i have searched around trying to find a 4 point harness setup for a C5 convertible. the only thing ive been able to find is the roll bar for the coupes. surely there's a way to put the 4 points in a convertible without having a roll bar sticking up. any suggestions?

thanks

 

Try Brey Krause, They make a harness bar for convertibles.

 

Are you using racing seats? If So it is pretty simple to fab them up using some of the original mounting points and then bolting to the 2 rear seat bolts. Here is mine.

 

well i dont have a vette yet, hopefully it wont be too long (gotta pay off some school loans first) ideally i'd like to be able to use with the factory seats. i checked out the brey krause harness bars but all i could find were for the coupes and frc's

 

 

I wouldn't use a 4-point harness unless it was a Schrott ASM (which is what I have in mine). Regular 4-points don't protect you from submarining. Also, Schrott makes an ASM 4-point that is DOT approved (separate issue), if you care about that sort of thing...

 

Totally agree. Having raced since the late 60s, a 5-point is the ONLY option to consider. You can think positive all you like, but one big "whoops" that puts your body in a pile under the dash is not something to be remembered by your surviving family.

 

thanks for the replies. the submarining makes sense. i'd wondered about it but hadnt heard anything about it until now. can 5 points be used with factory seats or would it require a race seat with the cuttout for the crotch belt

 

4pt. belts are just bad. Even if you only slide down 1" your harness belts become loose. Unfortunately to do this right, you need a race seat. No way around it. And a race street with stock belts don't work right. With the high sides of the race seat the stock lap belt want hold you in. Stock seat = stock belts. Race seat = race belts. Anything different will only compromise your safety. I went through all this a couple of years ago.

Steve

 

No, you CANNOT use a 5 point with the factory sport seats.

HOWEVER, there is a 4-point harness on the market that's safe -- the Schroth ASM belt. (I mispelled it before; it's pronounced "shroat" but spelled Schroth - German). ASM stands for "Anti-SubMarine."



At the link above, you'll also find a link called "Schroth ASM (8.66 MB)" that is a video showing crash tests and explaining how it works.

I have these in my car (a daily driver). They'll work perfectly fine with the sport seats - that's how I had mine at first. I now have carbon fiber Porsche GT3 seats that allow for a submarine belt, so I can run the sub belt when I want (but that's not why I bought the seats).

Let's face it, a 5- or 6-point (6 is better) is a PITA for a DD. The Schroth ASM is safe for the street in 4-point configuration, but gives you the option for the track to still use a sub belt if you like, or if required by track rules. The ASM 4-point will certainly be safer than the factory belt... The 6- sub-belt was like an extra $35, and I just leave it under my seat, but don't pull it through, unless I'm on the track.

BTW, If you get the buckle with the single-button release, that one is actually DOT approved (I think the only harness on the market that is). I have the rotary buckle cause it looks cooler and I don't care about DOT since they don't inspect vehicles in Florida (or Italy).

Also, I'd HIGHLY recommend HardBar's lap-belt bracket. It's the perfect solution for mounting the lap belts (and sub-belt too).

P.S. I don't work for Schroth OR Hardbar - just a happy customer.