Lightweight Carpet

[Injuneer]

Brain fart.... I thought you were posting some existing photos... not the ones from the car from Washington. Now I remember, those are the chassis in Washington

[fastTa]

Do you know where in the NHRA rule book it talks about the seats being bolted to the crossbrace?

[Dave M]

You want the car to look as stock as possible? You've got a frickin' parachute attached to the back!!!

[fastTa]

LOL!

I just don't want a gutted interior look. I want the interior and exterior to look as factory as possible besides of course the dead give-aways like the cage, quay spoiler, 28 inch slicks, and chute.

[Injuneer]

I'll have to look in the NHRA rule book when I get home. Its in "General Requirements".... section 16 or 17. I think there is a side view of the seat with the requirements shown. They get sort of general about aftermarket seats, also requiring that they be attached to the frame rather than the floor, but that's a little difficult with the uni-body cars. The part about the "double locking" requirement on the slider comes from the Summit catalog.... they sell a "double lock" slider, and note that it meets NHRA reg's. They do not make that claim for their standard slider.

There is also a requirement that the hoop can be no more than 6" behind the driver's helmet. Mine is probably a little more than that, if I slide the seat forward where I like to drive at the track. I need to keep the back brace "adjustable" so I can position the seat back far enough to meet the 6" requirement when they check the bar.... at least when (and if) I go to a cage.

I need to look at George's 30th SS.... he has the certified cage. They made him drop the seat on the floor, because there is another part in the requirements for the roll cage, that specifies the hoop has to be 3" above the drivers helmet, and the halo needs to be above the helmet. The only way to accomplish that in a 4th Gen is by putting the seat on the floor, at least if you are close to 6-ft tall.

[fastTa]

Thanks Fred, let me know what you find.

[Injuneer]

2004 NHRA Rulebook, Section 16 - General Requirements:

6:2 UPHOLSTERY, SEATS

The driver's seat of any car in competition must be constructed, braced, mounted, and upholstered to provide full back and shoulder support. The driver's seat must be supported on the bottom and back by the frame and crossmember. Except as noted in SFI Specifications, seats must be bolted with four bolts (and nuts and washers) on the bottom and one bolt in the rear into the crossbar; all bolts must go into frame or crossbraces. Ball pin locks for seat attachment prohibited in all classes. All seats must be upholstered, or as noted under Class or SFI Requirements. Properly braced, framed, supported seats of aluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, or double-layer poly (accessory seats) permitted. single-layer fiberglass seats must have steel tube framework, 1/2-inch minimum O.D., for support. Aftermarket seats must have reinforced head rest. Magnesium seats prohibited.

[fastTa]

That is definitely interesting. I don't know that I have ever seen anyone bolt their seat(s) into the crossbar?

"The driver's seat must be supported on the bottom and back by the frame and crossmember."

This part you and I are OK on I think. Since our cars are considered to have a uni-body with sub-frames, I'm pretty sure they are referencing the crossmember to be the "stamped' crossmember welded to the floor pan from the factory.

*I think*

Are these class specific rules?

[Injuneer]

Not class specific.... "General Requirements" are just that... rules that are applicable to all classes, except where noted on specific items.

If you look in the JEG's or Summit catalog, you will see various designs used to attach the seatback to the crossbar. The Summit plastic seat features "two recessed locations so you can anchor it to a roll bar".

Note from the Kirkey online catalog:

"All Kirkey seats are designed to be bolted directly to the roll cage of the vehicle."

[fastTa]

The owner of the camaro made several provisions to the cage to mount various accesories, gauges, etc., so I'm curious if there might be a mounting point already there?

I guess I will have to wait and see!

I looked in the safety section of Jegs and Summit and I don't see anything related to bolting the seats to a croosbar.

What section are you looking in?

[fastTa]

I think I may have found what you were telling me about.

Is this it?



Just brainstorming but I think I would like the idea of maybe some .87" wall thickness x 1" chromoly tubing for the adjustable arms. Would be much stronger and look better I think.

What do you think?

[Injuneer]

My roll bar was set up with a 1" chrome moly tube about 2" long facing straight forward off the cross-bar. There was a rectangular pad about 4" x 2.5" that pushed flat against the back of what was then my stock seat. The pad was on what must have been a 3/4" chrome moly tube that inserted into the 1" tube on the cross-bar. The idea was for me to pick the seat position I liked, and then cut the 3/4" tube so that when it inserted into the 1" tube it would position the pad right against the back of the seat. In effect, it kept the seat back from collapsing backward, but didn't do anything to keep it from falling forward.

My thinking is to simply put a longer tube on the pad so it sticks back as far as the plate tab originally intended for bolting the harness straps to the cross-bar. And then put a tab on the end of the longer tube so it can be bolted to the harness tab. Put a few extra holes along the length of the tab, and it becomes "adjustable".

The Corbeau seat has a metal plate across the back, that holds the harness pass-throughs, and reinforces the seat, which is really no more than a tube frame with fabric stretched around it. I figure I would have to have an upholstery shop take the fabric loose, drill two holes through the metal back plate for the "pad" to bolt on, then put a hole in the back of the seat cover so the tube would stick through it. Like you, I really don't want the car to look crappy, so whatever I do is going to look better than the JEG's stuff.

I just need someone to tell me if what I plan to do would pass NHRA certification in the event I decide to add to the roll bar to make it a roll cage.

[fastTa]

I am going to call the San Antonio Raceway and ask the track director (Dennis). We have spoken a couple of times and is a pretty nice guy. He is going to be one of the people witnessing my comp license runs. He is very familiar with NHRA/IHRA rules. I will ask him his thoughts on this and let you know.