dragon11689

iTrader: (3)

Hey what's up guys? I have question in regards to fabricating or cutting a hole in the bottom of a sparco fighter model seat for the anti-submarine belts on a 6 point harness. The seat is only meant to take 4 point harnesses, but I was advised that we can simply modify it to take 6 point. My question is, would this be considered safe even though the harness belts can come through the bottom of the seat? Would there be any difference as opposed to a seat that has a built in hole for these belts? Any solid advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Blurvision

iTrader: (4)

Its a fiberglass seat? I would think its a bad idea to put any sort of hole into fiberglass. It may introduce a place for the seat to fail and crack from use or in an impact.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Not sure where you're getting your advice from, but cutting a hole into any type of composite or fiberglass seat is an extremely BAD idea. First, the seat gets its overall strength from its molded shape, which will be severely compromised by any sort of damage to the structure. Second, the mounting stability will also be affected in the event of an accident and you could be badly injured by the seat itself. Third, have you ever seen the sharp edges created by cutting fiberglass? Even putting a gasket around the hole you cut wouldn't guarantee fibers from possibly getting in contact with the business end of your backside.

dragon11689

iTrader: (3)

Yeah that is what I was afraid of.

Yeah I had a feeling something didn't sit right with making cuts into fiberglass because it literally cracks and shatters on the exterior of the car. I didn't think about the sharp edges, thanks for mentioning that. I would like to have my backside and frontside business completely intact.

Thanks for the input guys.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

There is only one person I would contact about this, Sparco.

dragon11689

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I emailed them before I posted this thread. I was just waiting on their response and here it is:

"Thank you for contacting Sparco USA!

Yes, it will compromise the structural rigidity of the seat and we DO NOT recommend you doing that. The fighter seat is not an FIA rated seat so you wouldn't be able to use that for any competition racing. All of our competition seats have the 5th harness slot which will allow you to use a 5 or 6 point belt. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Thank you"

Thanks guys. Hopefully this thread will help someone in the same predicament before they decide on fabrication.