Harness Mounting

[modifiede30]

Looking for some help with how to interpret the rules regarding how race harnesses are mounted. I had originally built the car to leverage my seat adapters for mounting harnesses. They're VAC motorsport adapters that mount to the stock floor mounting points but are thick aluminum - not the seat bracket itself, but a much more substantial mount to the floor. Reading the rules, it specifies either roll bar mounting, or chassis mounting. Are my adapters considered a component of the chassis, or do I need to relocate them. The submarine mounts are similar, using a mounting bar designed for these that is bolted perpendicular to the adapters - from Planted.

[joncowen]

That's going to be difficult to answer. Do you have photos?
I'm familiar with the floor mounts you mention, I believe. But, I'm not sure how the harnesses would fasten to them.

[modifiede30]

Right now everything has been disassembled as I rebuild the interior for spring.

For mounting, I'm using harness specific hardware bolted into an extra seat mounting location on each side. Each of the floor mounts have a variety of bolt holes pre-drilled for seat position adjustment. I used the 2 most rear holes to mount eye-bolts into for the lap belts. Shoulder belts are looped on my roll bar.

The submarine are similar - there's a steel harness bar that spans the seat mounts under each seat, bolted into the seat mount. I've installed eye bolts for the submarine belts rather than drilling through the floor pan with backing plates. I was actually thinking this was a more robust installation than through the floor with backing plates given the seat mounting adapters are so stout and bolt into the stock seating points.

I'll see if i can find a pic somewhere.

[Mick]

That sounds like it will be ok. Are the lap belt mounts connected to the 17''ish mm seat bracket bolts, the ones that go into the floor?

[modifiede30]

No, the lap belts are connected to the same mounting adapter, but not the bolts that connect the mounts to the floor.

[Mick]

If you can move them to the seat bolts it might be better. Hard to say without seeing what you have.

[boltonite]

Hi Daniel, I have that VAC mount, a nice piece for BMW track cars. Find eyebolts with the same pitch to swap out the seat bolts, otherwise I'd just sandwich a small steel plate w/ two holes: one for the belt clip and the other to secure/sandwich the plate to the rear seat mount bolt. The VAC mounts are milled aluminum and beefy but the OEM bolts are hardened german steel threaded into the unibody. I agree that attaching to the seat mount is superior to drilling into the floor pan (a setup that I've seen fail). Maybe call Tony @ VAC and suggest he include an eyebolt option w/ the seat mounts, seems like a no-brainer.

[modifiede30]

Thanks for the suggestion - will see what I can find for eyebolts that fit the seat mount bolt pitch/size.