Great post!!! Love detailed pic's of peoples projects. Excellent job!!

 

street legal Schroths have a release patch stiched into the shoulder area. What this allows you to do is release the the tension of the belt so you can be extracted from the car. Check with the company you purchased them from and they should be able to explain it much better than I have here. I know the tracks around Indiana, Ohio, and Wisc. require a cage with your set up.

 

Clyde,

Your reference to the "street legal" Schroth belts led me to do some research, and I found out on the Soloracer.com Web site (a source for autocross equipment) that my belts (Profi III asm) actually are US-DOT approved. I didn't realize that.

They also have the safety device you were referring to, but it's not exactly as you described.

The ASM (anti-submarining) system is essentially a Z fold built into the inboard shoulder harness. This fold is firmly sealed down (glue? tape? I don't know), but in an impact it releases, giving you a little extra deceleration, but only on one side, so your torso rotates slightly. This is supposed to keep you from sliding under the lap belt. For more information, see this FAQ. This feature was one of the main reasons I decided on the Schroths.

Schroth makes several 2-inch belts (primarily for autocrossing and rallying--mine are 3-inch, full competition size) that can be installed at the standard belt mounting points for certain street cars. But the 350Z is not on the list, and I think it probably won't be, since the rear mount for the shoulder straps generally has to hook to the rear seat's lap belt or C pillar mount. The Z ain't got either! The Z will probably always require a custom install similar to mine.

So thanks again for giving me the impetus to learn a little more about my belts.

 

I knew I had the right idea but not the correct explaination. I'm glad those belts will work because you went through a major expense with a good looking install. They will make a major impact on the way you can handle your car. They were one of the best mods I ever made.

 

Clyde,

Are you planning to change your rear mounting point to make it a little more sercure? Since you already have the belts, it shouldn't be too hard or expensive.

 

Okay, I re-read the installation manual for my Schroth belts and find that they are not the street legal ones.

The DOT approved one is the Profi III FE, mine are the Profi III. The only difference is the cam-lock buckle, which on the FE has an orange push-button for release. Mine has a rotating ****.

The DOT approved one works more like a standard seat belt release, and so is supposedly easier for emergency workers to figure out if you're unconscious.

But I don't think I'll have any problems with my belts at the track events I'm going to.

 

A week or two in, I've realized that the discomfort I experienced with the harnesses the first day was not because they are stiff. They are actually pretty flexible right out of the box.

It's just that, passing through the headrest rods, the shoulder harnesses come pretty close to the neck, and when snugged down tight the tension keeps them flat, thus cutting into the side of my neck. So I ordered the padded covers, and now they're much more comfortable.

BTW, I tried running them outside the rods, and that's definitely more comfortable. But even though there's that padded bit that sticks up at the edges of the seat that you might think would hold the straps in place, I think there's too much chance that they would slip off the edges of the seat in an impact. Inside the rods is safer, if slightly less comfortable.

 

Nice install. I didnt know anyone else knew of og racing. I get all my roll bar pading and some other trinkets from them.

 

question to commasense: Did you look into any of the after-market brackets or rods to fasten the harness? There are two Porsches at autocross events who have a bar which extends across the back just behind the doors. Welding is not involved and I don't know what it is called. It isn't a roll bar/cage, just a bar behind the seats.

 

Harness bars. I had considered a harness bar for my '86 944 Turbo, and although I haven't specifically checked for one for the 350Z, my assumption was that the car's too new for one to have been fabricated yet.

But now that I think about it, the harness bar for the 944T was a guide, not a mount. The shoulder straps clipped in to the rear seat belt mounts, and ran over the bar so that the strap coming off your shoulder was parallel to the ground, and not angled too sharply.

So a similar device may not be possible in the Z, since there's no stock rear mounting point.

Of course, if you install a full-blown roll bar or cage, you could mount the harnesses to that.

 

I'm certainly thinking of what I can do to make the car safer. My son has a 510 with seat, roll bar and harness. I like the feeling of being planted in the seat and having a margin extra of safety.
Some day a roll bar/cage will make sense for the Z. I'm sure someone will come up with a trick cage that won't require removing the interior. In the meantime you look pretty sharp sitting in that Lemans--so maybe someone will come up with a harness bar that requires little modification to the interior. Your setup actually involves very little modification. Probably doesn't lower resale value either.
Thanks for the details of your project.

 

What I rally want is a good "half cage" basically the roll cage just without the front section. Everything would be behind the seats. Then, just mount the race harness to that.