rear firewall would worse than the current situation.

[haaken675]

no idea why the picture is rotated funny...I think the forum is rotating it as the actual phot is upright...

[haaken675]

Seats aren't that high. I am 6'1 and can sit in them with a helmet on with plenty of room. I even tried putting the seats on the floor and the angle was still fairly severe.

[lcoleman]

45 degrees sounds unlikely unless your seat is mounted really high. Post a pic.

[haaken675]

So I got the eye bolts in and was wrapping the harnesses around the harness bar. The angle looks to be right around 45 degrees though...if I run the harnesses all the way back, can I mount them to eye bolts in the trunk wall? Is that going to be too flexible?

[2mAn]

I used the Schroth plates for the crotch, OEM belt spots for the two sides and the roll bar cross bar for the shoulders. Looked and felt great when buckled in

[haaken675]

yeah, as soon as I thought about it that made a bit more sense. Work has me getting a migraine already...

[agent]

There's not enough room in an E30 for that kind of (bad) angle.

[haaken675]

Here's another picture of where my lap belt is [properly] mounted. There's absolutely no safe way you'd be able to mount the harness to the stock rear seat bolt. Note where the bolt is; almost vertically straight down underneath the lap belt pass-through and covered by the seat.

The inboard location is the same distance from the seat in both directions; on the tranny tunnel as seen in the other pic I posted.

[/url]

That's a useful pic, thanks. I thought that would be pulling the strap out to far according to what I was reading in the scroth instructions:

[kronus]

this is one of my favorite idiot-proof documents for cage and harness things - https://24hoursoflemons.com/wp-conte..._v3_051817.pdf

(page 15 for harness info)

[Digitalwave]

Here's another picture of where my lap belt is [properly] mounted. There's absolutely no safe way you'd be able to mount the harness to the stock rear seat bolt. Note where the bolt is; almost vertically straight down underneath the lap belt pass-through and covered by the seat.

The inboard location is the same distance from the seat in both directions; on the tranny tunnel as seen in the other pic I posted.

[/url]

[haaken675]

schroth says 60 degrees (plus or minus 10) for the lap belts. The seats sit inwards of the seat bracket, and the rear seat bracket bolt is pretty much right at a 50 degree angle and unimpeded… I am not referring to the seat belt hole were that bar bolted to.

If someone wants to send me some pictures of other setups I would love to take a look. I don't see tons of space to get the needed angle without pushing it wide which is not recommended either.

[TobyB]

Look at major manufacturers of 5 point harnesses for angles- from memory,
the lap belt should be at about 45 degrees and as unimpeded as possible
and the shoulder belts go about straight back, in as short a path as possible.

Plates in the floor are fine- there are reinforced parts of the pan in good locations,
and the pullout for a 4 square inch washer is far higher than your body can withstand.

t

[agent]

I would not recommend attaching them to the seat mount. You can safely attach the eyebolts with threaded backing plates. Schroth sells them.

https://www.schrothracing.com/products/reinforcement-plates#1612

There are very specific instructions on how to position and orient the eyebolts. Make sure to follow them. In my opinion, the stock seat seatbelt bar hole does not provide the proper angle for the lap belts (far too shallow).

Agree 100%.

The stock seatbelt bar hole, while seemingly convenient, is the wrong angle and a poor location once everything else has been mounted and tightened down.

I apparently didn't take any pics of that part of my install, but it's essentially the same as DW's.