6 Point Harness and Lowered Floor - Caterham supplied spacer?

[brianjhall31]

Has anyone else found that the Caterham supplied bush/spacer (P/N 30P065A) is too short.  My car is a factory built SV with lowered floors and the bush/spacer supplied is approx 20mm too short.  Bush supplied is 30mm in length.

[Viblue7]

Hi Brian

On my S3 - I have between the chassis and lowered floor ( as CC supplied fitting details)

30P065A spacer

Harness mounting plate

S65L swivelling insert

S156 spacer washer

If any of the above are missing it may explain the difference you refer to

Martin

[AG2728]

Like this?

[7 wonders of the world]

I think there may have been variations over the years, easiest wat is to measure from the underside of the weld on tab to the floor and see how much your short, adding top hat to spacer etc.

If its just a small amount you can add a suitable washer.

 

[brianjhall31]

As you can see, not a small difference!   Have all the other correct parts i.e. top hat spacer, crinkle washer, belt mounting plate, bush.  What is apparent from your photo is the mounting plate on my chassis cross member, looks like it is upside down!

[7 wonders of the world]

I agree my brackets are the other way up, you will probably need a longer bolt too.

If CC are closed you could have another spacer made locally if anyone is open other wise look on ebay you can normally buy this kind of thing ready machined up.

[Shortshift]

Brian - as above, probably the quickest solution will be 5 minutes on eBay to find a steel spacer cut to the correct length.

Reminds me that this job remains on my 'to do' list, as my crotch straps are still mounted directly to the obsolete seat brackets.  Naughty, naughty...  But it's such a pain getting seats out to gain access and so on (well, getting seats out is easy - it's getting them back in which is the challenging bit).

James

[brianjhall31]

Hi James,

I've already ordered some longer spacers off eBay.  Just a PITA that my Chassis was constructed with the brackets orientated like that!  Its just like when I bought a new boot cover and found you can't remove the PAX side outer seat belt bolt without loosening the FIA Roll Cage!

Could be worse. When Airbus made the first A380 we discovered that France and Germany we using different CATIA versions and all the wiring looms were too short to connect to the components when installed in Toulouse, cue production delay, reboot and new Program VP.

[Drumster]

Brian, your not alone my 1993 chassis has the bracket in the same orientation as yours. Not a problem for me though as I have an S3 without lowered floors.

[Englishmaninwales]

The reason why the chassis lug is orientated that way on older chassis (mine is 1994) is that they were originally for the pre S Type seat mount bracket.

Malcolm

[gulf 1]

I too did this job 2 days ago. I fitted  the spacer on the lowered floor then the stepped spacer on top with the wavey  washer on it along with the belt mount then slid it all under the bracket on the rear bulkhead and fed the bolt up from under the car then fitted the plain washer and lock but. I figured the nearer the belt mount to the bulkhead bracket the stronger it would be. Simples.

[brianjhall31]

Hi gulf1,  Understand you logic.  Don't understand why the build manuals all show the mounting buckle on the top hat spacer bush on the floor with the aluminium spacer above. Maybe there is a problem with the seat in some configurations?  Whatever my aluminium spacer is 20mm too short so stuck waiting for a delivery from the eBay supplier before I can finish.

For others future info the CC supplied part 30P065A is 30mm in length so check your car before ordering as correct length spacer can be found on eBay.

[Drumster]

Malcolm, thanks for the info. I had some supports made up to help take the weight directly off the floorplan, far better than the aluminium U-channels originally fitted 

[brianjhall31]

Well I've got the job done now using "locally made" spacers.  Interesting that I had to make them different lengths as the measured gap was 4mm longer on the inboard bracket.

Now the interesting investigation is why isn't there an official drawing showing that the straps from the crotch belts have to be routed on top of the standard Caterham leather seats (if there is one I counldn't find it?).   I put everything back in (using all my socket set extensions fitted together to lock the rear seat mount bolts whilst torquing the nuts by feel) and them spent some considerable time thinking do they really come all the way under the frame and cushion and back to the buckle?

Google to, Blachat Tech Forum, advice, opinions, individual modifications, horror photos of injuries, but where is the official stuff? 

[Shortshift]

I think, Brian, that the 5th/6th straps are used with mainly Tillets (or similar) which have an appropriate cut-out in the seat base.

It'll be interesting to see what experience people have of using them with normal/leather seats.  Unless you get the seat cushion modified to have an appropriate aperture added, then I guess you do have to sit on them directly.  They would be inneffective, I believe, if you routed them underneath the seat, forward to the front of the cushion and then back towards the buckle.  You'd submarine a long way if you had to put them to the test!

Of course, this could be the perfect reason to upgrade to Tillets...

James

[Drumster]

As far as I know there is nothing wrong with the crotch strap on top of the seat squab. Mrs A is living proof after putting it to a test in a head-on collision! But, as with any harness, they are only efficient if fastened properly.