NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

I am building C/S '69 Camaro and would like recommendations on seat and safety belt setup.

Safety is my number one priority, so I want to put in the 5-point belt. Any recommendations on how do do it, so it is NHRA legal. Are people cutting holes in their stock seats to accommodate the belts?

Buying a racing seat seems like the best and cheapest route but not legal according to the NHRA rule book.

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

I ran into a similar issue with my 77 Camaro with the high back bucket seats. I ended up marking the fabric on my seat and then took the seat apart and brought the cover to the upholstery shop and they cut the ovals out about 3/4" tall by 3" wide and then sewing in a piece of heavy fabric to create a sleeve that goes through the seat. Then I cut matching holes in the steel, foam, and plastic parts of the seat and put the seat back together using edge trim to cover up the sharp edges made when cutting the slots in the steel inner seat. It worked out really nice the outlets on the back of the seat line up with perfectly with the roll bar cross bar. The main trick was coming up with the sleeve of fabric to protect the belts as they pass through the seat.

I can take some pictures if you would like.

Chad

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

I cut a slit about 3 in. to pass the crotch strap through, and had an upholstery shop sew a sleeve into it. You can tuck the shoulder straps underneath the headrests. Good luck with the project!

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

i ran the belts thru the back of my seats ,made a slice and backed it with a aluminum oval cut out ,stitched the seat material in back of the seat cover ,looks great ,gmonde

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

On my 67 Firebird, I have the tab on back of the roll bar that the sholder straps bolt to, and belts just lay over the top of the seat at headrest area. The lap belts are bolted into the original seat belt locations, and for crotch strap,I welded a piece of 1/4" steel plate to the riser below the front of the seat, about 2" x 3" long, and drilled and tapped it for the seat belt bolt. Used a extra seat belt bolt from pass side. Works well, no cutting of seats, crotch belt does look bad, and all work well, and fit well.

Good luck,

Ken

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

I dont think you can run a true racing seat In stock.

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

If you want the 5-point belts to work as they are designed to work is it important to have the 5-point routed directly downwards or at a maximum of 20 degrees forward. Only way to do that with a stock seat is to make a hole in the seat.
If not done properly will you submarine when having a frontal crash.
Using Stock seats in a race car is nothing but stupid, but the rules are as they are...

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

Cutting the seat is best for the crotch strap but NHRA allows you to run it around the front of a stock seat instead, if you want. You can use stock mount bolts for the lap belts. You can wrap the shoulder belts around the cross tube if it is within 4" of your shoulder height (take a right angle from the seat back and measure down; a lot of seats have your back tilted back not vertical, so the measurement might be over 4" on the vertical.) NHRA tech will want to see that the belts can't slide sideways out of position if you wrap them around the tube. I put 6" between the vertical tubes for the headrest to retain the belts sideways. BTW, if you use stock seat belt bolts in the driveshaft tunnel, check for clearance to the driveshaft. A 4" shaft will get close; I cut the bolts shorter to end up just over flush with the floor reinforcement nut.

Re: NHRA Stock seat and belt setup
 

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. They are really helpful.