DeTomaso Mailing List: June 98, Message #428

On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, George P. Dausch IV wrote:
> In the process of lowering my floor pans, I have also narrowed my sills
> to widen the pan area.  

George, why are you lowering your floor pans?  You're not that tall, are you?

What do you gain by widening the pan?  It seems like the net effect will be
to allow you to get even _more_ left offset of the seat relative to the
wheel and pedals...


> Works great, looks good; however, this
> necessitated the removal of the seat belt retractor unit that used to
> nest in the rocker panels.  The seat belts with the separate shoulder
> unit was a big pain in the ass to get hooked up anyway.
> 
> In conclusion, I need new belts.  Self retracting would be neat, maybe
> mounted on the bulkhead.  Looking forward to track time, would these
> qualify?  Any suggestions?

The important thing to consider first is that the belt must be anchored
verty solidly.  It obviously won't do you much good if it pulls out when you
need it most.  Is the bulkhead sufficiently sturdy to retain the belt
anchor?  I dunno - the forces will be totally different (from a different
direction relative to the mounting bolt(s)) from the original mounting
position.

A tech inspector at a track is likely to look askance at your relocation of
your safety belt anchor (I know I would): they won't know that you're a
pretty careful thorough kind of guy.  If they notice the relocation, that is.

You could always add a good harness bar and 4-way harnesses for the track...

-Andy
#3822

72 Pantera - Rocky         91 Miata - Steve (bionic)            96 A4Q - Rudolf
80 928 - Phantom               97 Miata - Nadia                84 RZ350 - Sting