Despite Sparco's concerted efforts to thwart my plans by making a completely useless bracket for the Integra, I got them in over the weekend. I had to make some modifications to the base, but was able to get them exactly where I wanted them.

I wanted to install the seats without sliders to save the headroom and the expense. The way I installed them is pretty much the lowest possible solution, short of bolting the side mounts directly to the floor, which I didn't see a way to do effectively. I also have the seat bolted into the sidemounts in the lowest possible setting in back, and angled up in the front for a more comfortable recline. Overall I'm very pleased with the position when I'm seated.

So here's how I did it:

First off, the two bases were slightly different from each other in that the passenger side had a tab for mounting the stock belt buckle, but the driver's side didn't. No problem, I'll make one myself. I need to retain the stock belts so I can occasionally drive it on the street, and to and from events.

I also didn't want to have to hunt down a set of Honda buckles from another car to make this work, so I removed the stock buckles from the Integra seats and re-used them. I'll talk about what I did for the driver's side.

One recommendation I have is to buy a bench-top drill press. At $100 it is one of the best investments in my garage. Nothing worse than trying to drill metal with a hand drill and not being able to start your hole right where you want it because the bit wanders around before it bites. With the press, you can clamp your work down and drill with one hand.



First thing you want to do is drill out the holes where the base bolts to the stock locations in the floor. The bracket barely lined up when I just bolted it to the floor by itself, but once you get the seat on there it will be difficult to get the holes to lineup, so a larger hole helps a lot. I drilled them out to 1/2", which is a little bit larger than what Sparco provides.

With the sidemounts attached to the seat, and the whole thing placed on top of the base for a test fit before I got started, I saw that I wasn't going to be able to use any of the holes they provide. In addition, to get the seat centered on the wheel and pedals where I wanted it, I would have to shift the seat to the center of the car putting the whole thing slightly off center of the base. This meant I would have to add some additional metal to the base to bolt the left sidemount to.

I bought some heavy duty steel from Home Depot and cut it to fit. Here's what I ended up doing.



As you can see, the right side falls right along the base and I could bolt straight to it, but the left side was left hanging. The added piece gave me something to bolt to.

With everything in place I did another test fit and realized one of the bolts was hitting the frame of the car keeping it from lining up properly, so I had to remove a little bit of metal from the car. The dremel came in handy for this. Nothing like the feeling of cutting up the frame of your car with sparks shooting all over the place.

Here's the hole I made.



So, with everything lining up and ready to go, the last thing wast to make the mounting tab for the stock buckle. I pretty much recreated the same type of thing that was on the other Sparco base that had the tab in place.

Here's the bracket in place.



And then a pic showing the lap belt and stock buckle attached.



Here's one showing the passenger side bracket with the built-in tab.



I was originally going to use an eye-bolt with a clip-on harness adapter, but the eye-bolt stuck out to far and was hitting the exhaust tunnel. So I picked up the bolt-in hardware from OG Racing and was good to go.

A few more pics to show the final results.





I hope this helps anybody who might be looking to do the same install on their car. Have fun.

 

someone please correct me if I am wrong; but I thoguth the proper way to install the lap belt is for them to be mounted to the car and not the seat.

 

Although I would agree that mounting to the car is the better way to go, and I may make that change down the road, I think the current setup is okay. It's seems to be okay for the regular seatbelts in a stock Integra, as that is the way it is setup from the factory. Anyone alse have any info?

 

You should mount the lap belt for the harness to the floor with an eye hook and backing plate. In a serious collision that bracket you made <u>will</u> straighten out and/or break. Also, if you insist on using that bracket you should have washers "all up ons" (on every bolt/nut) to keep the bolts from sucking throught the bracket.

EDIT:
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> It's seems to be okay for the regular seatbelts in a stock Integra, as that is the way it is setup from the factory.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Remember that the stock lap belts are connected directly to the side of the seat, and are engineered by Honda to withstand a serious collision. I wouldn't ride in your car with that seatbelt setup. No offence, just my 2c.


Modified by Dr Pooface at 9:28 PM 8/25/2003

 

[QUOTE=Floyd]
I bought some heavy duty steel from Home Depot and cut it to fit. Here's what I ended up doing.[QUOTE]

First off, if you bought the steel from Home Depot it is not heavy duty, it is barely strong enough to hold up a curtain rod. If you want something structural, you have to buy it from a store that only sells steel and alluminum, and tell them what you are building, they will give you a MUCH HIGHER grade of steel. The Home Depot stuff is probably just melted down paint cans

I have to agree with Dr. Pooface (I never thought I would say something like that) That bracket is just going to rip out in any collision (even a minor one) after it straightens out and your body gets shoved under the steering column because you submarined under the lap belt because it loosened off and the shoulder belts didn't.

The factory seat belt mounts are tested to 5000 lbs without destruction. Does your belt mount look like it can hold up the weight of two cars without ripping out?

Sorry to be graphic, but I have seen something very similar happen. Ever seen a drivers body shoved up under the dashboard because they submarined under the lap belt? Not pretty.

 

Nice write-up.

 

Although you probably aren't giving the steel enough credit, seeing how it was stronger than both the sidemounts and the base, I see your point. I was affraid I might have to go the eyebolt/backing plate at some point. I might as well do it sooner than later.

 

Glad it worked out for ya!

-Victor

 

you need to reroute your stock belt so it at least touches you when you're belted in...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Doctor CorteZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need to reroute your stock belt so it at least touches you when you're belted in...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you have any suggestions for this? When I'm in the seat, the belt is definately "touching" me, but I would feel more comfortable if it was lower on my hips. Do you have any experience with this?

 

yeah , unbolt the stock seatbelt at the bottom and put it thru the seat and rebolt.

it makes a big difference.

 

I assume you only mean on one side. Then buckle the belt through the other lap-belt hole? I did consider this but dismissed it as next to impossible to manage. I have to be pretty much out of the seat to feed the buckle through the hole. Maybe it's easier than it looks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Floyd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I assume you only mean on one side. Then buckle the belt through the other lap-belt hole? I did consider this but dismissed it as next to impossible to manage. I have to be pretty much out of the seat to feed the buckle through the hole. Maybe it's easier than it looks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

YES. Its easy. Unbolt the seatbelt from the bottom on the door sill pillar (B pillar?)

Slip it through, and than back down to rebolt it to the area it came from. This will move the belt a couple inches closer to your body.

 

lol. I understand how to do it. I was implying that getting into the seat and getting the seatbelt buckled through the hole in the seat on the right side would be near impossible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Floyd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe it's easier than it looks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it is.

its not safe any other way , period.