Bucket Seat and harness, and mounting

All the info you need to race E30's

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1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:18 pm

im looking at getting myself a pair of cobra suzuka seats hopefully through the zone discount, (illl try to get in contact with cobra on monday to see if it is viable)

basically i need to know how to mount them, obviously they are side mounted, can they be mounted straight onto the orginal mounting points of my seats or do i need to also buy the subframes aswell for each side?

harness's,

need to be suitable for on the track and for some drifting aswell, not bothered about practicality.

what does any body recomend? ive been looking at the luke 4 point harness and also sabelt but they seem to be very expensive, im wantign 4 points in both sides of the car, also need to be able to be fitted to a cage aswell in the future,

also whats the best place to mount the harness aswell bareing in mind it wont be on a cage to start with?


and before anybodyu says anything about my car only being a 1.6 i dont really want an opinion,

cheers ian
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agreen
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 6:29 pm

you dont likethe monacos then ?
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 6:34 pm

Suzuka will need side mounts but can get runners from Cobra and can get from different suppliers...as an unofficial trader dont know if I can recommend myself!!
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:00 pm

agreen wrote:you dont likethe monacos then ?
simple question, nope i dont like the fit of them to be honest, and i would rather spend abit more to get something ill be happy with,
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agreen
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:05 pm

do you have a pic f the ones youare gonna get then or a link ?
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:25 pm

http://www.cobraseats.com/suzukas.htm

they just seem to be a much better seat, more supportive aswell but they are also alot more £'s.

another question i have it will i still sit fairly low in the car with the seat fitted? as i like to sit nice and low in the car.
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agent006
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:30 pm

Monaco:
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Suzuka
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No contest really. I tried the Monaco at DT when i was looking and found it to be really poor quality and obviously a cheap design. Went for an OMP RS in the end.
agreen
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:48 pm

so ow much can we expect to pay for these with the zone discount as i am now thinking of not buying monacos and getting these intead !
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:17 pm

well im going to give them a ring tomorrow and see how much they are they retail for roughly 239.00, but i want the kevlar backs on mine which are slighlty dearer.
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:24 pm

Cobra have dealers throughout the UK and not all are listed on the site...let me know if want any dealer details as do have contacts cheers
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:29 pm

we can get them directly through cobra i beleive if not ill go up to my local carnoiseur and have a chat.
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:47 pm

the harnesses will mount to the existing seat belt point at 1 side ,you might need to bolt a mounting point through the floor at the other side.the rears will mount to the rear seat belt mounting points if you have removed your rear seats. im sure it was sabelt 4 pointers that i had in my last project and they were quite cheap at about £40 each.iirc i bolted the 2 rear brackets together in the one mounting point on each seat.the monaco seats are a cheap entry level bucket seat but were adequate for the job although hard and uncomfy but they saved me in the heavy crash that i had winkeye i bought custom fit cobra adjustable mounts that didnt actually fit :cry:
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:57 pm

It will be better when you have a cage to get one with harness bars such as the saftey devices cage,that way the harnesse are at shouder level. If you mount them on the floor you can cause a pretty severe back injury in a crash. I had mine mounted on the rear shelf by drilling holes for the eye bolts and fitting a reinforcement plate underneath.
Agree with the suzuka,I had monacos and they are crap.
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1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:02 pm

i was thinking of mounting my harness up on the rear shelf as ive heard stroys like what you said, and for the little bit of extra money they seem to be alot better.

what harness does anybody recomend then?
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agent006
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:04 pm

I've got Sabelt in mine, were something like £98 for 3 inch shoulder and 2 inch lap belts.
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:06 pm

link? is there a big difference bettween a £50 harness and a £100 harness?
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:11 pm

arent the rear harness straps meant to be mounted between certain limits of angles? not to flat(parcel shelf) or not to steep(directly behind seat) for the best effect? iirc the quick release aircraft style buckle type are illegal for road use.
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agent006
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:13 pm

Think it's these, but not sure as i've had them for a while:
http://motorsport.demon-tweeks.co.uk/pr ... SAB901118E

I guess the cheaper ones aren't FIA approved?
1an
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:15 pm

fuzzy wrote:arent the rear harness straps meant to be mounted between certain limits of angles? not to flat(parcel shelf) or not to steep(directly behind seat) for the best effect? iirc the quick release aircraft style buckle type are illegal for road use.
this is the problem i have mate, as i want to get it right untill i can sort a cage out, masybe halfway up the back of the seat back roughly with a spreader plate on the back? i dunno or maybe down where the original belt mounting points are roughly,

and i read about the aircraft style being illegal.
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fuzzy
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:18 pm

i found the rear seat belt points at the back of the rear seat bench ideal for a 45 degree ish angle on the belts.
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GuyM
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:27 pm

fuzzy wrote: iirc the quick release aircraft style buckle type are illegal for road use.
just had my track car mot'd with 4 point harness and aircraft release and it did not come up as a problem

have a look on here - there is bound to be something on it in here
http://www.motester.co.uk/
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:49 pm

Monacos are not good at all, iv currently got corbeau evolutions and they are great in comparisson.

