barneybrown01
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| posted on 27/7/05 at 08:00 AM |
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Fitting harnesses
I'm currently looking to replace standard seat belts for harnesses and have a couple of questions :
I assume these need to be drilled through the chassis rail behind the seats? Does this significantly weaken the chassis rail?
For future MOTs (not SVA - car been on the road for years), is there any restriction on how high these need to be, and how wide apart? I have seen
something called a stress plate which seems to be an optional extra for fitting harnesses - are these worth using?
Thanks, Barney
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 27/7/05 at 08:23 AM |
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For safety's sake it's probably worth trying to meet the SVA regs, even if you'll never have to go through the test. Their
requirements are a lot like the manufacturer's own fitting instructions! Do a Google on 'Sabelt' and 'Willans' and
you'll find all sorts of fitting guides.
My top fittings are welder into the rollbar cross-member, but I know that some people have welded extra brackets to the chassis rail to take the
fittings (and to raise them a bit) - I'll leave the description to them... 
cheers,
David
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Locost?
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| posted on 27/7/05 at 09:56 AM |
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The link below takes you to picture of how I have done it. It is very similar to the 'book' (2nd edition) suggestion. Basically drilled
the top cross member and added another bracket to the lower crossmamber. The hollow round bar has been made high enough so the top of the anchor
points clear the sva height for seat plus the reference block (details of which are in sva manual). The solid bar is a tight fit to the hollow bar and
goes into the hollow bar as far as possible leaving enough room for the top anchor bolt to be screwed into the tube. The hollow bar was drilled at two
points and plug welded (with mig) to solid bar, as was the captive nut at the top. The captive nut was also tig welded to the hollow bar at the top
(leave bolt it nut when welding so threads arn't damaged with welding spatter etc., also use old/dispensable bolt as heat may alter composition
of bolt as bolts are high tensile steel). A piece of 6mm steel was welded to the top of the top chassis rail to add strength. The solid bar was then
welded to the hollow bar at the bottom of the hollow bar before the whole assembly was welded to the chassis. All points of contact between the anchor
assembly was then welded to the chassis (including the points underneath the chassis rails, its easier if you invert the chassis at this point). In my
opinion this assembly although not light is plenty strong enough for the anchor point. The bottom anchor points are as per book.
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/photos.php?action=showphoto&photo=top%20anchor.JPG
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James
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| posted on 27/7/05 at 10:46 AM |
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I fitted a horizontal crossmember between the verticals of my rollbar.
Then drilled 4x19mm holes through the tube and welded in 4 sleeves. The seatbelt bolts will then go through here.
HTH,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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