Do you have to have 3/4 point harness for to fit bucket seats or will the standard seat belt work ???

 

Yes they will still work.

 

Cheers, I actually had a sit in some cobras today and guessed by the way the seat was shaped they would still work

 

Seat belt buckle needs to be removed from the old seat and put on the new one to work. (Mounts to the subframe!)

 

You can always mod the old rails to fit the new seats:


Mit

 

If you were involved in a frontal smash wouldn't those brackets pivot and allow the seat to move forwards closer to the dash due to the load transfer?

When we do crash testing we sometimes seem failure in seat structure in that area as the cross bracing is sometimes inadequate on pre-production designs.

Its a good idea using OEM rails but think the design could be improved to be a little safer by linking the LH and RH rail together with 2 braces. The slide mechanism would also work better too. Just a suggestion.

 

The standard seat belt mounting point is retained, so the weight of the driver in a smash is still transfered to the frame/floor as the standard setup. The new brackets are only taking the weight of the seat itself, and are made from thick steel plate.

 

5/6 point really to stop submarining under the belt

 

Test the theory like this, loosely bolt one side of a bucket seat to the same side OEM seat rail, leaving the other side for the moment. Try pushing the seat forwards to simulate an occupant going forwards in a frontal crash. There will be forward movement of the seat as it rotates about these 4 pivot points. (2 fixings on the rail, 2 on the seat).

By bracing the two independant OEM seat rails together, it will eliminate this pivot effect and further forward movement. The forward movement is so dangerous, especially when an airbag is present, as the further away it is from the occupant before deployment, the better the chance it gets to protect.

This is only if you are using the stnd seatbelt, using a 4/5/6 pt harness will secure you much better as 172sport says!

 

How can you mod the existing rails??? I want to add some bucket seats purely just for drag/track days so I want the ease of quick swapping.

 

If you are doing track days or drag racing then you need the best safety that you can get. If you are fitting bucket seats for that purpose, then fit them to the proper rails, or weld in static ones. Don't modify rails that aren't made for them in the first place. Your only going to regret not doing it properly if you have an impact?

I would only use the 5 or 6 point harness too, not the standard inertia belt. It just isn't as good, and they rest differently on bucket seats than the standard ones. You also get better feeling in a bucket seat an harness.

Just my opinion though.

 

I will be getting a harness sorted out so I can fit it to the drivers side for such occasions.