[4MLA1FN]

i looking through my manual. on page 1-43, it shows child restraint anchors in the seam where the seat cushion meets the seat back. could these anchors be used for a two points of a 4 or 5pt harness? any thoughts? never owned/installed a harness. thanks.

 

[WRX_Mundi]

lightweight radios?

I mentioned this in a thread at NASIOC and a couple people said that the child anchors should not be used. Some racing regulations will not allow the shoulder belts to be attached to the back shelf at all, no matter what. How one is supposed to mount the shoulder belts without some major work is beyond me.

I'm thinking of a harness bar, a roll bar, or a roll cage (in order of obnoxiousness). Since the car is the "practical 4-door sedan" in the family I suspect the roll cage isn't going to work out very well. A harness bar being something like the Speedware WRX Harness Bar. The upside of the harness bar is that it isn't too obtrusive, is fairly inexpensive, gives a good solid mount for the harnesses, and makes mounting a video camera a piece of cake. The downside is loss of ability to recline seats or move them back very far, and if you have an accident with unbelted passengers in the back seat they're probably going to die in a really messy way as their head hits the solid steel bar. Thsi is a problem with any safety cages.

A roll bar would probably look something like this example from a 911. This would be even more restricting since the vertical cross brace limits the passenger seat movement, and the rear side braces would be tricky for the STi since unlike the 911 it has rear seats to worry about. This would provide a absolutely secure harness point and be much better roll protection, but at a higher cost in both money and convenience.

 

[4MLA1FN]

multi-car remotes?

Some racing regulations will not allow the shoulder belts to be attached to the back shelf at all, no matter what.

but these anchors are not on the back shelf; they down in the seam between the seatback and cushion. down here the female part of the seatbelts attach. i imagine this would be a much stronger mount point. <shrug>

 

[WRX_Mundi]

Oh I see, not the top anchors but the bottom ones. These mounting diagrams do indicate that you can use mounting points in this fashion. They're talking about attaching them to the lap and side belts I believe, rather than to the child restraints (a difference is that the regular belts are made for a 200+ pound person, while child restraints aren't expected to have more than 60 or so pounds).

The biggest issue with this is the angle. Anything more than 45 degrees, such as mounting to the floor, is very bad. I've heard that one really wants them to be about shoulder height, so a harness bar / roll bar is ideal, but the diagrams do indicate the positions you're talking about so they can't be very unsafe. If you're looking for something to hold you in place while autocrossing I don't think you need to worry. Personally, I'd talk to Soloracer and/or a local race shop if you are worried about safety, just to double check that this will work for your application.

 

[4MLA1FN]

The biggest issue with this is the angle....If you're looking for something to hold you in place while autocrossing I don't think you need to worry. Personally, I'd talk to Soloracer and/or a local race shop if you are worried about safety, just to double check that this will work for your application.

*thanks* for the input and the link to soloracer. i'll sent 'em an email.

 

[CloNeGTS]

I was planning on using the mounting locations for the rear seat, as shown in those diagrams. It's about a 45 degree angle back there and I can tell you from experience they allow this style of mounting in at least Solo events at SCCA. Most people I know running harnesses in a street car use that style of mounting and the only downside to it is not having seatbelts for one passenger in the back....so of course no one can sit there.

 

[4MLA1FN]

clone, are you planning a 3 or 4pt harness?

 

[CloNeGTS]

I'll probably just go with a Schroth 3 point....but then we'll see when that money finds it's way into my pocket. I have a really hard time spending that much on something that I'll use so little....and it doesn't make you faster!

 

[Xman]

But the harnesses will make you faster because you don't have to hang on and worry about sliding in the seat. I have a drivers harness in my WRX and ordered a complete set for the STi. Makes driving much easier and faster as a result.

 

[Guest]

But the harnesses will make you faster because you don't have to hang on and worry about sliding in the seat. I have a drivers harness in my WRX and ordered a complete set for the STi. Makes driving much easier and faster as a result.

Agreed, it is not easy to burn up the twisties when you are sliding in your seat.

Can you post pics of the WRX harness installed? How much trouble was it? Thanks ahead of time.

 

[CloNeGTS]

Oh I understand the sliding thing. As the owner of an autox car with leather seats (that I didn't want), I understand the sliding thing.

Regardless......more power on the street where you feel it every day, or a slightly less bruised knee those few weekends a month?

 

[WRX_Mundi]

Scratched after 8 days.

I spoke to Speedware Motorsports about their harness bar -- they stated it is fairly easy to install. Since I'll be in their vicinity late July, if everything goes as planned I'll get it installed in my new STi, perhaps with a new seat. According to them, once it is installed, you can take out the center bar quite easily, and the support struts then fold down next to the seats, making it very practical.

Every time I go on an autocross weekend (Friday test'n'tune being 20-50 runs, Sat & Sun 6-8 runs each day) I end up with bruises on both legs from bracing myself. Since my car isn't a G monster, I suspect it would be far worse with the STi (which is probably a lot more spacious inside than the Miata anyway, making bracing even more problematic).

 

[Guest]

I spoke to Speedware Motorsports about their harness bar...

Will you post pics after it is installed?

 

[WRX_Mundi]

front lip

Will you post pics after it is installed?

Sure -- I'm hoping to take pictures of before, during, and after, since I'll have my camera there. Maybe I could get someone at the autocross school to get a few of the car as well, though I have a suspicion I'll be way too busy learning to spend time with photos. I'm having second thoughts about replacement seats -- I'm going to have to wait and see how the stock seats fit my 36" waist as well as what the choices are for replacements. The harness bar is a definate go. I'm also going to talk to them about a fixed roll bar -- we'll see what we come up with.

This is all dependent on my dealer delivering an STi to me by mid-July and not pulling any pricing tricks at the last minute. If not, then I'll still do the harness bar but it will be later.

 

[Fastrnu]

If anybody's really interested, I talked with Speedware last fall about doing a group buy on their Harness bars. The contact I have told me that for 10 or more, I could get 20% off the reguar price on the bars either with or without the fire extinguisher mount. The group buy I posted didn't get many views, so I guess people weren't that interested...
I'd still love to have one, so if we can round up enough people, we could all save some cash...

Let me know!

Andy

 

[Guest]

Cool Faceplate for Nokia 3390/3395!

If anybody's really interested, I talked with Speedware last fall about doing a group buy on their Harness bars. The contact I have told me that for 10 or more, I could get 20% off the reguar price on the bars either with or without the fire extinguisher mount. The group buy I posted didn't get many views, so I guess people weren't that interested...
I'd still love to have one, so if we can round up enough people, we could all save some cash...

Let me know!

Andy

I'll bet people would check out the harness link. Interest for this sort of gear seems to be growing, albeit slowly. Remember, alot of us still don't have our cars yet.

Why don't you post the link and check back every once and a while to see if there is more interest.

 

[CloNeGTS]

Would it maybe be possible for them to allow the group buy to span all of their products? If you get together 10 total orders for any of their products?

Might make it easier. I think such an item for any specific car will have pretty little interest.