How do YOU mount your racing harness
 

I need ideas. I want to use the stock seatbelt mounting points for the lap belt, but I want to keep the stock belt for daily use as well. I may end up fabricating some sort of mounting tab. Also I need to figure out the best way to use a sub belt with the stock seat.

Strangely enough, the stock lap belt mount is a 7/16-20 x 1-1/2" bolt. I don't know why these four bolts on the car would be SAE while the rest of the car is metric.

I just put my passenger side harness in this morning. I wrap at the harness bar and then use the stock lap-belt hardware with several washers removed. I haven't done the nutstraps yet but its going to be a hasp with a bolt through the floor.

Use google if you have questions about wrapping because its too difficult to type out here.

+1 on the wrappinp: check instructions. You dont want to do that wrong.
Mine are mounted using the OEM point too (lap) and the nut straps are on the front mounting points of the seat.

Ive got mine wraped on the harness bar of my roll bar. Side belts are using the stock bolts, and for my nut straps i drilled through the floor board and used a backing plate.

Bryan, you can swing by my place and check it all out if you like.

lol at swinging from your nutstrap.

What do you guys to do clean the nut-strap because mine have a remarkable odor.

Do they happen to smell like 1990miata1.6's chin?

Sounds like you want to keep the stock belts in place and also use a racing harness without having to swap back and forth. I don't know if there are any strong enough but you could look for a 7/16 20 shoulder eye bolt. Something in a high strength forged alloy. That way you could keep the stock belts in place and use snap ring ends on the harness.

http://assets0.saferacer.com/images/P/107H_1_lg.gif

With a stock seat the nut strap is tough. You can't really come up through the seat without cutting holes and lining it. I've seen Corvette guys come up over the front of the seat with the anti sub. Not the safest but better than nothing. Fab a 1/4 x 1 1/2" steel bar that you can bolt to the two bolts holding the front of the seat. You can then wrap the strap around that bar or again, use an eye bolt in the middle of it and snap end the sub.

We buy ours new and shower daily so dont have that issue...

On topic:


I got a harness bar (from OP actually) and am shopping for harness. Some of the one's I've seen (cheap) have mounting plates on the ends of the shoulder straps.

Can I just bolt those into the harness bar?

Should I be looking for ones that just wrap around the bar?

I'm new to the safety equipment, but want to do it right...

lol, mine are still like new. The nut strap only goes on for track events. Otherwise i just sit on it. We also dont have 100+ days everyday here in CA. I also dont DD my miata either so im sure that helps.

Hasps/tabs and wrapping at the bar are equally safe. I tuck my straps behind the seats when not at the track.

Do yourself a favor and get 3" cam-lock versions because its worth it in the long-run. I bought simpson because they have a really nice cam-lock, for the money.

You're going to love them on the track.

Why are cam-locks so much better. Just by looking I almost prefer the latch locks.

Might help to wear underwear when you race in a skirt.


Cam locks are the way to go if you aren't incredibly cheap. Cam takes 5 seconds to latch everything. Not much thought involved. Latch just takes longer and more thinking. Both are safe, cam is just a lot easier and quicker to use. You can get RCI, G-force, Corbeau, etc. camlocks for around $130. About the same price as latch/link sets from higher end companies like Simpson. If you don't care about convenience latch link sets from those same companies are more like $70.


Edit: oh yeah. Dont' bolt to the harness bar. Just wrap it. The cheaper harness sets all can be done with wrap options. Don't know of any brand that only makes bolt it for the shoulders.

+1 on wrapping for the shoulder belts.

+1 on the cam-locks.

+1 on the snap rings.

The Willans harness kit replaces the stock seat belt bolts with eye-bolts. Then I used eye-bolts with washers on top, backing plate at the bottom for the T-subs. Hit it with a touch of undercoating or other sealant for good measure. (Both due to the snap rings...)

Here's how Willans wants you to wrap the harness:

I guess RTFM would be in order. Looks like I need to order up some of these:

https://www.miataturbo.net/gallery/f...2/5/4/b23a.jpg

I'm gonna get rid of my single point sub belt and get a double. IMO the rear seat mounting bolts are the best mounting spot, although it's clearly discouraged by Schroth:
https://www.miataturbo.net/gallery/f...unt_690385.jpg
LOL. Oh well, I suppose it's better than a 4-point.

Thanks Nick, I'll take you up on that when I get my shit together.

Damon, don't get the shoulder straps with mounting plates. With that bar you'll want shoulder belts that wrap the bar.

