Harnesses

[OUTRACE]

No, I'm not looking for insight into your "love" lives...... or guidance into the block and tackle rig in the ceiling.......

Are you guys using 4, 5, or 6 point harnesses, and why?

I see a HUGE disparity in harness prices, from $200 per seat down to $50 per seat. Why?

[Treibenschnell]

5 Point RPM harness (same one the Australian V8 boys use) for autocross use. I use the lower belts (in conjunction with the stock belt) when I tool around town... it really straps your beeeeehind to the car when on the highway.

I bought these over at Bobby Archer's place in FW. Great deal too... if I remember correctly, they were about $75 for the whole set - clearance deal.

[POS Racing]

I see a HUGE disparity in harness prices, from $200 per seat down to $50 per seat. Why?

From what I’ve seen, they have expiration dates on them (like Milk), the closer they are to expiring the cheaper they tend to be!

I just run a lap belt since I don’t have a roll bar in the AX car.

[Treibenschnell]

I see a HUGE disparity in harness prices, from $200 per seat down to $50 per seat. Why?

From what I’ve seen, they have expiration dates on them (like Milk), the closer they are to expiring the cheaper they tend to be!

True! If you run in a series, like we do, that does not require dated harnessess then look for a deal on the older sets. There is nothing wrong with them at all. It's just some levels require fresh belts every season or so.

[Treibenschnell]

Plus I have a roll bar... it's easier than adding a harness bar or harness tabs.

[OUTRACE]

My roll bar has a harness bar.

Kewl, I'll start looking around..... How did you locate the 5th strap? Slice the seat, or does it just go around the front?

[Treibenschnell]

My description may not work out the way I'd like...


The anti-sub belt is attached through the floor pan with grade 8 bolts and 2 inch washers on both sides to prevent the belt from pulling through the floor. I didn't slice the seat... you'd have to look in car to see how I did it.

[channelmaniac]

You get what you pay for...

I don't think I'd trust my life to this

[Treibenschnell]

You get what you pay for...

I don't think I'd trust my life to this

I don't trust much of anything I find on eBay.

[altiain]

Amen to that.

I use a 6 point Sparco 3-inch belt in the Miata with a Sparco Sprint track seat.

I'm not a big fan of the "route the sub belt up the front of the seat" method, even though that's what I used to use - at the time - with the stock seat. The primary purpose of the sub belt is to stop the lap belt from riding up above your pelvis and crushing more delicate parts of your torso in an impact - to keep you from "submarining" under the lap belt, so to speak. Routing a single sub belt up the front of the seat isn't going to be very effective at doing this, as the forces in a frontal impact will tend to create slack in the sub belt, allowing the lap belts to ride up and do soft tissue damage.

A better idea is to use a 6-point belt, with the sub belt anchored to the same hardened points as the lap belts. you then sit on the sub belt, pull it up from between your legs (get your mind out of the gutter ), and connect it to the clasp, much like a rapelling harness. This way, the force of your body moving forward in an impact will tend to pull on sub belt instead of giving it slack, allowing it to do its job and keep the buckle and lap belt from riding up. Make sense?

Basically, you want the sub belt mounted in such a way that a frontal impact will cause your body to put tension on the sub belt (therby putting tension on the buckle and holding the lap belts down). If the sub belt is mounted in such a way that a frontal impact allows the sub belts to develop slack, then they aren't going to do their job.

Here's a handy rule of thumb:

Shoulder belts hold you in
Lap belts hold you down
Sub belts hold you up

One last caveat - if you can't get your helmeted head under the "broomstick line" (the imaginary plane that runs form the top of the unpadded rollbar to the top of the windshield header), then a harness isn't a very good idea, imho. In a rollover, rigid shoulder straps will hold your torso in place and your head will become the highest fixed point on the vehicle - I don't know about you, but my neck isn't that strong.

[POS Racing]

pull it up from between your legs (get your mind out of the gutter)

Wasn't that a Van Halen song?

Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight.
I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off of it.
Ah, you reach down, between my legs,
ease the seat back.

She's blinding, I'm flying,
Right behind the rear-view mirror now.
Got the feeling, power steering,
Pistons popping, ain't no stopping now!

Altain has some pictures here showing his seat install to get below the rollbar!

[onething]

[quote="POS Racing"] Wasn't that a Van Halen song?

Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight.

Leave the kiddies alone. Most of them don't know who Van Halen was

[channelmaniac]

Wasn't he a former president? Oh wait... that was Van Buren...



Panama!

Pan-a-ma-a-oh-oh-ah-ah

Panama!

[Screamin'Screw]

I have a 4-pt, but the rather inclined position of the Miata seats leads me to believe that a 5-point would be much better. Of course, a 6-point would even be better if I ever got into a crash and wanted feel my jewels ever again.

The key to the 5 and 6-pt harnesses is that they need to be tight in the croch. With the 4 points, it better to have a little play in the shoulders and no play in the hips.

[Treibenschnell]

Van Halen was better off without Sammy...

Sammy was better off with Montrose and by himself...

You can't beat "Dick In The Dirt".

[channelmaniac]

You can't beat "Dick In The Dirt".

OH THIS ONE IS TOO EASY...

But I'll keep it PG13...

[Treibenschnell]

I lobbed that one up there wondering if anyone would spike it.

But, yes, it is a good song.

[OUTRACE]

Van Halen....... I remember when he and Van Gough used to paint together after a few tokes..... Then there was that girl and the whole "ear" thing..... I stopped hanging with them....

[channelmaniac]

What are you on and why aren't you sharing?

[OUTRACE]

What are you on and why aren't you sharing?

I've been driving the Miata. I shouldn't have to share, you have your own!