Harness fixing points E36...

[nutcase]

Posted this in BMW, but thought might get a quicker response here.

Yep, the cage is in and ready for Castle Combe this Friday, BUT- where the hell does the LHS lapbelt (i.e. next to the centre consol) for the driver's harness fix into the car? There are no holes drilled (obviously), so do I need to drill one and tap a thread into it?

I've got some 4 point Sparco harnesses with the lap belts which clip into eyelets which are threaded (but do not fit into the existing holes for the standard seatbelts).

Confused...

Any advise appreciated.

Cheers,

James

[fergus]

James

If you have bucket seats fitted, you may want to put the eyebolt into the lower part of the seat side mounts. If you put it into the side, the bolt would be in shear and could snap off. The other solution to this is to drill a hole in the floor, then put a decent, i.e.10x10cms metal plate under the car, then a good washer then the bolt. This will ensure the load is spread.

A classic you see with the mounting points for the shoulder straps is either with the eyebolt poking up vertically through the parcel shelf, or with them mounted where the bench seat goes. The first method will result in either the bolt being ripped out (again, it's been mounted in shear, not in tension), or the parcel shelf being ripped out (some of them are onyl spot welded in), or if you decide to mount the straps to area where the rear bench seat would have been, this means you could have back probelsm after you've crashed, as the forces are trying to collaps the back of the seat.

The best place for these is on a harness bar (ideally welded to the cage) at shoulder height, as close to the back of the seat as is possible.

There's no point in having harnesses if they're not correctly mounted. There are so many abortions on this theme at trackdays.....

[nutcase]

Thanks Fergus, the shoulder straps are fine- as they wrap around the cage. It's the lap ones which are causing a headache.

I'm going to try and find some steel eyebolts which use the standard seatbelt holes today.

James

[anonymous-user]

fergus said:

There's no point in having harnesses if they're not correctly mounted. There are so many abortions on this theme at trackdays.....

second that. stick with normal seatbelts unless you have cage to properly attach shoulder belts to, eyelets through plate on floor for lap belts and a proper bucket seat. the forces involved in a crash are far greater than most imagine. unless its done properly its really far worse than normal seatbelts. but it does look good...