The seat frame is now welded...
The seat frame is now welded in place to the cage. It isattached to the cage at three locations. All of the beltattachment points are welded to the seat frame except the shoulder belts.
Out on the bench, weld all joints. Weld part of a joint, and then go tothe next joint and weld part of it. Repeat this process of movingaround, partly welding joints until all is complete. This will minimizewarpage of the unit and help to maintain its fit in the chassis.
Still on the bench, we fitted the Oval Craft seatback into the frame.All the mounting holes were drilled, and the seat was secured with7/16-inch Grade 8 bolts. The bolt size may seem like overkill, but usinga bolt this size allows the load to be spread over a larger area.
The seat is ready to be bolted...
The seat is ready to be bolted in. Near the front edge, the seat restson the bottom crossbar. Notice it is cradled down between the side rails.
Now is the time to locate the attachment points for the belts. CSCsupplies tabs for mounting all of these. We used some of theirs and someparts from A&A Manufacturing. From CSC we used two tabs on the frontcrossbar to bolt to the seat. Additionally, CSC's tabs were used forside seat mounting bolts, and one tab is used for a five-point harnesson the front crossbar.
A&A has a new part, a "U" shaped piece used for belt attachments. Youshould always mount belts between two tabs, putting the belt attachmentbolt in double shear. The A&A bracket lets us weld one tab in place andstill have the attachment bolt in double shear. We used these for thelap belt holders.
The shoulder mounts are shown...
The shoulder mounts are shown in two ways. The best way, ifthere is room, is the double shear tab on the right. There mustbe room for the hardware without it touching the seat. In caseswhere space is not available, weld a single tab straight down off thecage crossbar. This location makes the belt pull in line with the tab.Never weld on a tab pointing straight back in this location.
For the shoulder belts, we did it two ways. If you have room, use thedouble shear bracket. If the seat is too close to the cage bar to allowthe adjuster or mounting hardware to clear the seat, then use a singletab pointing down as shown in the photos. Be careful to mount all thebelt hardware in the correct location.
We selected a six-point harness from Leaf Racewear. The lap belts shouldangle up at about a 45 degree angle from their attachment point. Theyshould follow a path across the pelvic area of the driver. The mountshould be located so that the belt does not pull against the edge of thehole where it goes through the seat. The double shear bracket here isnice to have because the belt hardware can freely pivot.
At no time should the belt adjusting hardware contact the metal seat. Itmust be on either inside, or preferably outside, the seat. Such contactcan cause improper adjustments as well as the infamous "dumping" where abelt is stacked against one side of the hardware. Dumping could causeshearing against a hardware edge.