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2B Seat/harness Support Opinions (Pic Heavy)


FERRINO

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Afternoon all - I've recently been working on fitting some seat supports and harness mountings for the 2B build. Having done the welding and drilling for it now I'd appreciate peoples thoughts/opinions on it with regard to IVA suitability etc. I know it's fairly late now I've done it lol - but if anybody spots a huge no-no it would be much appreciated and easier to fix now rather than having the Inspector point it out when the time comes.

 

The chassis had no provisions for the above when it arrived. I don't like the idea of just fixing seats down to flimsy floorplates (load spreaders behind or not) so decided to go the angle iron route. I believe most people go down the route of strapping the angle iron underneath the car and bolting through into it. My seats are the KPD fibreglass ones with the runners fitted to both. Even thought they have runners they are still pretty low profile so decided that I could get away with sitting the angle on top of the floorplate and decided to go for 40x40x5 thk section.

 

Rear_support_ang_zps1475f52b.jpg

 

The rear angle takes the bulk of the body weight loads so I welded that in place both ends to the chassis tab plates. If epic disaster struck and the welds failed the angle sits on top of the chassis plates anyway so I won't fall into the road.

 

The front angle doesn't see as much load so I decided that would be ok just sitting on top of the chassis tubes bolted to them each end with a nutsert where the clamps are.

 

Laying_out_1_zpsae4a303d.jpg

 

When the rear angle was welded in place - I refitted the seats and suprisingly there was still a slight bit of 'bowing' going on mid span when 2 people were sitting and bouncing up and down. So a centre brace running vertically up to the centre chassis tubes was obviously required. Also as there was no provision for inboard harness mounting points it made sense to combine the 2 functions.

 

So with that in mind I welded up a U shape section made from the same 40x40x5 angle - fitted it over the propshaft and fully welded it in position and up to the chassis tubes (making sure the frame is wide enough to allow the UV joint on the prop to pass through in case I have to remove it). Please excuse the messy looking welding, it has penetrated well and is mighty strong but the appearance sometimes leaves a lot to be desired:-

 

Near_side_mid_1_zps1431a4bd.jpg

 

Off_side_mid_1_zps8c69ed23.jpg

 

 

Mid_sup_rear_zpscc16cf33.jpg

 

The standard holes provided in the chassis for the outer harness mounting points were too low and too far back really once this setup was in place so I decided to set some of the same 40x40x5 angle back into the frame running vertically to provide a new outer mount point which would be at the same height and position as the center ones:-

 

near_side_vert_1_zps156a60d0.jpg

 

 

off_side_vert_1_zps11befc7f.jpg

 

Off_side_vert_2_zps6c607455.jpg

 

Off_side_top_1_zps23ff3baf.jpg

 

Near_side_top_1_zpsdca06085.jpg

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It all feels incredibly strong now and seems to work ok, so I gave it a quick coat of smoothrite and took some pictures whilst it was drying:-

 

Painted_1_zps99ac0881.jpg

 

Painted_2_zps8f0db904.jpg

 

Mid_painted_zps1d957033.jpg

 

 

The flash reflecting off the wet paint makes it look like there is messy weld spatter everywhere on these pics - but it's just the flash reflection (honest guv):-

 

Painted_flash1_zps7b186260.jpg

 

Painted_flash2_zps21a2c7b2.jpg

 

 

Seats_Overall_zpsd5ade4e1.jpg

 

 

As mentioned above, any advice/problems with what I've done that you could point out would be gratefully appreciated. I would rather have to rework it now than after the examiner has shaken his head at it.

 

Cheers

Tony :)

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looks pretty good to me and in hindsight i would have done similar across the base. The only thing i wouldn't have done is have the inner seat belt mounting protrude into the cockpit so far. I know you have to go around the prop but i wonder if there is a different way to save that bit of space.

 

I'm not sure where that will be in relation to the seat but if its around hip around i would prefer to alter it so in a side collision your pelvis isn't pushed against the angle.

 

Another option could be how i did it which is take a piece of flat bar 4mm x 30mm x 200mm and put a twist in it of 90degrees. Then put a slight bend on the one end and bolt though your floor bar. The other end is now coming up and twisting to give a flat to attach the belt to. if that makes any sense.

