Seat belts/Harness advice needed

Seat belts/Harness advice needed

Author
Discussion

dubber91

Original Poster:

8 posts

116 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
quotequote all
Hi all, New to the forum, not sure where this post should be!

i'm in the process of building a custom frame that is to sit beneath a VW beetle shell. i've mounted the seats and bits and understand the requirement for seat belts, however i have a question regarding the rear-facing mounting points.

I have a cross-bar running across the roll hoop that is at the correct height for the seatbelts exiting from the eyes on the bucket seats. i intended to use either 'wrap around' style harnesses or to use the cross-bar as a roller so the seat belt runs out of the rear of the seat, over the roll bar (changing angles) and being bolted firmly to the floor. The question is, is this legal? I dont see how adding a very firmly welded bar to ensure the seatbelt exits the rear of the seat at the right angle can possible be cause for concern? Any help appreciated guys.

Steve

CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

205 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
quotequote all
Sounds fine. Worth looking at the IVA manual as this will cover the approval requirements.
What they look for is that the belt doesn't bear on anything which is likely to collapse in an accident (so, it mustn't just rest on the seat back), and that it is bolted to something secure, and that the force applied in an accident is not likely to bend or break the mountings. Might want to put some strengthening in the floor where it's bolted to? In the kit car world, it's quite common for the belts to run over a crossbar which lifts it clear of the seat back.

dubber91

Original Poster:

8 posts

116 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
quotequote all
Brilliant news, thanks! Well the chassis is a complete box/tube frame anyway - and i was going to use through-style UNF threaded inserts - A Picture:

http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo311/saxgod91/...

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/wings-wheels-keels/4185...


CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

205 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
quotequote all
Threaded inserts welded to a chassis member is normal, so yeah that sounds fine.
Worth a check on the locostbuilders forum, in the chassis section, there's a lot more detailed knowledge about this sort of thing there.