I've got a question for anyone who has a racing harness installed in their thirdgen. Does it inhibit the ability for a passenger to sit in the back seat? I bought an 82 Camaro recently with the seat belts removed. The previous owner was going to install a harness, but never got around to it. I've got two small girls that I'd like to be able to take for car rides, and I don't want to interfere with their seats. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Steve T.

85 Z28 - Stock
82 Camaro - No where close to stock!

 

i dont have them (dont even have the car yet, lol) but from pix and stuff, i would think not....unless your going for like full race in which it might.....but no i think that for like a street harness or a 5 or 6 point regular harness it wouldnt stretch back very far.......just search for some pics of other peoples cars if all else fails

 

i take it back......it may just be i'm not getting good pics, but from all the pics i've just looked at the thing does stretch back a bit....i thought that the two verticle harnesses would pretty much bolt down like at the bottom of the back seat on the floor and the side ones there too...i mean it may be that you can do it either way if your not going for like some sort of racing league requirements....sorry i dont know the answer lol

 

If the racing harness is installed correctly it will interfere with the passenger area, here's why. Every racing organization that I'm aware of states that the shoulder harness cannot be on an angle of more than 15 degrees from a line level with the driver's shoulders. In other words, the shoulder straps should run back from your shoulders to the cross bar on the roll cage. The reason for this is that in a frontal impact your back won't flex and break vertebre. If the shoulder harness runs straight back to the bar, it keeps your back against the seat. If the harness runs down to say the floor, the shoulders pull down and your stomach and chest area "push out"...and you get a helicopter ride!

 

oh really....
hmm...
damn!
is it like safe for road use to have them down at the bottom or what?

 

no.

it is NEVER safe to mount racing harnesses with the shoulder belts on the bottom of the car.

if you're lucky, you will only break your collarbone... if you're unlucky, you break your back.

all from a impact that you would have walked away from with regular seatbelts.


they must be installed correctly. that means, you MUST have a way of mounting them behind the drivers shoulders. its usually done by mounting them on the roll bar crossbar.....

 

damn. oh well i guess i'll break my collarbone...









just playin....i dunno.....if i do get them i will install them properly, but i will also look for an alternatve way of mounting them