Bucket seat and harness?

[willg54]

Has anybody fitted a bucket seat and harness to their coupe?

One thing that annoys me about the car is the pretty rubbish driving position and you cant beat the hold of a bucket!

Has anybody installed a bucket and harness? Ideally without modifying the car beyond being able to convert back? if so...how?

was thinking maybe the rear seat belt points would be useful to bolt in a harness...

[Rusty]

I've got Recaro speeds in mine, they're very good for all round use. Newsh was selling one harness wise, unless it's for track use, don't bother and even then, it's not essential. In terms of fitting, rear seatbelt mounts are ok but are a tad low. You'll need to get eyelets welded or drilled in to the floor with reinforcing plates for the lap belt.

[Biturbo]

I had on my car reclining bucket corbeau seats and harness you can come and have a lock.No any modification done for car.For seats I did subframe to fit in original runners and 3 point harness bold in original seat belt places.

[willg54]

I had on my car reclining bucket corbeau seats and harness you can come and have a lock.No any modification done for car.For seats I did subframe to fit in original runners and 3 point harness bold in original seat belt places.

i might come and take a look if you dont mind. need to bring your parts back too!

[Biturbo]

i might come and take a look if you dont mind. need to bring your parts back too!

no problem just let me know before coming

[Ian Simmonds]

There's several points to note with fitting harnesses and fixed frame or 'bucket' seats, and there are several requirements, for good reason, in the MSA blue book of regulations.

The primary concerns are with the lateral load on the seat frame, so the angle of the mountings must be as close to horizontal to the shoulder height as possible, and sufficiently secured with stress plates. Then the issue moves to a 'roll over' situation, where roof deformity occurs. With a multi-point harness properly fitted, the seat and belt will hold the body in place, whilst the roof deforms onto it... So the MSA requirement is for an appropriate, approved cage. It's a can of worms is fitting a set of harnesses.

[Biturbo]

There's several points to note with fitting harnesses and fixed frame or 'bucket' seats, and there are several requirements, for good reason, in the MSA blue book of regulations.

The primary concerns are with the lateral load on the seat frame, so the angle of the mountings must be as close to horizontal to the shoulder height as possible, and sufficiently secured with stress plates. Then the issue moves to a 'roll over' situation, where roof deformity occurs. With a multi-point harness properly fitted, the seat and belt will hold the body in place, whilst the roof deforms onto it... So the MSA requirement is for an appropriate, approved cage. It's a can of worms is fitting a set of harnesses.

yes this is true,you can die quicker if you have bucket seats with harness and car don't have roll cage in crash car roll over.But you can safe you face if you have straight crash and in your car is no airbags.I think best solution for every day car is bucket seats with original seat belts

[quattro84]

Make sure you don't angle the seat belt straps downwards with a big angle, that'll trap you once you roll the car and want to get out whilst lying on the roof...

http://simpsonraceproducts.com/pdf/S...t_Mounting.pdf

Edit: Found a better PDF with Do's & Don'ts http://www.schrothracing.com/sdocs/2...structions.pdf

[Cymru1]

Another point which may may be of intersest... (If this is for road use only?)

Mate of mine had a fully rally prepared mkii escort and he was forever getting stopped
by the boys in blue. It looked to them as he did not have a seatbelt.

Although he was fully legal they seemed annoyed at their "error" so
usually spent another annoying 20min checking everything else (tyres, full docs, etc).

[Ian Simmonds]

Another point which may may be of intersest... (If this is for road use only?)

Mate of mine had a fully rally prepared mkii escort and he was forever getting stopped
by the boys in blue. It looked to them as he did not have a seatbelt.

Although he was fully legal they seemed annoyed at their "error" so
usually spent another annoying 20min checking everything else (tyres, full docs, etc).

That'll be the Escort bit, not the harnesses....

[Error404]

The stock seats are *****, a set of urs4 seats are a big improvement, OEM Recaros are in another league of comfort and support, bonus is they are a straight fit and look the nuts. Recaro speeds are uber comfortable too, although not if you are a larger gentleman. Subframes are the only issue to overcome if you do anything other than OEM really.
Proper buckets are not very comfortable so if you mostly drive on the road its a compromise too far IMHO.

[Biturbo]

Buckets seats much better then original

[andy10v]

Another vouch for Recaro Speeds, great for "normal" use, offer a lot more support than the stock seats, very comfy, even on long runs and not a pain to get in and out of, also flip forward so rear seat use is retained.

Easy/cheap to fit as well, take an oe seat base, remove the height adjustment, box section accross the back, flat bar across the front yields a decent position and angle, still retain for and aft adjustment. (my first attempt resulted in a ridiculous amount of upwards rake, deffo would not slip forward but it was a bit daft) This also still allows you to use stock seat belts.

I got mine on ebay from an evo for much cheapness, just a horrible colour centre, but that can be changed, plain black ones are avaliable as well. They look pretty at home in the coupe.

I upgraded to urs4 seats first, good improvement in comfort and support, can be fitted by swapping the bases, the recaros offer more support though.

I thought about harness but left them due to belt angle, I beleive I read somewhere that some reinforced seats can use a low belt angle, but not really recommended.

The Schroth link has some good info with diagrams, no more than 20* from horizontal IIRC.

It makes a big difference when you dont have to jam your knees against the tunnel and door, you can have a more relaxed hold on the steering wheel as well.

[Rusty]

Another option are Recaros from a Mitsy evo 8/9, they're looser than the speeds but arena really nice seat with better materials too. Earlier evo seats aren't as classy but are cheaper...

[afterburner]

Guys, seats how wide have you fitted? And how low, because I measured some OMP TRS XL seats mounted on factory seat rails from a normal height adjustable seat and the seat is just too wide to fit... Anyone mounted a proper bucket seat on the adjustable sliders without problems? What seat was that? Thanks!