 

hth

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nice work :yahoo:

and you car look good as well

 

Thanks Steamer - much appreciated. The more experienced eyes I can get cast over it the better :good:

 

Yes I can still get the prop out - I'm also planning to cut open and remove the floorplate inside the tunnel to allow the heat from the engine bay to get out so that will help too.

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looks pretty good to me and in hindsight i would have done similar across the base. The only thing i wouldn't have done is have the inner seat belt mounting protrude into the cockpit so far. I know you have to go around the prop but i wonder if there is a different way to save that bit of space.

 

I'm not sure where that will be in relation to the seat but if its around hip around i would prefer to alter it so in a side collision your pelvis isn't pushed against the angle.

 

Another option could be how i did it which is take a piece of flat bar 4mm x 30mm x 200mm and put a twist in it of 90degrees. Then put a slight bend on the one end and bolt though your floor bar. The other end is now coming up and twisting to give a flat to attach the belt to. if that makes any sense.

 

hth

 

Cheers for the advice agent_zed. There is actually a fair bit of room to the inside mounts when the seats are in (the KPD seats are pretty narrow as well as low profile). Funnily enough I've actually got less room to the outer mount points believe it or not. I'll try and get some more pics tonight looking from above when I've got the seats bolted back in.

 

Have you got any pics of how you did your inner mount by the way?

 

Cheers

Tony

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well there is always 10 different ways to do the same thing which is part of the fun. But here is how i did it

 

rw10zo.jpg

 

sorry the pic is bad its a bit too dark in the garage for my camera. basically the bolt head at the bottom of the pic is going through the bar you have across the underneith of the car. you should just be able to see the belt attached at the top of the picture and the twist in the steel to get the mounting to be inline with the seat.

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same pic but higher showing where the belt comes out

e04wpj.jpg

 

This is the only thing i am thinking could cause you an issue as you won't have a nice smooth tunnel as you will have to go around the angle you have put in. There is no reason you couldn't set it back inline to give extra support to the bar across the bottom. Then it would make boxing in the tunnel easier.

 

But its your car :)

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I think I can sort of see what you have done (as you say the pic is not the best but appreciate you having a go at getting one for me).

 

So - off the cross support bar, you've just got a length of metal strip (twisted so that its the right way) that the harness bolts to?

 

Is that all you need for the IVA? If so I've gone waaaaaayyy over the top :blush:

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hahaha always better to over-engineer than under. Yep its just a piece of flat with a twist. If you did do that make sure to use high tensile bolts to bolt it to your cross member as well as high tensiles for the seatbelt end.

 

A lot of cars have a similar bar or some are steel cable mounted in a similar fashion for the inner mount. I only went through SVA not IVA so might be best to check mounting specs but i can't see why it would fail. I just made sure my bar was bigger than what i've seen in production cars.

 

I put the twist so that the force is pulling on the mounting bolt in a forward direction and correcting the belt to go across the person flat.

 

Can anyone else see a reason this would now fail IVA?

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nothing wrong with going over the top, it's how I build my steam engines...errrrr and exmo ;) lol

 

As I mentioned before...can you still get your prop shaft in and out of the tunnel now that you've welded the angle in place? It looks like the UJ's will clear the angle on some pic but on other pics it looks very tight (probably just a trick of the camera angle).

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nothing wrong with going over the top, it's how I build my steam engines...errrrr and exmo ;) lol

 

As I mentioned before...can you still get your prop shaft in and out of the tunnel now that you've welded the angle in place? It looks like the UJ's will clear the angle on some pic but on other pics it looks very tight (probably just a trick of the camera angle).

 

:D Yes I did have a panic moment on that one too - but I've got 8mm clearance each side to the angle. Once the tunnel floor is cut, the prop will drop downwards at the diff end and then slide out backwards.

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hmm well 2 things come to mind.

 

1. It will work fine as you have it :)

2. another option could be do similar to what you have but with flat bar say 6mm so it is all inline with the top tubes. Then take another piece of flat at a 45 degree and run that from the bottom of the bar up to the tubes. everything is nicely hidden behind the panels. You have a triangle to stop forward force

did a bad sketch to show.

2guz1ie.jpg

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