I want to put 4 point harness's in my 85 iroc because I do some dragracing and track days with it. But I was wondering if it is possible to make one or buy one that would still make the rear seats usable. Can the bar be easily removable but still safe?

 

I can't think of any way to install a harness bar that would be strong enough to do the job, without rendering the rear seat useless, or at least unsafe. If you want to keep the rear seats, then an "easily removable" bar might be a better goal.

Toward that end, I created a fully bolt-in harness bar for my '88, using the stock rear seat belt mounting points: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...rness-bar.html The weaknesses of my design are discussed in the thread.

A better mounting location would be in the area of the rear upper shock mounts. Since your '85 and my '88 don't have back seat shoulder harnesses, you would have to weld something in place. It wouldn't be a true "bolt-on", but you could make it easily removable, to convert between track day use and family hauler duty.

FWIW, I recommend using 5-point harnesses. It's not hard to add a mount for the crotch strap.

 

Would it be possible to use a 3 point harness and mount it where the stock retractor goes in the roof?

 

I'm not familiar with a "three-point harness". Wouldn't that be like a stock seat belt?

 

I am looking at doing something similar with a 3 point harness.

Brad, the 3 point harness uses the same dual shoulder setup as a 4 point, but instead of the shoulders being 2 separate straps they go to one retractable strap that works with an inertia lock.

I don't want the hassle of a cage, or even a harness bar in my car, but I love that harness look. My Camaro has never seen a strip and most likely wont so I'm not overly concerned about it being to those standards. I have been searching for a way to use a 3 point with the original shoulder strap but with no luck yet.

 

unless you are going to put a proper roll bar in with a harness bar at hte right height on it, just stay with the stock belts. you can get aftermarket harnesses that are long enough to use the rear seatbelt mounting points for the shoulder belts, but then you are relying on the stock seat to not cave in under the pressure of the belts and break your collar bones, and the belts stretch a certain percentage of the length of the belt, so a belt that's got an extra 3 feet of length to get to the mounting points might stretch enough to allow your face to become one with the windshield in a frontal collision, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of a "safety" harness.

 

Dabesiv,

OK, I looked them up, and I see what you're saying. But, the factory shoulder harness mount point is not centered behind each seat. It's offset toward the outside. I think the attachment point that supports both shoulder harnesses in that 3-pt setup needs to be in the center, or you risk imparting nasty crash stresses into your neck.

 

I was thinking the same thing, Just hoping for a better idea. I love having a back seat so I won't do a cage, and I think a new inertia lock for a 3 point would take some of that space up too. oh well