Im quite new to the VW beetle scene and as yet do not own one. im planning on building up a kind of street racer but im not sure where you attach the race harness to, roll bar?
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If you're going to run a 4, 5 or 6 point harness then yup - the usual thing is for the shoulder straps to go back to a "harness bar", which is part of the roll cage (3 points as far as I know are a no-no these days). That's exactly how I have it in my beetle... both race safe and full street legal.
I've seen people run 'em down to reinforced points on the floor under where the back seat usually sits, but don't think that would meet all required angles and distances.
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ahh thanks alot. 😀 i think i will get a roll bar when i get a bug
The closer you can get the attachment points to your seat the better; you want it to stretch as little as possible in the event of an incident.
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without a cage, it is very hard to find good mounting points. You can either attach downwards to near the rear seat, which means in a accident your spin will be compressed. Check the CAMS manual, there is a set downward angle they can be.
Or you can run them back to the area below the rear window. Here the belts are long as per sanders comments they will stretch..... so without a cage there isn't much chance of a perfect setup.
I have seen how much they stretch in a head on, even attached right behind the seat. But worst thing I have seen (same accident) the driver was sitting higher and the belts went up 100mm to the shoulders, the car hit a very solid object at 130ish kmh. The driver burst 2 disc's in his back.....
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
wouldn't you want a small bit of stretch? bit of cushioning
And also, any pics of you seat belt setups
Nah, as BiX says... you want the shortest possible strap length, and within the angles set by CAMS.
In my car I have a 6 point safety cage, with a harness bar running across between the two rear stays. Where that bar is was decided after my seating position had been set, specifically to get the best setup for the straps. So, basically the cage was built around where I was going to sit. Not at home at the moment, but will post some pics of Jezebel's setup when I am.
Any and all stretch is bad... in modern cars they actually have explosive powered tensioners to draw the seat belts tighter on you during a crash, specifically to counter the stretch occurring in the belts.
VWDCQ vice pres & web dude - vwdcqinc.org.au
Join a car club - get car peeps
My toys
'70 Hillclimb Bug 'Jezebel' w/- Haltech EFI -
http://bit.ly/VwTNtQ
'60 KG Coupe - resto kinda started
01 New Beetle - gf's car, but I turn the spanners
Also check the cams manual for mounting requirements in terms of the plates etc.
If your just doing small events, khanacross, autocross etc where you arn't doing much more than 100kph, you might be able to get away with them mounted at the back. If you do it this way, I used a 30mm wide, 3mm thick, trip right across the full width of the bulkhead. It bolted at 4 points (with the correct grade eye bolts). so in a accident, the whole panel below the rear window would need to pull out of the car.
But remember this is advice only and you need to make judgement based on your circumstances.....
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
do you need any special mounting bracket or will any do (just because the beetle floor is not strait and smooth)
There are various min requirements for Bolts, plates and similar.
The basic rule is if you use standard belt mounts, you are fine. If your drilling and adding new ones, there are min plate areas and thickness's that need to be met (basically a large washer). You can buy the correcr grade eye bolts from revolution etc and bolt them into the standard bolts (for the lower ones) which means your std belt is still in place and you have a spot to attached you harness.
You can buy the plates ready made from people like revolution when you buy your harness. Remember though that some harness's are not street legal, so you still need your 3 point for road use.
If its only the first event and its low speed (even up to hill climb) I would recomend just running the 3 point and looking at other cars to get ideas and talking to people there (or the scruits) one ideas and requirements.
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
