Harness without roll/harness bar?

[Ranger]

How can I put a harness in my '99 Coupe without a harness bar? The stock seat belt has me kind of "hanging on" to the steering wheel at DE's. Have no intent to race. Can't use a harness bar because I take the car to work often and that means 3 future porsche owners get picked up from day care. Putting a steel bar in front of their heads would be problematic. They'd love it , but I'd be sleeping on the couch until I removed it. Installing/removing a harness bar for DE's sounds like a pain.

It goes without saying that a harness means sports seats.

A Rennlister suggested an Autocross oriented strap that wraps around the upper body, so I've got one of those inbound. But that's just a work-around. The ultimate solution would be a real harness.

So what options remain? Maybe there's a way to anchor the shoulder straps back to the firewall? Maybe I could go ahead and anchor the straps to the floor and hope the DE Tech is in a good mood? Your thoughts?

-Scott (newbie)

Edited March 21, 2007 by RangerGress

[dustinbriq]

have you taken a look at the cg-lock? (www.cg-lock.com) I'm interested in any feed back on this device, as well.

[Ranger]

have you taken a look at the cg-lock? (www.cg-lock.com) I'm interested in any feed back on this device, as well.

Have the CG-Lock. It holds my butt in place, but doesn't do anything for holding on to the rest of me. My feedback would be to get it. It's a heck of a lot better then nothing.

[KevinC]

You might consider getting a real race seat (Sparco Evo, GT3 seat, etc.) and staying with the stock belts. I find that the race seat does much more to keep me planted than the harnesses. I personally think that once you install harnesses, you should really take the next step and get a HANS device as well.

[Izzy]

Kevin,

How easy or hard was it to remove the regular seats and place the racing seat in the car? I was wondering if it was something that could be done before the track day or is it hours of work to do. Thank you

Izzy

[KevinC]

Kevin,

How easy or hard was it to remove the regular seats and place the racing seat in the car? I was wondering if it was something that could be done before the track day or is it hours of work to do. Thank you

Izzy

Depending on how you you install the race seat, swapping can be a simple 4-bolt operation which can be done in about 15 minutes. To do this, you can't share the sliders between the race seat and the stock seat. You need another set of sliders for the race seat. I mounted my EVO-2 with BK side mounts, Sparco sliders and BK floor pan adapters. I also bought a 2nd seat belt buckle. To swap in the race seat, I just remove the 4 seat bolts, unplug the wiring harness under the seat, remove the stock seat, bolt in the race seat and plug the cable from the race seat's buckle into the car's wiring harness. This must all be done with the key *out* of the ignition to avoid the dreaded airbag light on the dash.

[geoffbaltz]

PCA is banning harnesses without race seats in DE starting Jan 1 2008

Here is a copy of the letter:

February 5, 2007

Dear PCA National Staff and Region Presidents,

The purpose of this email is to inform you of a change in the Driver’s Education National Standards regarding the use of safety harnesses which will become effective on Jan.1, 2008. The current “Equal Restraint” Standard states that both the student and instructor shall have the same restraint system.

The problem with this Standard is that it does not define the complete system, in terms of the type of seat to be used with a 5 or 6 point harness. The new “Harness” Standard (See below) is written to compliment the “Equal Restraint” Standard and will go into effect January 1, 2008, but a region may adopt the standard earlier.

The new standard states that if a harness system is installed, it must be used in conjunction with a seat with manufacturer supplied routing holes for the shoulder and anti-submarine belts. These routing holes insure that the belts will remain in place when needed. A one piece seat is recommended but not required for it may interfere with the operation of the OEM three piece belt required for street application.

Thank you for your help in implementing this new standard.

[WeekendWonder]

I want everything! Have it as a daily street car - and go to the track without ice skating around the seat.

In hope of achiving this, definitely getting racing seats but being budget-minded in case the whole thing doesn't work out.

These are the seats currently being pondered over:

Corbeau racing seats

If anyone has these seats or a view on them I'd appreciate your comments. They recline and fold forwards allowing access to the rear seats.

I hope the seat resolves most of the movement but a harness would be even better.

So how about if you have sports seats but no harness/roll bar? Is there a harness on the market that can anchor elswhere on a 99 C2 Cab??

Can the seat itself be used or is that too much force for the 4 bolts holding it down?

Edited October 29, 2007 by WeekendWonder

[vette67]

I want everything! Have it as a daily street car - and go to the track without ice skating around the seat.

In hope of achiving this, definitely getting racing seats but being budget-minded in case the whole thing doesn't work out.

These are the seats currently being pondered over:

Corbeau racing seats

If anyone has these seats or a view on them I'd appreciate your comments. They recline and fold forwards allowing access to the rear seats.

I hope the seat resolves most of the movement but a harness would be even better.

So how about if you have sports seats but no harness/roll bar? Is there a harness on the market that can anchor elswhere on a 99 C2 Cab??

Can the seat itself be used or is that too much force for the 4 bolts holding it down?

In a crash you can crush your spine if your shoulder harnesses are anchored too low behind your seat. There is a measurement standard but I dont know what it is off the top of my head. Its on the net if you look. Thats why you really need a harness bar.

That being said, there are still websites out there that will sell you a 4 point harness that you have to drill and anchor to the floorboard behind your seat. They're not going to let you participate in a DE with them though. I havent seen any 5 or 6 point harness like that.

Edited February 17, 2008 by vette67