Noob harness questions

[dparm]

Disclaimer: this is not M3-specific, but seems fairly vehicle agnostic

Since it's the off-season I am researching and shopping for a harness bar, harnesses, HANS, etc. I've done a lot of research on the various Corvette sites but figured I would ask here too. There's plenty of good discussions about harness mounting, designs, etc.

A few more mundane/practical questions which I never see discussed, however:


1. On the street, what do I do with the harnesses? Do these just get removed at the end of a track day, or do I somehow tuck them out of the way between events? It doesn't seem like there's a very easy way to move them aside or prevent them from flopping around when I'm on the street. I don't want them bashing into the trim pieces or seat backs.

2. At the track, what do I do with the factory belts? Again, is there an easy way to tuck them away or secure them? And what do I do with the factory buckle?


Apologies if these seem like hilarious noob questions, but this will be the first time I've had harnesses in a car and all of the discussion on here seems to center on proper mounting, belt types, etc. Note that this is NOT a Quick Fit Pro type of system like the M3 could use. This is a vehicle-specific harness bar with Schroth belts.

[roastbeef]

i don't have this problem yet, but my first thought is to buy some dummy buckles that aren't attached to a seatbelt to plug into the receptacles so you don't get a constant warning.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by dparm

Disclaimer: this is not M3-specific, but seems fairly vehicle agnostic

Since it's the off-season I am researching and shopping for a harness bar, harnesses, HANS, etc. I've done a lot of research on the various Corvette sites but figured I would ask here too. There's plenty of good discussions about harness mounting, designs, etc.

A few more mundane/practical questions which I never see discussed, however:


1. On the street, what do I do with the harnesses? Do these just get removed at the end of a track day, or do I somehow tuck them out of the way between events? It doesn't seem like there's a very easy way to move them aside or prevent them from flopping around when I'm on the street. I don't want them bashing into the trim pieces or seat backs.

2. At the track, what do I do with the factory belts? Again, is there an easy way to tuck them away or secure them? And what do I do with the factory buckle?


Apologies if these seem like hilarious noob questions, but this will be the first time I've had harnesses in a car and all of the discussion on here seems to center on proper mounting, belt types, etc. Note that this is NOT a Quick Fit Pro type of system like the M3 could use. This is a vehicle-specific harness bar with Schroth belts.

What seats are those? They're gorgeous!

[roastbeef]

look like oem grand sport seats. this is in his vette. he sticks around here for the discussion and cool peeps.

[bigjae1976]

Are you talking about a 6pt harness? If you get snap in lap and anti - sub belts then you can easily unsnap them. The shoulder belts will be harder since they are wrapped.

In a BMW? It's gonna be pretty tough to fit both the 6 pts and stock belts into the car.

Not sure I understand the purpose of not going with the schroth quick fits in a car without a roll bar/cage or trying to daily drive a car with 6 pt harnesses. You can add a sub strap to the quick fit pro's if you really feel like you need a 6 pt.

[M3 Number 86]

Easy.

Shoulder straps just throw them over the seat. Lap belts just fold them over the sides or just sit on them. I'm guessing in street driving you aren't fully sunk into the seat because you aren't clamping yourself down with them.

For oem belts during track use, I just click them on on top of harness because they are t going to do anything.

[M3 Number 86]

Hmm for your application maybe you can take shoulder straps out of the seat pass throughs then slightly roll and ziptie. It's what I did on my passenger side when going with no passenger seat.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Redd

What seats are those? They're gorgeous!

Those are the factory Competition seats in the C7 Corvette.

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Are you talking about a 6pt harness? If you get snap in lap and anti - sub belts then you can easily unsnap them. The shoulder belts will be harder since they are wrapped.

In a BMW? It's gonna be pretty tough to fit both the 6 pts and stock belts into the car.

Not sure I understand the purpose of not going with the schroth quick fits in a car without a roll bar/cage or trying to daily drive a car with 6 pt harnesses. You can add a sub strap to the quick fit pro's if you really feel like you need a 6 pt.

4- or 6-point is possible with my Corvette -- Quick Fit isn't going to happen since there is no rear seat to buckle these into.

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

Easy.

Shoulder straps just throw them over the seat. Lap belts just fold them over the sides or just sit on them. I'm guessing in street driving you aren't fully sunk into the seat because you aren't clamping yourself down with them.

For oem belts during track use, I just click them on on top of harness because they are t going to do anything.

Thanks, this is what I suspected. I just don't want them flopping around and damaging the seat backs, plus the constant rattling will probably drive me nuts.

[ricardofors68]

Ive had harness bar in my C7 and all I did was to throw the shoulder strap towards the back and used snap on lap and anti dive strap

[bigjae1976]

Sorry...thought it was for your M3.

I'll echo what others have said, just get snap in harnesses and pull the shoulder straps through the seat holes and maybe strap them down.

Corvette...TRAITOR!!!

[dparm]

Originally Posted by ricardofors68

Ive had harness bar in my C7 and all I did was to throw the shoulder strap towards the back and used snap on lap and anti dive strap

Sweet, which one did you have? Sharkbar or Brey Krause? I am probably going with the BK.

[Obioban]

The stock C7 seats have no sub strap pass through hole. Running a sub strap frontward/rearward (instead of down) is less safe than no substrap at all.

If you're going to use the stock seats in the C7, you should get a 4 point anti submarining harness like the Schroth Profi 2 ASM. If you later decide to get aftermarket seats, you can add a sub strap to the Profi 2 ASM to make it into a 6 point.

When not on track, the easiest solution is probably to unclip the lap belts (30 second job) and put the shoulder straps behind the seats. When on track, just leave your factory 3 point alone. If the dash light bothers you, get something to insert in the receiver (unless that can be coded off, like on BMWs... don't know if that's possible on the C7).

The stock C7 competition seats are a bit scary unless you're pretty short. The harness pass through holes are a bit scarily low, which will make the belts pull down on you in a crash-- not great for your spine. That's why the Brey Krause bar for the C7 has two should harness mount positions-- one that lines up with the stock competition seats, the other for pretty much any seat on the market. But, that solution is very much making the best out of a bad situation (the bad situation being the C7 competition seats).

Unfortunately the C7 is also a hard car to fit aftermarket seats into, as well! There's just not a ton of space in the cabin-- e.g. a Recaro Profi SPG XL can't fit in the car because it's too tall. As in, having the seat just sitting on the carpet (no mounting system can go lower than the floor of the car) will create a situation where you can't put the roof back on the car, because the seat is sticking out the top. So... choose your seat carefully, if you go that route. Brey Krause recently came out with new seat mounts for the C7, specifically to squeeze every possible mm of headroom out of it.

The shark bar design is pretty scary, imo. Almost certainly would fold up in a significant crash.

All told, hopefully you're short and can just safely use the stock competition seats with an anti submarining 4 point.

Turns out your question was a bit car specific

[dparm]

Yeah, the Comp seats aren't really ideal for harnesses but that's why I like the BK bar -- they have a provision to keep the shoulder belt level or even slightly below the opening which is what you want.

There are some interesting bolt-in cages that offer more choice for belt installation but the price is much higher and it starts becoming impractical for use on the street.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dparm

Sweet, which one did you have? Sharkbar or Brey Krause? I am probably going with the BK.

Given my experience with the BK team on the E92 and E90 I wouldn't even think about it. These guys are serious about safety and a great source of advice!