My 2-Eleven has clearly had 5/6 Point harnesses on the driver side at some point in its life. It has holes in the floor for the crotch strap(s) and the old sealant underneath that was sandwiched by the spreader plate.
The rear eyelet fixings are still bonded to the chassis, but no eyelets screwed in. The eyelet spreader plates are rather rusty, so I’d probably look to peel those off and refurb/check for corrosion on the floor etc.
I’d like to restore to 5 or 6 point harness, at least for the driver. There are a couple of sources for the crotch strap bar/spreader plate so not too concerned about that… but the harness itself I need to source.
There’s a Lotus Part No. for it but I can’t find any pictures of it. Does anybody know if it still uses the wrap-around harness bar (or rollbar in my case)? A quick Google of Schroth 6 point harnesses showed that they all seemed to use eyelets for the shoulder fixings.
I’m expecting/hoping that:
The 5/6th point(s) are wraparound on the crotch bar.
Shoulder straps are wraparound on the harness bar.
Waist straps are eyelet type for the floor mountings.
I know I’ll need a new seat and all that, it’s a bit of a backburner job but I’d like to start collecting bits so if anyone knows of an up to date Schroth Harness that’s available somewhere, let me know.
Hi Fonzey,
The 5 point FIA approved harness was an option for the Exige S1 at build, which I had fitted.
At the time Safety Devices were the chosen manufacturer/supplier.
I believe in the Exige case, the waist straps along with the crotch strap are fitted to the seat and the shoulder harnesses are wrapped around the roll bar.
Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll see if I can find a part number and take some pictures after the weekend.
Bear in mind that this is a 2001 fit, so not sure if they are still available.
I’ve had some help from a forum lurker too, the old Schroth/Safety Devices options are no longer available in the exact same format so the options going forward seem to be:
Get something custom, the likes of Willans are apparently very good at taking a spec and making whatever you need.
Get a Schroth Flexi 2x2. This comes with latch hook things for the waist (good, for the floor mounted eyelets I’ll have) and for the shoulder straps and crotch straps (bad, as I need wraparound) - but the buckles can be undone and converted to wraparound (good).
The problem with this, is that I’d have 2" belts all the time - which really should go hand in hand with a HANS. I use HANS on track, but obviously not on the road. Ideally 3" belts should be used on the road.
So I could then look at a mongrel setup, I think the Schroth ecosystem will let me mix and match the waist/crotch belts from the 2x2 Flexi, but use my 3" shoulder belts. I could even swap belts out for trackdays, as there’s no denying the 2" is more convenient for hooping over a HANS.
Ultimately, it makes sticking with a 4pt ASM belt feel like the path of least resistance…
Still mulling over the switch to 6 point harnesses. Interested in any wisdom from people who have done this before on which anchor points to use for the lap belts.
It is my understanding that for FIA sign-off, you cannot use the seat mounts that the factory 3point belt uses, or indeed the standard 4point ASM harnesses. Instead you must have eyelets mounted to the chassis somewhere.
That said, to mount the lap belt on the chassis crossmember is actually a compromise because it really shallows off the angle of the lap belt, which isn’t ideal. The steeper angle you get when mounting to the seat is actually better, even if not FIA compliant.
I think the main concern with using the seat as an anchor point is that the seat to floor mountings aren’t that great in the first place, so separating harness and seat anchors goes a long way to mitigating that.
There’s options for beefing up the seat mounting arrangement. A popular approach seems to be to drill out the inserts in the floor, add spreader plates below and poke bolts upwards into the cabin and put nuts/washers at the rail end.
I’m already questioning one of the threads on my passenger seat, it holds torque but it’s clearly been mangled in a past life (and the 2-Eleven floor holes all fill with water regularly making things worse) so I quite like the idea of this, even if it’s modifying my chassis beyond point of no return.
Welcome any thoughts, as usual I’m probably over thinking it.
The thread isn’t damaged beyond use, it’s just questionable and feels like I’m diffusing a bomb whenever I add/remove the passenger seat.
From what I understand, the thread is in a bit of steel inside the aluminium crossmember and there’s mixed opinions out there on whether there’s enough material to get a timesert or helicoil in there. Drilling through the floor and having a spreader plate below seems to be the only solution people are willing to bet their lives on.
Not chasing FIA cert at all, just using it as a benchmark. The solution I’d probably end up with is not even FIA approved anyway, which would be beefing up seat mounts with spreader plates and then mounting lap belts to the seat. That feels like best of all worlds if you’re not racing.