seat belts, rear wall mount verses roll bar?
 

I have seen BDR Cobras with the seat belt harness atatched to the rear wall and some to the roll bar. What are the benifits of one verses the other.

Cobrak

Some have no roll bar to attach them to (street cars). It's all about position of the belt anchoring points relative to your height, spine angle etc. Bottom line is they need to be mounted so if they have to restrain you it doesn't compress you at the same time. Research it carefully it's an important safety consideration. SCCA and NHRA rulebooks are a good source of info and any new harness should come with all the info you need.

Don't bolt them into fiberglass. They also need to be at a 90 degree angle compaired to the chest or less. Check out Simpsons site, they have some good guidelines.
Rick

cobrak,

Only the older Backdrafts had the shoulder harnesses attached to the rollbar. Newer ones are bolted through the bulkhead into the trunk area. I think the primary reason is the appearance. I have had many people say they don't like the look of the ones attached to the rollbar. Or possibly Backdraft changed the position for some other (safety?) reason.

I have a later BDR with the belts bolted to the rear wall. They are way too low. I bought the braket to hook them to the roll bar for track events.

Jim;

I had a feeling that the eye bolts mounted through the rear wall might be too low. I'm fairly tall, so it is probably even more of an issue. I am considering having the facory not install the rear wall eye bolts at all. I am getting a passenger side roll bar. I guess I will get the roll bar mount for both sides. Do the roll bar mounted belts work on shorter people (kids)?


cobrak

The following thread will provide good information on the proper location of seat belts.
http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/show...&threadid=1958

You will hear the opinions of some industry giants like Wayne Scraba, Bob Putnam, and Richard Hudgkins..

TURK

Didn't the originals mount the shoulder straps to a bar across the rollbar ?

I have the Eye-bolt mounted Backdraft version. I am only 5'7"and it fits me fine. The look of the roll bar mount didn't appeal to me. The other concern with the roll bar mount is having the metal adjustment buckles on the belts being able to scratch the paint job in front of the roll bar if you are not very careful. If you are going to do a lot of track events, then do the research on true fit for your size, that is way more important than looks. If you are just street driving, you probably won't even use the shoulder belts half the time. Especially if you have kids in the car, you shouldn't be driving in a manner that would necessitate the shoulder belts. In the hot summer months, you'll leave the shoulder belts off a lot so you can pry your sweat soaked t-shirt off the back of the seat while driving down the road.

Mine is an older one and bolts to the roll bar. The passenger bolts to the fiberglass. I'm 6 ft. and could not use the passenger side safetly (it's too low). To respond to the rubbing on the paint - they don't.
Scott

Hi guys,

Since I'm one of the few who've actually survived by the use of properly mounted seat belts, I feel qualified to chime in :rolleyes:

My belts are 5-point.

Two points are the normal lap belt anchors adjacent to each side of the seat.

One point is the crotch belt anchored just under the front of the seat cushion.

Two points are the Y-shaped shoulder straps which come together just behind the seat - very, very close behind the seat top, and exit through the bulkhead directly behind the seat, slightly below the level of the top of the seat. The single strap is anchored inside the trunk to the base of the roll bar, several inches below and to the rear of the level of the opening.

To pass the single strap through the bulkhead, I use a "letter slot" opening with an aluminum Factory Five bezel on the front side. The slot is centered behind the seat top, slightly below the seat top and is wide enough to allow the rearward portion of the "Y" to go into it.

About 1-1/2 years ago my instructor Cliff and I left Turn 3 at Summit Point race track at somewhere over 100 mph, hit a berm and flipped. Hard. Except for my left arm (see tag line below) neither of us got a scratch.

The roll bars (double hairpin style), the helmets and the belts did their jobs.

The belts were anchored in accordance with Simpson's instruction sheet that came with them.

If you're gonna drive hard, put the belts in like they're supposed to be put in!

Questions?

Tom

I asked BDR to not attached the drive side belt because I wanted to do a cleaner look. I was going to use the bezels that finishline offers and mount them that way. has anyone done this on a BDR?

I just bought the "fifth belt" from Finish Line. I think the four point belts are a joke, you HAVE to have that 5th submarine belt or you just kidding yourself.

Mine are through the rear body into the trunk area mount. But I kind of like the roll bar attached "look" myself. Takes all kinds I guess.

And TOM, I also use the arm restraints on the track. From time to time they cause me to miss a shift, they can be a pain in the butt, but I wear 'em anyway!