Metalhead140

I know that some members on here have a race seat, harness, and cage in their Corvettes. I'd love to see some pictures and hear some details, as it seems difficult in the space available.

I installed a fixed back bucket and 4 point harness (using a harness bar) in my car this year, but am looking at going to a cage and possibly a six point harness before next year. The issue is I don't see how it can fit! As it is I have installed the seat on fixed mounts to get it lower as with runners it put my head right next to the roof. I am considering lowering the floor pan so that I can get the seat down lower and put it on runners - even with the fixed mounts I am sat higher than I would prefer. Have others modified the floor to drop the seat lower?

This leads into the next issue - space for a full cage. I may yet opt for a half cage, which in my '79 is easy enough to fit, but I would prefer to have a full cage. The issue I see is that my head is only a few inches from the window glass, and up near the roof, and I don't see how I can fit bars up there without them being in my head space. Likewise the side intrusion bars - the seat pushes against the door trim as it is. Do people have to remove the door trims, and possibly cut out the inner door skin in order to fit the side intrusion bars? I'm not overly keen to go down that path - my car is still a street car. I would have the front section of the cage removable (in fact the whole cage will be removable) and would not have it installed on the street - I've already spoken to my cage builder/certifier and that is not a problem.

I'd love to see some pictures as to how others have solved these issues. Thanks in advance!

69autoXr

I've posted this before, but here is my roll bar. The cage builder put in the "harness bar" too low, so I added a bolt in harness bar between the two rear down tubes.

edit: passenger seat is fully functional even with the "Petty Bar".

gkull

I put Sparco fiber seats directly flat on the floor and all the way back against the battery box in my 79 Lots of head room and my legs are nearly straight forward

The13Bats

How tall are you?

Metalhead140

Thanks for those pictures! Yours is a similar roll bar arrangement to my fathers MGA. I do have the advantage that I can put a proper half cage in the back of my car, being a '79 with the big back window I can have bars going rearward from the main hoop. I was wondering about running some Targa events in the car though, and to run without a speed limit in those events a full cage is required. How'd you go with your seats, did you have any difficulty getting them low enough? Are you running a 5/6 point harness or just a 4 point, and if it's a 5/6 point, where did you mount your additional harness points?

Gkull, Bats has the same question as me! I'm not very tall , but my legs won't easily reach further than where I have the seat now unless I modify the pedals. I do have the seat mounted to a piece of plate then solid mounted to the floor, so could get it maybe 0.5" lower by mounting directly to the floor, but my head is still higher than in the stock seat, and when using a helmet I remove all the padding in the base of the seat for a small amount of additional head room, and would still prefer more. Where does your head sit relative to your forward bars? Also, there's a big dip in the floor pan right where I imagine the rear outer seat mount attachment would be if fitting the seat back against the battery boxes - what did you do there?

69autoXr

Seats are Corbeau Forza with the Corbeau manual sliders. No problem for me because I'm only 5'7", I have the seat slid all the way forward. 5 point harness, lap belt to stock locations. Sub belt is less than ideal, bolted to the seat structure

The13Bats

Very cool motivating thread, thanks for the pictures in my case my car is a wanna be but some real racer tech comes in handy,
My thing is convertibles but old school etc a roll bar is a must, i guess technically ill be running a "show bar" its 4 point, but im not in a hurry to mount it,
Im 6 foot 2 and seen a guy putz up and loose his expensive seats and removable rear window feature because the way the show bar mounts ( we have the same bar ) it pushes the seat forward,
I cant live with that, i need my seat all the way back, and if i did try a helmet wouldnt fit under the hard top with lining intact, i need one more like was in chaz dads car,
So yeah, cool educational thread...

gkull

My height with a helmet is probably 6'1" when you buy seats they give all the dimensions. My cage 45 degree door bar to the console makes for a narrow seat

I've learned with my feet straight how to rock your toes on the pedals and keep your heels on the floor.



I did make the mounts adjustable

Metalhead140

Thanks 69autoXr and gkull.

