DIY: Race Harness Install

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Bennoz
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DIY: Race Harness Install

Post by Bennoz »

Hi all,

Thought I might DIY this job in case anyone is going racing anytime soon & wants to put in a harness!!

Ok, what you will need:
Socket set
Screw drivers
A drill
Dremel tool or straight grinder
Some plate steel
An assortment of nuts & bolts
An arc welder (or lots of drill bits & bolts!)

The first question you ask yourself when putting one of these in is "Where is the best spot to bolt the harness in?" - more importantly "Where are strong enough spots"

The easy part is the 2 mounts for the belts that sit across your lap - use the existing seat belt mounts! I should also mention, when doing this, I wanted to still be able to utilise the existing selt belt. Putting the harness on & off during day to day driving is a hassle.

First mount to use is where the sealt belt connector is. It is actually bolted to the side of the seat. The fiddly bit here is finding a bolt / washer combo that is long enough to suit. Pic of existing bolt and new one I used (Existing bolt is the short one)

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See example of washer combo required - as the harness mount has a slight curve in it - so it cannot be bolted hard against the existing connector otherwise you cannot adjust the belt. Its best to go under the normal connector.

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Now the plastic fitting that covers this bolt needs to be modified slightly to allow the wider belt. I used the dremel to to grind away enough plastic - see pics:

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Next connector is where the old seat belt mounts the the car chassis just down the bottom of the door. Again a washer combo is required - also note the plastic sleeve that is on the old belt normally has to be removed - otherwise you end up with a huge rubber blockage stopping you from bolting it together.

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Now comes the hard part. As some of you probably read - the child restraint mount that comes through the rear parcel shelf up through the speaker is not good enough for a harness. Its only rated for weights up to 40kgs. So the best option is to pull it out & modify it. Mine were pop riveted in, so I drilled them out & removed the child mount. You also need to remove the back seat now to get access to the rear shelf.

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Note the height of the threaded section on the child restraint - hence it is so weak - a good pull (during an accident) on the top of that thread will shear it clean off the plate it is welded to. Having said that the plate itself is a good peice of solid 2mm steel... so I cut the threaded section off & drilled through the plate. I'm mounting the belt flat onto it through an exisiting hole in the shelf - underneath the rear plastic cover. Im not going to use the hole closest to the speaker because I may get weld spatter on it & burn the speaker cone. Note: This pic is upside down in the boot.

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As you can see above - my rear mount is going to come from under the rear shelf. In order to make room under there for the bolt head, again I used the dremel tool to remove some of the plastic ribbing from under the shelf. This is so the shelf will bolt down over the top of everything with no humps or bumps. Apologies for the qualtiy of this next pic, but you should be able to get the drift.

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Again using a good combo of a big bolt & big strong washers, you then bolt the rear strap to the shelf and re-attach the plastic shelf as is was before. Now is also the time to hit the steel plate with a couple of spots of weld to the car. If you dont have access to a welder, I recommend drilling 4 holes through both the plate & rear shelf - and put in 4 bolts to secure the plate to the shelf.

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And your done! Its now a good idea to bolt the drivers seat back in properly and adjust the belts to suit you. Then re-install the rear seat - as adjustment on the rear strap can be difficult whilst the rear seat is in. Once that adjustment is set, you then do any other adjustment from the straps over you shoulders.

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The "Bennoz Difficulty Scale":

I give this job a difficulty rating of 7/10 - can be a bit painful
Beer drunk during: 8
Ciggies smoked during: 9
Loud curses that caused a mass neighborhood dog barking ensemble: 2
Blood drawing cuts: 2
Last edited by Bennoz on Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SchumieFan
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Post by SchumieFan »

hahaha... well done... nice having the4 original seatbelt... especially when your at the lights n u drop yeah drink n cant move etc
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Bennoz
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Post by Bennoz »

SchumieFan wrote:hahaha... well done... nice having the original seatbelt... especially when your at the lights n u drop yeah drink n cant move etc
LOL - there's nothing worse! Especially trying to reach the cigi lighter!
mr_bishi
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Post by mr_bishi »

Do you run without your rear seats Ben?
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Bennoz
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Post by Bennoz »

Nah, I keep them in. It just keeps the ride that bit quieter.
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Post by mr_bishi »

Mine are out at the mo,i've carpeted the space but it's still well noisy!! Do the harnesses sit over the rear seats ok then?
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Bennoz
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Post by Bennoz »

It all fits together pretty well. The harness does actually put a bit of forward pressure on the rear seat making it a bit harder to fit in - but its stopped it from rattling!! :lol:

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Bennoz
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Post by Bennoz »

Our Ex-Vice Pres (Kaveman) has just clued me into a few things regarding the rear mount. Mine may not be upto scratch, so I've contacted CAMS & they are sending me the official specs - will post them up when I get them.
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SchumieFan
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Post by SchumieFan »

did wonder about the rear mount... wouldnt it just rip through the rear trays sheet metal?

thought id use the rear seatbelt mounts... but now i dunno if i can b bothered putting some in
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Post by scarecrow »

I think it would definetly deform in the case of a major accident, but I highly doubt it would create a situation where it allowed your body to move anywhere near close to the steering wheel.

I always wondered what those f**king poles were, i've been in a wrecked FTO trying to get the rear shelf out and it would not budge because those poles were a tad too high, the only way I was going to get it out was by breaking something, and that would of defeated my purpose for tryna to get a replacement anyway.

Mine isn't so bad, but it does take a bit of work and bending to get the shelf out.
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Bennoz
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Post by Bennoz »

Well I found out a few things about mine when I contacted CAMS. I have to make a few adjustments to my rear plate. I'v haven't had time as yet.

I've uploaded the pdf extract from CAMS about installing harnesses if anyone is interested:

Harness Install Specifications
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d_dan
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Re: DIY: Race Harness Install

Post by d_dan »

Don't suppose you have pics lying around??
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