How to Install a Racing Harness
By Rob Robinette
The cool thing is that you can do this mod and then
just unclip the racing harness and everything looks completely stock. The stock seat belt
can stay in place and be completely functional.
Seat belt install 
It's very easy to install the two seat belts, just
replace the two seat belt anchor bolts with eye bolts from Racer Wholesale and clip the harness to them. Just order standard harness eyebolts, they
fit, you don't need special metric bolts. Some sanctioning bodies require steel backing
plates (available from Racer Wholesale) on the eye bolts under the car. The right
side plate will have to be trimmed to fit because of the routing of the fuel lines under
the car.
Stock seat belt anchor bolt
replaced with Racer Wholesale eye bolt
Same thing on other side, note
stock seat belt is still in use
Crotch strap install
Follow the instructions that come with your harness for
the correct placement of the crotch anchor--it's farther aft than you would think. I
installed mine with the seat installed by measuring where I wanted the eye bolt, then
drilled from below. The hole is just outside the fuel line channel. I used a knife to cut
the carpet under the seat and pressed the eyebolt down through the hole and put on the
washer and nut, there isn't enough room for a backing plate. Be careful where you drill,
the fuel lines run right under the driver seat in a channel that sticks down about 1/2
inch. If you are going to drill from inside the car drill a small pilot hole in case you
mismeasure. Be sure to apply some primer to the new hole to prevent rust.
Shoulder harness install
Simpson sells two lengths of shoulder harnesses, you
should get the longer one. I followed Steve Cirian's Racing Harness
Installation instructions and took this picture (below) of
the eye bolt placement. It is about 1/2 inch to the right of the stud and about 1/8 inch
forward of it (which is different from Steve's How To). If I had placed it where he
suggested the backing plate from Racer Wholesale (Racer Wholesale 1998 Web Site) wouldn't have fit.
Realize that there are FUEL LINES DIRECTLY BELOW where
you have to drill, so be careful. Drill a 1/8 inch pilot hole in the location shown in the
picture. Put a flashlight over the hole and slide under the car to see where the hole is.
Loosen the fuel line hold down bolt (10mm) nearest the hole so you can move the fuel lines
a little to slide the backing plate into position. Verify the hole in the backing plate
matches up with the pilot hole and finish drilling the hole to the proper size. Put some
Lock-Tite on the eye bolt threads and put it in the hole. Have someone hold it with a
large wrench while you slide under the car and put the eye bolt nut on with a ratchet
wrench.
I used a screw-lock chain link from the local ACE
Hardware store to attach the belts (lower photo). Since the photos were taken I have
rotated the eye bolt 90 degrees so the harness hangs better.
Harness eyebolt under the rear deck
rug
The finished product
Rob Robinette
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