Gkull did you offset your seat towards the console to allow room for the door bar? I wasn't really thinking about that when I mounted my seat, and put it central to the wheel and pedals. I found there wasn't many seats available that were narrow enough to fit in the space, and as it is the wing of the seat rests against the door trim.

corvettedave383

Ive just finished a full roll cage and lowered the floor pan, pics below of new floor pan, dropped by 4 inch, fitted a proper fia race seat, with 6 point harness, you have to drop the floor pan, because when you do the rollcage, the top bar running along top side window, you end installing that bar lower down to get it far enough out so its not hitting your head, but that means it sits lower, which means you have to drop the floor, iam 6ft

corvettedave383

rollcage fitted with body on, proper boxes welded to chassis, then cage welded to box, removed rollcage cross to allow easier access to top of my fuel cell, to remove fuel pipes etc

corvettedave383

interms of side protection bars, you would have to remove door cards, but thats all, plenty room to swing door bar out enough to give room for seat and door

corvettedave383

then if you want the full hog

corvettedave383

then a stage futher lol, plateing some of the weak areas around front end of chassis

Metalhead140

Thanks Dave! That's along the lines of what I was looking at - I believe I need to lower the floor at least a couple of inches to get the head and seat clearance. I was planning to just lower the centre section though, leaving the original mounting points so that the factory seats can go back in. The cage design is also similar to what I have been looking at, though I wouldnt have the forward bars through the firewall as I would have the entire cage removable. I guess if the forward bars require door trim removal then that would not be the end of the world as I would not have the forward section of the cage in the car most of the time anyway. Thanks, that's a big help.

OZGreen69

Just my two pesos for you . First read the CAMS requirements for the kind of competition you want to be in. Targa rules for cage are different than for tracks to start with. Again, please do read the rules book first.
Don't do things to be knocked back later on by the scrutineers on the race day !! Same, you cannot do what you want with the seat anchoring points.
How do I know ? My car is in the process to be log booked as GroupS category 5 historic racing. Slight difference mine is a 69 convertible but with hard top, so the six points cage will be different than a coupe.
Reading again your posts. The cage in our cars must be removable from the frame, and the members can be removable from each other but the connecting points are CAMS specific.


I am happy to give you some pointers before you start cutting everything !!
It appears that your bucket seat is the same than mine with a steel frame, if so.. you can bend the side of the seat for the door to close proper !!

Metalhead140

Thanks! Yes, I'm well aware it needs to meet CAMS regs. I actually don't need a cage (being road registered) for the hillclimbs and supersprints I've been doing, but I think it's probably wise as I am going quicker, and I refuse to run Eastern Creek without rollover protection. The cage requirements for targa events are fairly in-depth, I need to make a decision shortly as to whether I aim for those or satisfy myself with a lesser spec. While I've done everything else on the car myself, I have a guy locally who I've known for years who builds and certifies CAMS cages, and he would be doing the bulk of the work. Making it removable and having the different parts of the cage separable is his preference for any car that sees street use/rego anyway, and he has run a number of Targas and built a lot of Targa cages, so to some degree I will leave it to him. I do have the advantage of being a later car with the long fastback rear glass, so the the rear "half cage" should not present too many issues.

I am curious about what it is that you are saying I cannot do with the seat mounting points? I believe the CAMS rules allow altering of the floorpan in order to mount seats? Though admittedly I haven't read those rules for some time. The seat I have in the car has been through scrutineering at multiple events already. Unfortunately it is a composite seat, so the wings cannot be bent for additional clearance.

Thanks for your input!

69autoXr

What is CAMS in Aus? In the states CAM-S is a class in SCCA autocross.

gkull

the under seat floor is level. The foot well is dropped down. I'm also sitting in a comfortable tilled back reclining chair. I think that my Sparco seat model is 19 pounds and I use a 5 point cam lock harness

my top door bar is out of reach to the top of my head when strapped in. With a helmet I can lean left and touch the padding

Metalhead140

CAMS is our overruling motorsport body, the face of FIA in Australia. Similar to your SCCA, but they oversee almost all motorsport (with the exception of drag racing) in Australia.