seat repositioning.

[walterclark]

That is why we get the big bucks.

[Mopar 151w2]

Actually, my Dad was a tech inspector at Claremont Speedway for years, and I did a similar thing at the old Bryar oval for a couple seasons. Racing for a promoter, and for significant $$$, changes the culture completely.
There are reasons why our rules are written to exclude "teardowns", why entrants class their own cars, and a whole bunch of other stuff that kinda runs in the background.

[Challenger392]

The next three photos show what the belts look like if I leave the belts mounted to the upper bar and route them on the outside of the seat. The seat is skinny enough that you the belts are darn close to straight to my sholders. Sitting in the seat the belts feel secure and I would have to try very hard to get free of the belts. Im not sure what I should do to get it right, If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to share.


car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr


car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr


car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr

This is how close I had to mount the seat to the restraint bar to fit me tall selft properly

car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr

In the next two pictures you can see where the harness would rub badly on the seat belt cutout if the belts were mounted in the stock location.

car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr


car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr

A close up of the original mount location (bottom cutouts) and the bar that was added for smokeys elevated seating position.

car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr

[walterclark]

From the pics I believe the shoulder belts would be about horizontal to the upper bar with a Hans if that is your expected seating position. That good.

The spacing of them at the bar and position on your shoulders looks wrong with a Hans. They will ride on the Hans which should put them closer to your neck than in your pics. If you reach for and work the wheel do those belts tend to move closer together in your chest area? They should naturally hang close enough together so they dont do that. In the pics appear to separate as they go toward the bar and moving them further out so they would clear the seat makes it worse. This arrangement would probably cause them to ride off a Hans and I would make you address that at tech if it arrived that way. Of course the best way to know exactly how much of a problem exists is to try a Hans on and sit as you were in these pics.

On the seat itself, it looks like the shoulder strap hole in the seat is WAY too low for you and the modern shoulder harness/H&NR...pretty much what I expected and not surprising given the standards in effect years ago when this seat was designed. However there is nothing keeping you from just welding that single hole closed, cutting two holes that line up with the upper harness bar and are between the seats 3 vertical braces in that area. Having the harness come together at an angle slightly greater than in the illustration I posted is better than straight back, or spreading because it decreases the chances of the belts coming off the Hans in a crash where the impacts are not directly head on. The mods to the seat would probably make it stronger in the head area to boot.

Before you do any of the cutting or welding to the seat that I suggested above, I think you should contact Don Taylor. He may have a better idea as to how to approach this, and he is the one who gives the final thumbs up or down at hillclimb tech if there is any question.

[Mopar 151w2]

Looks to me like the seat is too short for you! I think I have some suitable aluminium "in stock", if you wish to extend or stretch the seat. you may wish to consider some add-on shoulder supports, a la .

here is a Kirkey sizing chart:

And you definitely want to allow for 1-2 inches of high density foam under your tailbone, in any seat built to be used with upholstery.

[Challenger392]

Conserning the side bolsters, the seat already has sholder supports and they feel as though they fit well for my sholders. The way the pictures were taken distorts how things really are a little. And the seat has padding that goes with it I just had it off for repositioning the seat. I can say that the seat fits me great, I will post a better picture of the whole setup soon. I was hoping to not have to modify the seat, but that looks like my only choice to make it work right. Ill work on cutting the holes for the harness and once I get that sorted out take the seat to my welder and have him weld in the hole and maybe add some stiffeners to the back of the seat if it feels flimsy after I cut the holes. Any recomendations for something to put around the perimeter of the holes I cut to keep it from cutting into the belts?

[walterclark]

For opening edges, maybe the best thing is to roll the aluminum or weld on soft aluminum tube after splitting it so it slips over the exposed edge. This is a lot of effort though and paying someone to do it could cost more than the seat.

There is a product referred to as grommet edging that is made to cover the edge of odd shaped holes that a simple round grommet wont fit, where cables and hoses pass thru bulkheads. Aircraft Spruce sells some: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... edging.php

An alternative might be to fashion something similar from teflon water line - the stuff that the home improvement stores sell to run water to your icemaker. This teflon stuff it tough so the aluminum wont cut thru it easily and is stiff enough to stay in place once split along the "outside" edge of the tubing so it slips over the aluminum sheet. It should be 1 continuous piece with the joint in the middle of someplace like the top of the opening so the belt doesnt try to ride into it. You probably want to get some and try it so you know the minimum bend radius and shape your holes accordingly. Silicone or rubber vacuum hose are tempting to use too because they are easy to work with but in my experience they both will roll off fairly easily because they are so flexible and they are hard to bond in place.

[Challenger392]

Yes grommet egding. Commonly referred to as "chicken tracks" in the aviation world. (I have no idea why). I think I'll try the Teflon hose idea and see how that pans out. The edge protector in the the photos, on the old harness installation is vacuum hose I think.

[Challenger392]

Please excuse the goofy mugshot, But this picture better shows how the seat fits me, where the shoulder restraints are and how tall the seat is etc......


car seat by moultroup123, on Flickr

[sdwarf36]

Thats the look I want to see at the top of the hill.