03-31-2010, 11:28 PM
By no means am I a safety expert; as stated above, Kaan would be the best person on the forum to guide you. I also do not take the easy button unless it makes good sense (unnecessarily endangering my life isn't one of them).
The case for my car is probably significantly different from yours. When I had my seats, harnesses, and rollbar installed, the floor panel was old, rusty, and crusty - not exactly ideal for integrating a backing plate into. Therefore, the seat mounts were built with a provision to have an eyelet for the harnesses to hook to.
This really doesn't bother me for a few reasons. A) The sheet metal that is the floor of a Z would need a considerable amount of reinforcement to provide an adequate mounting point for a harness. Comparatively, you're working with 26 years of progress on your car... B) I view the sub belt as a supplemental restraint. I feel that the shoulder and lap belt will 9 times out of 10 hold you firmly into your seat when properly adjusted. The sub belt comes in on that other 10% (or less) and supplements the restraint system to ensure that your torso doesn't slip out from under the lap belt. Even if the seat somehow sheared away from its mounts and is able to "float" in the car, your body is not going to be capable of coming out of the seat because there's a piece of reinforced fabric running between each limb. C) Piper did it knowing that the car is being built to race. I honestly trust their judgment more than my own in the area of harnesses and rollbars.
The case for my car is probably significantly different from yours. When I had my seats, harnesses, and rollbar installed, the floor panel was old, rusty, and crusty - not exactly ideal for integrating a backing plate into. Therefore, the seat mounts were built with a provision to have an eyelet for the harnesses to hook to.
This really doesn't bother me for a few reasons. A) The sheet metal that is the floor of a Z would need a considerable amount of reinforcement to provide an adequate mounting point for a harness. Comparatively, you're working with 26 years of progress on your car... B) I view the sub belt as a supplemental restraint. I feel that the shoulder and lap belt will 9 times out of 10 hold you firmly into your seat when properly adjusted. The sub belt comes in on that other 10% (or less) and supplements the restraint system to ensure that your torso doesn't slip out from under the lap belt. Even if the seat somehow sheared away from its mounts and is able to "float" in the car, your body is not going to be capable of coming out of the seat because there's a piece of reinforced fabric running between each limb. C) Piper did it knowing that the car is being built to race. I honestly trust their judgment more than my own in the area of harnesses and rollbars.