The Deist harnesses that were in the Camaro were the traditional five-point type with a "Ball Buster" submarine belt. There were several problems with them that needed to be addressed. First, the submarine belt was not attached properly, hence making it more of a liability instead of a safety device. Second, they were awful to adjust, being almost impossible to make some adjustments. Third, they were not set up for a HANS device.
Since the car is both a street and fun track day car it would be nice to have twin restraint systems, a simple three-point inertia-reel retractable for street and a multi-point harness for track. Fitting both at the same time is a bit difficult since there's not a lot of room to put multiple mounting points for harness systems. Like many things having two brains work on something is better than one, and Jon came up with an idea that worked out great.
The first thing to choose was what type of harness is desired. In Jon's C5 he uses an aftermarket kit that mounts a six-point harness mounted in a Formula style where the sub belts wrap around the legs and clip to the same area as the lap belt. The advantage to the Formula mount is that no hole is needed in the seat. If a racing seat was used, where the seat bottom is thinner and better suited for bottom mount, then the mount would have been under the seat. So, a Schroth six-point HANS type harness was ordered. The harness is nice for multiple drivers since not only do they adjust easily, but there is also a handle on the adjusters.
Jon and I are close enough in size to allow sharing of a HANS device. In the C5 the shoulder belt does not seat well into the HANS belt channels. The channels are intended to be used with a 2" wide belt. The Schroth shoulder belts are a hybrid design where the belt on the chest is 3", then reduces to a 2" belt for the HANS. I'm surprised there are not more designs like this because it makes so much sense. I really wanted to buy a harness from one of the OLoA sponsors but they did not offer this design.
Mounting the belts to the floor was where two brains worked better than one. The bracket kit in the C5 is from Brey-Krause. It includes a driver and passenger side bracket kit. Jon did not use the passenger brackets, and to my good fortune they almost fell into the Camaro. Both brackets needed the floor bolt holes opened up by 0.062" to fit the OE shoulder bolt, and the outboard bracket needed just a bit of non-structural relief to allow it to properly rotate. Even the three-point retractable went over the top of these brackets with no fuss. It clears the door and the outboard side and aligns just right to the seat bottom/back hinge point for both. For the transit stages we'll just unclip or lay the harness off to the side and use the retracts. If I was starting a completely new build a different direction would likely be used, but this was an easier than expected modification. Now I have to buy Jon a new set of belt anchors......
Inboard bracket
Outboard bracket
Inside clip between console and seat
We'll have to sit on the sub belt adjusters while on-track but they are not uncomfortable. We're using a piece of carpet anti-slip foam to lay on seat before getting in. This also helps hold us in the seat as well.
One of the rules of One Lap is that one must carry everything in the car or a trailer. The Three Amigos (James, Jimi, and I) are going to do a bit of parts and tools sharing, but there’s still not a lot of room in a 1st-gen. So, out came the rear seat to make more luggage space. The carpet was replaced when the electrical was installed, so to keep costs down we re-used the the aft-half from the old carpet set to cover the exposed floor. Besides the seat belt holes, it fits pretty darn well. A bit of heat to remold and it’s good to go.
Jon and I also devised a way to store the removable harness bar so that the seats can be reclined during the transit stages. By Day 4 Mary will be wanting to swap transit seats.
Jon has used up a bunch of his nine lives, several of them while I was around, so he must use a HANS device to protect his neck. Since I want to stick around too, and the chances of an off-track encounter are higher during One Lap than on typical track days, we are going to share a HANS for this trip. I’ll get one after One Lap, but we both fit in the same size and it will require less space than to back them both.
