Competition harness with 3" shoulder and lap belts, and a camlock system. Red is the only color I could find them in. Optional bolt-in or snap-in kits available.
The TRW/Sabelt line of harnesses are sold a la carte. I chose to buy the 3" pull-up lapbelt, 3" individual shoulder belts, and 2 snap-in kits to secure both ends of the lapbelt. I skipped out on the anti-submarine (crotch) belt, but I can buy it later if I need to.
The snap-in kit (Sparco brand)consists of an eyebolt, nut, washer and a plate with a snap lock to run the seatbelt through. The snap-in plate has a 2" wide opening, but I simply folded over the edges of the 3" belt and got it through. Folding the belt over is completly safe because the end of the belt that attaches to the camlock has a 2" wide opening too and that comes as is from TRW/Sabelt. There is no 3" wide snap-in kit anyway. The advantage of the snap-in system over the bolt-in is you can use the eyebolts as a substitute to the stock hexbolts securing the original seatbelts. That means you can easily add/remove the harness while retaining the stock seatbelt. I commute with the stock seatbelt because it's convenient, but on autocross days I snap in the harness.
The camlock is OK. It is permanently attached to the right lapbelt and has 4 more openings for the other lapbelt, 2 shoulders, and 1 anti-submarine. I understand they make a 6 point system which has 2 anti-submarine points (safer for your private parts), but this seems a bit overkill for autocrossing. What I don't like about the camlock is the lever mechanism. It releases all the belts in 1/4 turn (too easy), and the lever is pointed towards your crotch. I have heard some racers have accidentally released their harness by swiping the camlock lever in heavy steering efforts.
Superb!! For autocrossing this make a huge difference.
Install time: 30 minutes
Install procedure:
1. Start by unbolting the 2 bottom bolts to the existing seatbelt.
2. Substitute the Sparco eyebolt for the stock hexbolt and put it back together.
3. Thread the lapbelt straps through the snap-in plates.
4. Snap on the plates to the eyebolts.
5. Loop the shoulder straps around the crossbar of the rollbar.
6. Adjust the straps to size and you're done.
I have a BSP rollbar in my car so it was extremely easy to loop the shoulder belts around the cross brace.
If you don't have a rollbar with a crossbrace, you would have to fasten the shoulder belts with a snap-in or bolt-in kit somewhere on the rear deck. This would require drilling holes in the car.
I would highly recommend installing a competition rollbar before you spend money on a harness.
I would not recommend a harness for daily driving. I went through a highway toll with the harness and couldn't reach for a toll ticket because I was strapped in. I had to release the harness to reach the ticket. There's no easy way you can secure the harness while driving because you need both hands to secure the lapbelt.
Note: The belts have metal adjusters and securing plates that are guaranteed to scratch up your leather seats.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
| Back to Product Reviews | 18 July, 1998 |