Well, both of my seat belts are broken as after what 18 or 19 years they decided to finally give it up and are now totally pulled out and won't retract, kind of dangerous for the street much less racing, no? So I decided it would be a good idea to get something new and better, but I don't have a roll cage yet so I don't know if a 5 point harness would work properly or not with the stock seats.
I was hoping someone could clue me in on whether or not it would be worth the trouble for the street to get a quick release 5 point harness instead of the stocker seat belts that cost $150 per side as per GM and whether or not it would be at all feasable.
Thanks

 

i'm not sure how you could hook that up without a cage. if your car is a daily driver, though, you might get tired of hooking up all the belts every time you get in the car.

 

I'm not sure, but I think you can get 5pt harnesses that go into the floor.

 

YEs, you can bolt them to the floor behind the seats, you might need to add a plate of steal for extra strength.

nick

 

I did what 89BlueTA suggested. It works fine.

 

Will they work with the stock Camaro seats or do I have to go aftermarket? And is it REALLY a hassle to work the quick release and buckle up every time?

 

The problem that I ran into was that most of the harnesses that I looked at weren't long enough to go up-n-over the seat to the rear floor. This is because there is no gap for the headrest on the Camaro seat (at least in my car). So, I ended up buying a harness that has 4 connection points: submarine, left, right and a "Y" for the shoulders that joins to one piece and goes over the top of the seat to the rear floor. The only thing that you have to be sure of is that that long piece will reach all of the way to the floor. I bought my harness at www.racerwholesale.com

I only use the harness for autocross and track time. In all other cases, I use the stock belts.

 

Bolting them to the floor behind the seat won't pass an NHRA tech inspection even if you have a car slow enough that doesn't need a roll bar. You could have an extension made to bolt behind the rear seats (requires removing the seats). The idea is to keep you from moving forward in case of an accident. If they're bolted to the floor behind the seat you'll still bend forward.

Drawbacks of running a 5 point harness (properly) on the street is that you're secured into the seat. Trying to reach over to adjust the stereo becomes difficult since if the belts are on properly you shouldn't be able to lean forward.

If you're not running quicker than 12.00, you don't need to buy a new SFI dated harness. They need to be replaced every 2 years. Racers will sell their old sets cheap. Pick up an expired harness and use it. Mine expires in July. I'll be able to easily sell it for $50 (typical going rate for an expired harness) to a stock car racer. They don't need current SFI dated harnesses.

 

That's a good point... I wonder how a 4 point harness would work in that case? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and buy another set of stock seat belts, I just can't help but feel like I'm wasting money with those things... Then again I guess I could justify buying racing seats and 2 5 point harnesses since my seats need to be recovered anyway...

 

Go to the junkyard and pull some 3rd or 4th gen belts (do they fit?). I've never liked the dual retractor type belts, you can't cinch them up real tight (for autocross this helps a lot). see if any other car's belts would fit, maybe they'd be cheaper.

 

i cant stand single retractor belts, they always tighten up on my gut and i'm always trying to pull it loose so i can breathe.

 

I have looked in all the junkyards in my area already not finding a single third or fourth gen that had operative seat belts. The junkyards around here suck. I did buy out of the classifieds some belts out of a 4th gen but you can barely put it on as it jams every few inches, takes literally 2 minutes to put it on... Guess it's safe in an accident though, but the passenger side doesn't seem to catch at all... I hate wasting money :-/ Oh well I'm still confused, maybe I'll just buy a roll cage for my (what I expect to be) 14 second car, and put altezzas and a big wing on the back so I can make a 4 point harness work

 

I did something that will pass. I ordered a harness from Teamtech, then installed a reinforcing plate in the top of the rear panel behind the seat for the rear eye bolts. The seat folds down to reveal the eye bolts. It did require an invisible modification of the rear seat back: I had to cut slots into the plastic backing. However, the seat upholstery hides the slots. The slots fit over the eye bolts when the seat is in the upward position.

Check out the installation here:
http://www.ws6transam.org/harness.html

 

I say go for it. There was a nice Sparco Pro2000 fiberglass seat, along w/ a TRW Sabelt (Sparco) 5-point harness in the firebird i just bought . It really doesn't take that long to snap into, perhaps 15-20 seconds longer, and is guaranteed to be much safer than a stock shoulder/lap belt. The pro/con (besides safety) is that they attract a bit of attention - while this can be good in impressing the ladies, it also gives the cops somethin to focus on
My only concern... getting into a high speed accident and having my "goods" smushed by the anti-sub belt

 

Hey, I'd rather walk funny a few weeks than be, you know, dead and stuff...
Nice pics by the way! Did you weld the plates on? I'm guessing they're strong enough with just the holes drilled through and held on by the bolts, am I correct in this assumption? What you did was pretty much what I was thinking of doing, mounting where the back seat is normally. I don't know if it would work with Camaro seats properly, but then I sure would like some Recaros anyway, now I have a reason to get them beyond the worn left side of the driver side seat. Thanks a lot for the info guys, now I just have to start looking for which is the "best" harness. Any suggestions?

 

i have 5 point simpson belts in my car without a roll cage. big thing to remember on the street is aftermarket belts aren't DOT approved, lot of legal issues to consider if you're ever in a crash

 

While we're on the subject of crashes and so on IMO you should keep the rear seats folded down all the time so that they support the seat backs of the front seats which are prone to collapsing during rear end collisions. That way you don't go flying head first into the rear compartment in the unhappy event that you get rear ended big time while sitting at a stop light or something.

 

very good point to bring up that i forgot to mention. Since im not an expert on any of this really, would it be at all possible to get a ticket for having a harness instead of a stock belt?? Granted, retailers do state that they are for off-road use, even so I feel much safer in my 5-point and wouldn't hesitate to tell a cop to screw himself if I were to get ticketed for it. And is the reason that they aren't DOT approved is because they are aftermarket and aren't always installed in a controlled manner (i.e. from a factory)....or some other reason??

 

Just tell the cop that they're SFI approved and that has a higher standard than a DOT approval.

 

Here's some ideas guys. I use the Sabelt 4 point now. It's ez to work and comfortable. I have used the Schroth in the past with good results also. Just more expensive but DOT approved if that matters to you.



http://www.subesports.com/products/?...=Harness+Belts

 

Since it seems you have already axed your original seat belts I guess it is too late. I have found that on stuck seat belts if you ****** on it hard and rapidly they will retract after a dozen or two tries. I have repaired around three GM seatbelts that were stuck fully extended as you indicated.

 

Nah, when I took off my headliner the springs were completely gone... No hope of repair, already asked at the dealer, they basically told me "buy new seat belts" and told me somewhere around 150-175 a side not including installation... Plus I think they only come in black now, not positive on that though.

 

Sheesh - Dude, email Dal and get new belts for $46 each. You can install them yourself.

S.

Write to him here.