The V8 Owners Forum -

I'm guessing this is the right section!

Does anyone on here use harness style seatbelts? If so can you reccomend any particular brand?

yeah I got some Sebelts I think, they're ok but nowt special, although they do keep you in the bucket seat pretty well!. Been in a few cars with them. The Luke harnesses are good, but more expensive.

I had a Britax/Sabelt 4web, 3 point harness in the Cortina, total PITA being a a factory style car, half the switchgear was out of reach and I had to undo the harness to turn the linelock and wipers on, Have a look on the Demon Theives site I and sure there is a 3 point 4 strap inertia belt. seems like a good sloution for every day driving.

I would be carefull to buy the right ones, road use not race ones (some sell race ones on Ebay as road ones) the buckles are different, the race ones are quick release, the road ones are the same as normal seat belt buckles. If you get stopped by an officer of the law, he/she can do you for not wearing a seatbelt!
Actually not so funny and it really brings out the pedant in the little darlings.
Mike

Ah i suspected their may be a racing standard and road standard so i best be careful not to confuse the two so its nice to have that confirmed.

I can reach all my switchgear and so on without having to lean forward so i'm hoping to use the fixed position ones rather than the inertia reel type as they're alot of wonga! Would you rate the one you had Ian as good quality though?

How can it be true that race harnesses are not road legal when all rally cars have them and they have to have an MOT?

Pass but that is the case. I'm sure a modern rally car wouldn't pass an emissions or noise test plus the tyres probably aren't road legal so i think its more of a special "mot"/scrutineering they have to pass if any.

cavebloke wrote:How can it be true that race harnesses are not road legal when all rally cars have them and they have to have an MOT?

Road legal belts have to be subjected to rigirous DOT and SUV tests, and for that reason they are certificated for road use, where as Race beltsmay well exceed the safety requirements of a road legal belt they do not have the relevent certs to make them legal and should not really be used on the street, and most race belts have a limited life, before they have to be inspected and recertificated, some of the more expensive belt will probably have had the relevent tests carried out so they are road legal, and another possible thing is the MOT station concerned will not be aware that some of the belts are NOT road legal and only inspect them for damage and fixings.
Gav, the fact I do not use the belts any more may give you a clue to what I think about them for general road use, For me, to get them comfortable I had to have lose, which by doing this negates the advantage of the non inertia system, as if you have a accident your body accellerates before it comes into contact with the belts with undesirable results.

Ian

Do you still have them Ian?

ihatesissycars wrote:Do you still have them Ian?

yep---------------------------------------in the boys Escort.

Nuts!

re: rally cars, when I used to do them you put the lap and diagonal over the four/6 point belts for road sections and just used the race belts on the off road sections. The buckle on a race belt has to be button punch type quick release that releases all straps from the center point in one hit, so a marshal can get you out double quick if you have a prang. This is not allowed for a road type, the road ones are only allowed to be the standard push button buckle, check out the SVA manual its all in there (and very handy if you can't get off to sleep!)
Mike

I've got Willans harnesses which I rate very highly but they are atotal pain in the butt if your passenger keeps changing 'cos it takes a good few minutes to get them set up.

I've got some American aircraft/racing lapstraps you can have for free. Very cool

.... but your face is likely to hit the screen in a shunt

Pretty well covered for SVA if they are E marked - that is all the testers looked for

What ever you choose to do make sure you can adjust the belts without needing to remove seats etc, So many of the SABelts etc have the adjusters very near the mount bolts and in a car like the Gt40 that puts the adjusters at the side of the seat - out of reach to losten but you can pull on the loose end to tighten. (But then a Capri has a LOT more space inside)

Luke have suposedly got setsof 5 or 6 points out now with adhusters where they can be adjusted for about £250 for the set- said to be both E marked for SVA ec and also has all the FIA marks

Ian

I got a set of Schroth harnesses for my V8 Capri in the summer there.. They are designed for road cars and have the correct release buckle..
They are also fitted with a rear retractor/roller which is designed to be bolted into the rear seat belt upper mount (on a capri- at the parcelshelf support)
Which means you can fit the usual waist belts for comfort & that under normal use the shoulder straps 'stretch out' like normal seat belts.. The beauty
being that if ya stop quick (or hit something) you are retained in position safely by BOTH shoulders, and no chance of twisting out.
Mine are the asm autocontrol III style with 3" shoulder straps, but they are available with 2" straps - autocontrol II.. They come with full TuV approval,
and a neat wee booklet telling you how to fit them properly into 100s of different cars ...
. see the set at ---> www.schrothshop.de/index.php?cPath=1_9
be aware that they are sided !! so pick left or right side as required.