Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitespeed
I'm 6'7" tall and since I have the seat maxed out as far back as it will go, I can't take advantage of the locking OEM belt. Even if the Recaro seats were certified safe to use with Schroth QuickFit Pro, I couldn't use those either. My shoulders are above the top of the seat back, and the belts would be pulling down on my collar bone, which is a no go. So, I ended up installing the Schroth Rallye 3's. I would not recommend this for everyone though. I have 20+ years of fabrication experience and I wouldn't describe these as 'bolt-in'. I've seen how some other people have installed them and it's pretty scary.
The original trans tunnel side seat belt bolt is too short to use with the Schroth belt, but I've seen it still get used! You can use one of the bolts that comes with the Schroth belt, but it's too long as is. It will interfere with the ability of the seat to go up and down. So, a few threads will need to be cut off. The length of the OEM bolt on the door side is fine. I put a couple of bends in each of the Schroth seat belt brackets so that the OEM belts and the Schroth belts would not be rubbing on each other.
The shoulder straps have to go between the headrest posts. I've seen them placed around the outside of the posts. This is wrong! However, if you're tall like me and your shoulders are above the top of the seat backs, the Recaro headrest becomes a problem. It has that lip or chin which blocks most of the opening in the between the top of the seat and the bottom of the head rest. I swapped in non-Recaro headrests. They are a direct swap.
The rear shoulder harness mounting was the trickiest part to figure out. Most people appear to just bolt the seat belt anchor in place as is an then loop the belt back out through the plastic trim. But this leave a lot of slack to take up in the event of an accident. The only way I found to make it work reasonably well was to put a bend as close the the belt loop hole of the bracket, but it has to be at an angle as well. It's hard to explain.
I'm confident in what I've done, and I really like how well they hold me in the seat. It's a bit of a pain having them in the car all the time. However, I've found that for day to day driving, I can leave them buckled up against the seat back and sit against them. With belt pads installed on the shoulder straps, I surprisingly hardly notice that the harness is there. This way, I can simply use the OEM belt for day to day.
Again, this is not for everyone, and I am not making a recommendation. Just sharing what I've done.
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Great post, by somebody who has taken the time to analyze the situation. I would add, that there are plenty of things to consider when completely replacing OEM belts and *especially* when disabling OEM airbags. Some things i have read about are: length of harness, angle between rear anchor and shoulders, position of straps relative to shoulders and neck (it is no coincidence race seats have cut outs and not all race seats will fit all ppl), etc. This is a complex subject imo.
Anyhow, I'd say a safe and generally widely allowed add-on is a static waist belt worn in addition to OEM belts. As soon as OEM belts are not in use, we must fully understand that WE are now taking full responsibility for us (and any passengers!). The reason i mention this is that i have seen some incredibly unsafe set ups even in semi pro cars. When questioned, folks often shrug their shoulders and answer: my shop/cage builder/etc did it this way. Well, it won't be them flying thru the windshield...
The most prevalent by far, is incorrectly secured harness belts at anchor points, specifically at the buckles. There is a complete parallel between race car harness buckle and a climbing harness buckle, as the same principle applies: if a belt harness is not properly double backed, or re-woven thru a buckle, it will simply pull out and the harness will fly open under a load. Ive attached a few pix to demonstrate this vital point. First is of a high end autox car with safety inspection stickers galore: the driver side is fine, the passenger harness is an ornament only and will provide virtually zero protection in a crash. Think pushing your car on a track with zero belts on...The other 2 are of a climbing harness to demonstrate how to properly double back a harness.
Fyi, anytime i get into any car with harnesses, either to drive it, or ride shot gun, this is something i ALWAYS check for. And frankly i don't care whether it belongs to a novice amateur, or IMSA pro with a Rolex on. Bottom line, even in pro cars harnesses sometimes get taken off to gain access and sometimes folks forget to re install them properly. Cheers!