I would like to get a rear strut brace to attach my harnesses to. I was looking at the FK one that bolts to the strut towers. Will it be a safe point to mount harnesses on to? Cheers, Dave
I wouldn't reccomend it. If you don't have a roll cage with a horizontal bar, best place is to use the rear two seat belt fixings located under the seat squab. Just look at the size of the bolts fixing the strut brace compared to the ones for the seat belt mountings...I know which ones I'd prefer to be held by in a crash!!
Agreed. Anyone that does this is more interested in looks/unaware of the consequences. It's not a seat belt anymore.
no. you want to get a rear strut brace to brace your rear strut towers. you want to attach your harnesses to the proper seatbelt mounting points. incorrectly fitted belts may fail your MOT too. Edited by: darnold4
Good good. Thanks for the info guys. Didn't think it was particularly wise, just wanted to check. I'll be attaching to the rear seat belt mounting points when my new 4 points arrive tomorrow.
what about if the rear strut brace is the type that bolts its self between the car if you get what i meen ?
Still wouldn't do it. Think about the force if you hit something head on, multiples of your body weight will tug extremely hard on the bar. The bar is designed to give strength side to side not front to back. Chances are, it will follow you through the windscreen!
rgracin is asking a very valid question... If you look carefully you'll find the bit your normal seat belt clicks into is actually attached to the seat and not the bodywork so that it moves with the runners... So if you remove the seat, there's no where to bolt the tunnel side mount of a 4 point harness. You have to buy and weld onto the tunnel one of these;
I am going to bolt that side of the lap belt onto where the bit that the stock belt clicks into is bolted.
Best way of doing it imo. I however have attached my inner lap belt to the subframe of the seat, if it's good enough for oe it'll do me for now.
Sorry I though you might be changing from the original seats to ones which guide the belts through the back. As you've gathered by now, using the rear strut brace is not a great place to attach the rear belts. Mine are attached using a harness bar which is an option when you buy a roll cage from Safety Devices. This moves it to the ideal angle as although the rear seat mounts are strong enough in the case of an impact the forces will trangulate pushing down directly onto your spine or the seat back, whichever is the highest. If you look at the diagram on the Safety Devices web site, the ideal angle is within 10 degrees of the horizontal, although they will work upto 45 degrees. However the closer to 45 deg you get, the more likely that the belts will simply slip off your shoulders if you don't use seats with guide holes to keep them in place. Anyway, I hope this helps...
Nice cage! what was it like to fit?, I`ve got my harness points at the rear seatbelt lap points, but I can see where the back snapping could come into play , if you have a look at andy976?`s car ofter a roll the reat 1/4 was completely squashed, not good for the harness!
Bit of a freak accident landing on a post, but wouldnt have liked to have the harness attatched to the C pilar
I was going to say that... Bolting the straps to the rear seat belt mounts isn't a good idea for this reason. On my old Mini I had strengthening plates and bars welded in to the rear parcel shelf area so the webbing ran back parallel to the floor, not sure about in a hatchback with no cage though...
That would depend on the welder i guess are all welds as strong as other welds, are there different types? what would be the best way for doing the rear strut brace?
