As some of you guys may know my 12 year old son is in a wheelchair due to Muscular Dystrophy. As his condition is regressing he has lost the ability to sit in any other seat than his wheelchair. Well because of this he is becoming more and more afraid of cruising in our Edsel 'cuz when I turn I have to hold him up or when I stop at a red light I have to hold him back. Cruzing to shows without him in the car with me just takes the whole fun out of owning an old car. So I thought about using the type of seat belt they use at the race tracks or in Nascar. You know the ones that go over the shoulders and across the waist. I just need a recommendation or some direction as to what they are really named and where to purchase a set or two. ---are they difficult to install? ---would I be able to install a set in a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 and in our 1959 Edsel? I would just like to take him out for a cruise every now and then in something other than our wheelchair accessable van. Thanks in advance....TD
They're calld a 5 point harness. They are designed to attatch to a roll bar, so you may have trouble putting one in your cars, although I think you can get them with a Y type top belts that attatch to one point at the floor behind the seat, instead of individual upper belts. The 5th belt is one that goes between the legs to the floor. here is some of what's available at Summit Racing
Deuce, Squirrel is right about the belts. I recommend team tech as the best ones for your needs. They have a "web" that goes across your chest sort of like a vest. It is designed to spread the impact across your torso instead of just at the shoulders. They are very confortable and I even have them in one of my street Vipers. Are you close to Fort Worth? If so, go by Bobby Archer Motorsports on Henderson street. They will help you, and you can see a setup in one of their cars. Also, ask them if they have any used belts that are out of date. They must be up to date in order to race with them and some people just get new ones when they expire. I send mine back to be rewebbed. You may be able to save some money if they have an expired set. They will still be plenty good for street use. Pm me if you need any help with this. Doc.
to install them there are a few diffrent ways they come. to keep cost down they make one style that clips in and could be swaped between the 2 cars. http://store.summitracing.com/defau...eywordSearch&DDS=1&N=115&target=egnsearch.asp
What DOC said about expired belts is good advice - I've got a 3 year old set that I won't be able to run this coming year, and a set that's 6 years old that was used for one weekend that's out of cert, but is like brand new and would be fine for street use. Heck I'll give 'ya the like new one if I can dig ut up - it's blue as I recall and think it's the "Y" type. Other places - JR Motorsports, Speedway motors, and Midwest Motorsports, Safe Racer, Racer Wholesale all are mail order places that sell harnesses and mounting equipment. "problem" with mounting these in a street vehicle is that they're ment to have an anchor point behind the shoulders about 3-4" down from the top of the shoulders - anchoring them to the floor without a bar at that location will compress the spine in the event of an accident as the body will be allowed to move forward and the floor mounted shoulder straps will pull the shoulders down as you move forward. I've seen some cars use a bar that bolts between the factory shoulder harness mounting location to provide a 5-pt harness mount. There is plenty of information on safe mounting of racing harnesses if you just do a google search there will be pics, diagrams, etc.
That sounds good thanks for the info as well. it is very informative I'll look it up before I do any installation.
A thought I had: Look at the fibergl*** shell sprintcar seats that wrap around the driver's shoulders for support. Could you cut the actual seat and lower part of that away so it is the right height at shoulder level and add a new flat seat to it that would strap down with the original lap belt? The racecar belts would go over the shell as they are designed, and the gl*** part would give him a sort of exoskeleton support.
Summit has a bewildering variety--dig around under road race and circle track. The kind I'm thinking of come in gl*** or aluminum, and have vertical parts beside the seat to stop sliding and a lobe that goes against the shoulder at the top to brace upper body. The rest is cut away as much as possible to allow arm movement and p***age of belts. I'm thinking lose some height and let the flat seat go on top of regular car seat, held in place by lap belt actually p***ing behind the kid. There's a whole world of stuff to anchor roundyround drivers, and I would think that a race driver pulling heavy G loads is about the same problem as you are seeing at low G loads. The seat part is a way to make at least part of the hardware moveable from car to car--you can separate the needs for a real restraint that would hold him down in a crash and gear that is only to make him secure in normal driving.
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