DIY: Race Harness Install
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:36 pm
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)
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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)
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