You can safety mount the harnesses on the rear seatbelt points but idealy off a rollcage.

1an, Buy the best harnesses you can afford, do you really want to skimp on the only safety item stopping your head going through the windscreen.

I'm using sabelt 4 pt and they are great.
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:08 pm

Scroth profi 2 clubman. FIA and msa approved with anti submarine. Can be upgraded to 5\6 point by buying the crutch straps. £85+ vat. GPR.
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Post Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:41 pm

Got the sabelt 4 points (3inch tops / 2 inch lap) spot on.

Using the rear seatbelt mount points puts the angle just about on the limit for scrutineering (mines a 4dr) always passed but did get commented on a few times before I put the cage in.

Depending on the seat base you use theres spare mount points on the sill sides - some interior had a sport seat that needed the wider points - use this for one lap belt and I had the other side put through the tunnel. Didnt do this myself so it may need a reinforcer.

Seat wise if its not an every day car I put corbeau forza sports - fia approved - on bases from corbeau - got them for £175 including slider bases (sliders not fia but ok for sprints / trackdays when you've two different height drivers!).

Also good if your not exactly slim - my problem. :D

Got it all from demon thieves with a 10% discount for buying a pair!
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Post Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:09 am

Cobra SHOULD give you the deal on any seat, as I just PM'd Ian

They offer a specifically designed side mount for the e30, so id you order that aswell you can use the original mounting points

You will not get the seats any cheaper from any 3rd party, as the prices we pay are trade (slightly less on some items) so dont waste time shopping around ;)

The monacos are bloody uncomfy and not the best driving position, the suzuka looks the same as the evolution which is very comfy

Cobra also do some very nice harnesses, but they are not the cheapest, I run with sabelt 6 point harness 3 inch lap and 3 inch shoulder
1an
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Post Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:39 pm

ive spoke to cobra and they are sorting me out,

and another guy is sorting me out with some sidemounts which is very kind of him to offer them to me,
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Post Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:31 pm

1an wrote:
harness's,

need to be suitable for on the track and for some drifting aswell, not bothered about practicality.

what does any body recomend? ive been looking at the luke 4 point harness and also sabelt but they seem to be very expensive, im wantign 4 points in both sides of the car, also need to be able to be fitted to a cage aswell in the future,
Ian
I've actually got a pr of blue Luke GM4's here doing nothing
They have the mounting eyes as well(which normally screw into the origanal seatbelt mounting points)
I also have a set(8) reinforcing points as well if that's any use to you

As Fuzzy said, they are supposed to be fitted at between 25deg and 50deg IIRC(somewhere about there anyways)

Can also advise you on how to make them work if/when you wish to fit them direct to the roll cage(easy mod/10 mins max)

Dave
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:54 pm

ive been looking in a couple of mags today mainly jap mags, as every other car seems to be stripped out and saw a couple of the cars have the harness crossed over before they mount them to the floor is this a better idea? and what is the point in this?
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shorty73
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:31 pm

Theres a maximum length that the harness straps are meant to be before crossing them. I don't cross mine as they are less than 20cm but longer than this I think they must be crossed.
Last edited by shorty73 on Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1an
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:52 pm

well mine will be mounting down at the orginal rear seat belt mounting point. i need to find out some morei nformation really.
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shorty73
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:44 pm

M3Compact
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:10 pm

I always mount my seats on sill/tunnel rails and I reckon it saved me from injury last weekend.





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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:46 pm

ouch!!
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1an
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:47 pm

how the hell did you do that?

anyone else care to shed some light on the crossing of the harness straps?
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shorty73
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Post Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:13 pm

Image

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I can find lot's of pictures but no definitive reason why? I think that it's probably because the harness can spread along the harness bar of a roll cage if it's not crossed but can only get closer together if it is (hence the padding as a spacer). Probably irrelevant if your mounting to the floor. People are probably just copying what they've seen "'cos racers do it" :roll:

When you say you are using the original mounting points, do you mean for the rear seat belts? If you have eye bolts with clips then you can try crosed or un-crossed and see what you pefer. I've got a copy of track and race car at work with an article about harnesses in. Will try and dig it out.
Last edited by shorty73 on Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.