I had a latch-type harness before I bought my Simpson camlock harnesses. The latch works great, but it takes longer to strap yourself in. The camlock is nice because you can attach the belts one at a time.

with latch-locking you have to put all 4 or 5 harness hasps in, in order, then flip the latch over. With cam lock you just stab stab stab and go. Its also half the size.

I'm also researching harness mounting; the best info is via Schroth:
http://www.schrothracing.com/sdocs/2...structions.pdf
Schroth Racing Harnesses

When mounting a 6 pointer, are you supposed to be sitting on the sub-belts or do they go straight down with two seperate mounting points on the floor? It's hard to tell in the above mentioned PDF.

Chris

You should not be sitting on the belts. They should be routed to a mounting point 20deg rear of your groin.
https://www.miataturbo.net/gallery/f...t_mounting.jpg

Simpsons diagram of 6 pt install.

http://simpsonraceproducts.com/wp-co.../big_up6pt.gif

There are several types of 6pt systems. The ones you sit on that wrap around under your leg and mounts with the lap belts are the Formula style harnesses. They are used in cockpit style formula cars where you have no option to come up through the seat. More common are ones that mount under the seat like the simpson shows. They would come up through the hole in the seat just as a 5 pt would.

Damn, I need to fix my sub belt. It's bolted under the front seat bolts. Maybe that back would be a bit better, but I think even then it'll be above 20*. But I can see that in a hard collision it would just rip through the fiberglass, no bueno.

I was thinking If I ever got another seat for the passenger side, I'd buy a cheap latch-link harness, who cares if it takes the instructor a little longer to buckle up, my job is easy.

To the OP: As always, I have to stress the importance of NOT using a harness when:

1. It's not FIA certified or the certification has expired.

2. Using a harness without a 5th/6th point.

3. Using a harness with a stock seat.

I used to be guilty of those last two, but made a smart move by buying an FIA certified Momo Start.

Curly,

http://assets0.saferacer.com/images/P/109L_1_lg.jpg

One of these eyebolts through the floorpan for a 5 pt. Two of them for a 6pt. $5.99 at saferacer but available from any local racing shop or race gear website. I know you'd hate to add the extra 4 ounces though.

Just over a week to our next track day! Yeehaw...

My belts are expired. They've been in storage for about five years. While I understand expired belts are not allowed in competition, they are allowed for most HPDEs and auto-x's. I don't buy that my barely used, though expired, belts are less safe than my 14 year old stock seatbelts.

Why? '95M seats have headrests

Bryan, you can have old belts recertified.

Really? where?

How about helmets? I have a carbon fiber Bell vortex that is seriously out of cert. Circa 1991.

Thanks for the info, I'll be buying two of those, along with the two 2" latch style ends I'll need to connect the sub belt to. Grrr you're just trying to slow me down with all this hardware....Thankfully I still have a rear bumper to gut and cut, and there's always more wiring to strip out of the harness :winner:


All miata's have headrests. That's not the reason you shouldn't use harnesses with stock seats.

Lets look at the shoulder harness for starters. Instead of going through proper harness holes, they go around the seat, and over your shoulder. When you tighten them down, instead of the force pushing you into the back of your seat, they will slip down the side of the seat, resting finally on your shoulder, pushing you down and compressing your spine. This force is multiplied greatly during an impact and will damage said spine.

Generally the expiration of harness is due to UV damage, if they've been in storage for 5 years, that's a lot better than 5 years of wear and tear from use and sun installed in a race car. And although auto-x and HPDE's will allow the use of expired belts, that doesn't make them safe. They also pass eBay style bars without drilling any test holes for wall thickness, let alone proper mounting methods or looking for proper welds.

It's your body and your car, do whatever you'd like with it, I just had to put that warning out there. If you become injured due to improper use of a harness, I don't want to feel guilty for not saying anything

Bryan -

Use another eye bolt like this:


Instead of a tab like:

...even for the side belts.

You they aren't available from your hardness manufacturer, Saferacer, NAPA, CarQuest and the like will have hardened bolts of an appropriate size.

- L

nice to see the safety police show up.

How are you guys mounting the shoulder belts? I've been shopping for some mounting bars but the only one's I can find are the Beat Rush "C-pillar" bar and the Harddog Bar, I have the Deuce roll bar fwiw. The Beat Rush bar has bolt holes for that but I don't think there's anything stopping you from wrapping it.

Mine are wrapped around the harness bar on my hard dog. Should be some pics in my build thread. You dont want them mounted too far back or down low - do read instructions or have it done.