Let's talk seats and harnesses... And cages...

[Helpimonfire]

Yeah so as the title may suggest I'm in the market for some seats, harnesses and a cage for my 197.

I've had a look around and I'm still none the wiser when it comes to mounts and the likes, never had buckets in a car before other than some mega cheap reclining things in an old shed years ago.

I'm currently looking at the Motamec GT02 seats (for the larger arse) with their fixed steel side mounts. Do I need anything else to go with these? Are the floor fixings in the Clio a universal size or do I need adapter plates etc...?

Harnesses. I've no idea where to start with these, ideally I think I'm looking at 4 point harnesses, anything else to look out for? I guess I need to drill holes in the floor for the lap belt mounts with spreader plates, then either eyelets on the cage or over a harness bar or similar?

Cages. And/or a harness bar. I've seen people mounting the shoulder belts through the seat and down to the floor which I guess is probably safe enough to do but I don't like the idea of it. Who sells a decent harness bar? I don't want to run buckets without a proper way of attaching the belts but sadly I don't have the budget to do everything at once. Although if there's not much of a difference in price when it comes to a cage or harness bar, I could always spring the extra for a half cage I suppose?

TL;DR - I want these nice things but I don't know enough to form an opinion. Help.

 

[RSRowe]

Ultimately you’re going have to make some decisions.

How big are you? The motamec seats are pretty good for the money. Micro RS2’s are also worth considering.

Harnesses, you may aswell get 5 or 6 points if you’re getting a cage. You’ll need to drill the floor, fit eye bolts, and use spreader plates underneath.

Harnesses bar, I wouldn’t bother personally. Just get a half cage.

 

[PAUL JA]

Side mounts - have a look for the Clio specific bolt to the floor version, maybe supreme motorsport or sw motorsport. Depending how low you mount the seat you will need to lower the steering column to get the best position.

4 point harness - shoulder straps use the harness bar on the cage, sill side use a Schroth B23 behind the existing seat belt rail bolt, drill the tunnel for either an eye bolt or another B23

Cage - various options, Safety Devices, JP, SW plus a few more (personally I’d prefer a rear cage than a harness bar)

 

[RSRowe]

As a quick breakdown, I bought most of my bits second hand.

SW half cage - £300
OMP seat bases, inc side mounts - £80
Corbeau clubsport XL’s - £200
Misc - £50

 

[suj]

Ultimately you’re going have to make some decisions.

How big are you? The motamec seats are pretty good for the money. Micro RS2’s are also worth considering.

Harnesses, you may aswell get 5 or 6 points if you’re getting a cage. You’ll need to drill the floor, fit eye bolts, and use spreader plates underneath.

Harnesses bar, I wouldn’t bother personally. Just get a half cage.

I have Mirco GT seats in my E36 not something I would have looked at as I've always had Corbeau but they came in my cars, I'm actually really impressed with them, they're comfy and very supportive.



As said, don't get the mounts from who you buy seats from, buy specific bolt to floor ones (these sit lower) or you could get frames to bolt to the floor then can bolt the generic mounts from the seat manufacturer to that, but it normally costs more and not as low as I mentioned.

 

[R20BTG]

What’s your budget?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Helpimonfire]

The Mirco seats were another I'd seen.

As for size. I'm a 36/38 waist so I'd need seats on the bigger size.

Budget isn't an issue, I think I originally budgeted around £1200 for the cage, seats and harnesses. It can go either way though.

 

[R20BTG]

I’m 6ft 1, pretty big shoulders and legs and 38 inch waist and the Corbeau Pro Series XL fit me really nicely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[R20BTG]

As a quick breakdown, I bought most of my bits second hand.

SW half cage - £300
OMP seat bases, inc side mounts - £80
Corbeau clubsport XL’s - £200
Misc - £50

Bargain-tastic, I think embarrassingly I’m at the other end of that scale

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Big Ben]

Supreme seat mounts should do the trick in a Clio regardless of what seat you buy. Plenty of adjustment to find the perfect position

 

[R20BTG]

I've had a look around and I'm still none the wiser when it comes to mounts and the likes, never had buckets in a car before other than some mega cheap reclining things in an old shed years ago.

I'm currently looking at the Motamec GT02 seats (for the larger arse) with their fixed steel side mounts. Do I need anything else to go with these? Are the floor fixings in the Clio a universal size or do I need adapter plates etc...?

Ok there's a few things to consider and I'll hopefully answer some questions at the same time. For the purposes of answering questions I've pinched a couple of images from Supreme Motorsport's website, other brands are available but @R27WTF will be very helpful and can supply the goods.





The OEM seats are obviously mounted to runners so you can slide them back and forth. The seats are bolted to the runners, and the runners are bolted to the floor. In the picture above you can see that in the floorplan of the car, underneath the carpets and sound deadening there are two bars running side to side which contain the threaded connections for the OEM seat mounts. This is where aftermarket seat mounts will also be bolted to the chassis.

