@blu
I did the seat slide, lock and power forward. this is way better. I even did the child seat lock to make sure it did not come lose. My belts are actually looser, and hold me way better. I can now focus on driving. First time out I was faster than ever, and thought I was going slow.

the rally 3 and 4 actually come back to a common buckle a few inches behind the seat. the belts are rather straight from that buckle, through the hole, and around my neck. This also lets me easily lean against the belt without having to make it tight. I move as much as I want.

@eric
my 2" belts barely fit through. stay with 2", especially if the ASM part needs to go through the hole. I think Wolfe has the right idea.

@Wolfe, the sparcos I found are not street legal. You need the asm for the street. Takata and Schroth are the only ones now, before it was only Schroth. From all I read, I like ASM, even if the likelihood of needing it is small.

Um, from the Takata documentation..
World-Wide Sales [except North America and Japan]:
SCHROTH Safety Products GmbH

My guess is they are Schroth belts.

Whatever you do, check what comes in the box. I think my belts were $180 each and came with all the bolts, parts, tabs and stuff I needed. Schroth Rallye 4 Street Legal ASM Harnessbelt

I think you will find the snap in tabs in the picture above to be better than eyebolts.

Good luck, and send pictures...

 

Hmm. Im going to be leaving the OEM belt in I'd imagine. So being street legal is not really a concern to me. If Im using the harness on the street, there is a good chance I'm not doing street legal things in the first place haha. It will come down to how much money I am willing to spend and what brand I want to own. I like both TAKATA and Sparco. I will be sure to post pics here when I do this.

 

@ wolfe,
Sorry, I stated things poorly

Street Legal means there is some kind of ASM capability. I used it as a safety standard. A factory 3-point does ASM by the fact that it does not grab both shoulders. That means that, if you hit something, or something hits you from the front, you do not go under the lap belt. As you go forward, you rotate a bit, and this keeps you from going under. Going under the lap belt is bad.

To be street legal, you have to have a submarine solution. This is also highly desired on the track, but not required. The PCA folks only allow Schroth ASM for a 4 point. Packing your body in the footwell is bad. Sliding down, and having the chin of your helmet hit by the airbag is bad. Most other scenarios are bad. A 5 point does this with the 5th belt. However this uses a part of your body that was not designed as a structural member as a key load bearing feature. The term is testicular degloving of the *******. It is rare, but not pretty. Massively racked nuts are more common. This is the reason you make sure the lap belt is tight (and 5th belt if you have it) before the shoulder belts are tightened. The shoulder belts pull of the lap belt, making it easier to go under.

I wanted a belt that was at least as safe as what I used on the street, so I got the Schroth ASM. I really like your TAKATA idea, especially with the snap in ends. If it was available a year ago, I did not find it.

That make more sense?

 

I've seen several cars (Jetta, 3 included) roll at an autoX, but I agree that doing so with an RX-8 would be really difficult.


I have the Scroth installed in my car; I can try to take some pics in the next few days. I do not have that high rear attachment; the ends of the rear belt attach to the rear lower seatbelt mounts. I use it only for autoX; not for track days and definitely not on the street.

 

OK, now I am tempted. I actually looked quickly at the Schroth belt a while back but decided not to take the risk of modifying the car. I do like the extra stability, but I do more HPDE than autocross.

 

@Green, that clears things up. I plan on going with the TAKATA plan. Should be good. petty excited.

 

Unless you have a rollbar in the back it's impossible to install a harness with the proper lengths and angles.
Don't even bother trying, especially if the 2 straps have to pass inside the tiny middle hole.
Definitely a bad idea, and a waste of money.

 

@ wolfe, Cool, Pics Please...

@ bse, lengths and angles work fine with a 2" belt. staying away from the dynamic piece, because I hated that course, the high/low mount has a pull angle that is only a few degrees off of optimal. The release buckle in the back is actually only a few inches from the hole in the seat, so the belts follow their natural path. A definite improvement over factory belts, but, I agree, not a 3" 5 point attached to a roll bar. So, a comfortable middle point.

Or, you can go with a 3 bolt system and get straight back. It just pulls a bit to the side if the seat breaks. The difference is the spread attach point in front. I would not do a center buckle in the front, and a center spot in the back. But the 4 points work well this way.

 

I'm not sure about the "few degrees off". The optimal angle is around 12°. A 4° difference is a 33% one...

The OE seat also has just one hole. How can you effectively cross the straps if you have to? (and you have to if you don't have a rollbar).

This is just a mod the OP thinks he needs when he actually doesn't. Taking 2in of foam off of the seat bottom would improve his lateral support just enough to safely have fun in a parking lot while pretending to be driving!

 

Taking 2" of foam out of the seat bottom is against the rules in some classes in parking lot "pretend driving." And would do nothing for upper-body support.

 

you weren't doing it right then

for non-racecars where you can't get the steering wheel up close and personal to your body it's actually preferred to have some upper body movement, especially in autox. If you rely solely on on your arm strength to try and muscle the wheel back and forth in high G transitions rather than your upper body then you'll likely get behind time and time again.

 

30 years ago at almost every other autocross we had to upright a VW bug that turned turtle.

06 Shinka