I've been reading a few roll cage threads, and I also would like to have a 4 or 5 point harness. However I would still like to have somewhat easy access to the rear seats because it will be my daily driver and I sometimes am forced to take more than one passenger.

Here are some of the reasons I thought of this:

1. I infer that this is safer than mounting the harness to the floor, since in case of a wreck the harness will not compress my spine.
2. I dont think it would look too dumb by using the top since there isnt much lenght from the top of the car to the seat (maybe 4 to 6 inches will be visible)
3. The belts would go through the "holes" in the seats, so your shoulders will still be in place as if there were a bar across the cage.
4. By doing this I keep the ability to recline my seats and have access to the rear seats (even though the space back there is minimal I still would like to have that luxury)

Below are a couple sketches that I made regarding my idea of using the top of the roll cage as mounting points for the harness...
Here's my question; Would this be remotely safe or am I completely out of my mind for even thinking about this?

Roll cage and harness


Side view of seat and harness


This is obviously still in its planning stages so I'd like to use some of you guys' knowledge to either improve the design or scrap it..keep in mind Im an inexperienced 16 yr old so please dont flame my idea

Thanks,
Fernando

 

You're not going to be able to recline the seat with that setup.

Do you need a cage and harness?

 

I should be able to recline it because of the absence of the horizontal bar that goes across the cage..right?

yea I dont need a cage with my 305 but Im going the LS1 route and I want to have a stronger chassis(more than what you can get from SFC's) along with protection when Im auto-xing
(maybe I posted this thread too soon, since Im not going to be able to actually do this for quite a while(next summer) but I just really like planning mods to the maro )...

 

Won't pass a tech inspection as per NHRA/IHRA installation specifications.

You can do whatever you want on the street.

 

Ahh I see...thanks for the info..
would this be safe though?

 

No, the upper straps are going to keep you from reclining the seat.
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It won't be unsafe, just kind of pointless.

 

Ohh..dang it
I guess horizontal bar across is kinda the only way to have a harness then

but wait..if the belts are adjustable wouldnt that allow you to make some slack therefore freeing the seat when you want to recline it?...

 

Having slack in the belt totally defeats the purpose of having the harness in the first place.

 

lol yea I know that..I meant that when parked and without the harness being engaged I could then recline the seat..I dont want to drive with the seats reclined..I just want to be able to recline the seats(something you cant do with the horizontal bar..I think)

 

Mounting the belts that way will keep you back (somewhat) but not down.

Might as well just not pass the through the seat & drop them forward over the seat. Doing it that way, not only will they be of little use, but you'd fit right in, in an import r i c e r crowd.

You could always make the standard shoulder harness bar removable, like the swing-out door bars. Very doubtful it would pass a track inspection, but it would still work better than coming from way up top, on the main hoop.