You then need to decide whether you want the ability to slide the bucket seats backwards and forwards, or whether you are happy with them being fixed in place. Will it be just you driving the car or will there be other drivers of different heights who might need to adjust the seat?

If you want a slider, then it adds a bit of complexity, and you will not be able to mount the seats as low as you would without a slider. I'm going to assume, to keep things simple, that you are OK with fixed seats. Using the Supreme Motorsport mounts above as an example, you can see that there are lots of mounting holes forwards and backwards so you can get the seat in the correct place. You will also notice that the holes are elongated a little to give some side-to-side adjustment depending on how wide your seats are.

On the upper element of the mounts you will see lots of holes again, this is to set the preferred height of the bucket seats. Side mount bucket seats will have captive nuts set into the seat into which you will bolt through the mounts. Again the Supreme Motorsport mounts have elongated holes at the front to give a bit of wiggle room for various types of seat.

Lastly, you will see that to install harnesses properly they should be attached to eyelets that have been fitted with spreader plates behind. These spreader plates do exactly that, the spread the load to a wider structural area to prevent the eyelets getting pulled out in the event of a crash. In the example above, the two eyelets at the front have been welded in to allow a 6-point harness with an anti-submarining crotch strap, whereas the two to the rear mounted in the 'tunnel' are the ones for the 4 point waist straps. There are another two just out of shot either side of the car. I can't remember whether these are also welded in or whether you can pick up the existing seat belt mounts.

Hope this helps?

EDITED TO ADD LINK - there ya go, there just happens to be a sale on these mounts and you can save £30:

Supreme Motorsport

www.supreme-motorsport.co.uk

 

[Helpimonfire]

Super helpful, thank you Iain! I'll have a thorough read-through this a bit later today and ask stupid questions again afterwards. The only thing that could be a sticking point is that my missus is planning on coming to a few days with me, she's a few inches shorter which may not be an issue because I like to sit closer to the wheel and pedals whereas she sits a bit further back so we may be able to get around this with pads and such.

The other solution was to get a super cheap and cheerful car for her to use, like a SportKa or Fiesta Zetec S or similar... More deliberation required...

 

[Helpimonfire]

What's the general consensus on mounting shoulder straps from harnesses to the floor in the rear? I've always been under the impression that it's 'okay' but not ideal? As this is going to be a slow build I'd like to get certain bits done and keep using the car rather than say, storing the seats in the garage and them getting damp, or in the house and getting plucked to bits by the cats

 

[RSRowe]

It’s definitely not ideal, not recommended by the belt manufacturers, and to be honest it’s unsafe.
It can cause spinal compression if you ever have a bump.

I had mine mounted to the isofix bar holes for my first trackday in this car as my cage hadn’t arrived. Even then the angle was far from ideal.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Good to hear. I questioned myself because I've seen it done so many times. I'll stick with normal belts and seats until I get everything together. No point installing safety gear if it's not gunna be any safer.

 

[d6n]

I've just installed the Supreme seat mounts and they are really work well, loads of adjustment and an extremely robust design. I've got a TRS 4 point bolt in harness, as any one got any guidance on bolting in the bottom section of the harness? The shoulder straps will be mounted to a roll cage so these won't be an issue.

 

[suj]

I've just installed the Supreme seat mounts and they are really work well, loads of adjustment and an extremely robust design. I've got a TRS 4 point bolt in harness, as any one got any guidance on bolting in the bottom section of the harness? The shoulder straps will be mounted to a roll cage so these won't be an issue.

@d6n you need spreader plates on the underside of the car / tunnel

Fitting 4-Point harness help

Hi Guys, So I recently got a cage into my RS200, and now wanting to install harnesses. I've looked around a bit on the forum, and I've seen people recommend these: 'https://www.msar.co.uk/harness-fittings/schroth-b23a-harness-clip-kit.html' as mounting point for the lap belts. So with these...

clio197.net

 

[d6n]

@d6n you need spreader plates on the underside of the car / tunnel

Fitting 4-Point harness help

Hi Guys, So I recently got a cage into my RS200, and now wanting to install harnesses. I've looked around a bit on the forum, and I've seen people recommend these: 'https://www.msar.co.uk/harness-fittings/schroth-b23a-harness-clip-kit.html' as mounting point for the lap belts. So with these...

clio197.net

I've got the spreader plates now, so using the image above I can drill pretty much the same place as where the eye bolt shown. Does the spreader need to go under the heat shield or can it be on the outside?

 

[suj]

I've got the spreader plates now, so using the image above I can drill pretty much the same place as where the eye bolt shown. Does the spreader need to go under the heat shield or can it be on the outside?

Under Dan, you want it touching the body with nothing inbetween (except for some sealer).

 

[d6n]

Under Dan, you want it touching the body with nothing inbetween (except for some sealer).

I can't see how you can get to this with out removing the heat shield