I have a date organised for my SVA, 11th May, and was just checking a few things this morning. I measured the upper mounting on my 4 point harnesses and the measurement is approximately 430-440mm.

In the manual is states that the upper mounting must be a minimum of 450mm. Do you think this is a definite fail? i mean do they give any leeway at all on these things or will it have to be 450mm.

The other thing that compounds the problem is that i am 6'5" and when i put the harness on it looks worse, due to it sloping up over my shoulders.

My other question is regarding the steering rack shafts, is it Ok to cover them with pipe insulation and wrap them with tape? what have people used for the bottom ball join nut cover? it is larger than the standard size nut covers i have.

Sorry for the multiple questions, its just that i am starting to panic slightly about the test now!!

Any guidance welcome.

My personal view is irrespective of if you'll fail (which i believe you will) the seat belt height thing is there for a reason.

In days of old, the precursor to this web site was an email list and one of the patrons was a bike policeman. He explained why a lot of the rules we all thought where silly where in place. The sharpe edges for example are because most accidents happen at less than 20mph, at that speed serious cuts are more likely so if we remove sharpe edges ......

anyway, seat belt, basically in a crash if the belt is below your shoulder your back will get compressed as it tries to go forward. If its a really bad crash this can break your spine. Raise the mounting point to be safe.

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Originally posted by albertz
My other question is regarding the steering rack shafts, is it Ok to cover them with pipe insulation and wrap them with tape? what have people used for the bottom ball join nut cover? it is larger than the standard size nut covers i have.

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Seat belt height, difinate fail.
Rack covers, use electric cable shrouds (type for steel wire armour cable) available in B & Q.
Nut covers, try Tifosi on web.

Thanks for the advice guys, to be honest you are just confirming what i thought already. The seatbelt mountings were positioned before i bought the seats and i did not realise how much padding was in the bottom of the baby cub seats, when added to the seat adjuster track.

I think i will redo the mounts for the two reasons, personal safety and SVA. Bit of a bummer job at this stage of the build but i suppose it has to be done.

One other point, in the manual is says that the seatbelt mounting bolt may not have a grade shown. Does that mean that it can or can't or that it definetly cant? Its a bit of a play on words but didn't seem very clear to me.

Firstly, I will second the use of the cable shrouds, they look spot on, just trim the thin end so it just squeezes over the trackrod, then put it on first, then the locknut and trackrod end, set the tracking and pull the shroud along over it. If you are worried about this, smear some grease over the metal, then fill the shroud with silicone sealer. The grease will stop it sticking but it will be a proper moulded part and fit really well!

On the seatbelt bolts, my take on it would be if they are normal bolts, they need to be ones with appropriate markings on the heads. If they are clip on harnesses with "eyebolts" then the eyebolts(probably!) don't need markings, as they are almost universally high tensile material anyway (as they are designed for lifting etc!)

If i remember correctly you cant use the clip on harnesses for SVA, it needs to be bolt on ones.

whilst on the subject, does anyone know the thread for the harness bolts?

Clip ons passed at Derby on my mates car years ago and I don't think they've changed the rules on them.

i know people that have failed because of clip on ones, its been discussed on here too IIRC.

Something to do with them having the potential to be unclipped (or half unclipped) by people fiddling with your car and you not noticing until its too late

harness bolts are 7/16"unf

Ned.

thanks Ned,

Sorry for the Hijack but does the seatbelt anchor bolt run all the way through the threaded tube on the MK chassis or any other chassis with SVA approved seatbelt mounts, if it does do people put a locking nut on the end?

Clip on harnesses are fine, most people on the westy forum have passed SVA with clip on harnesses, as well as hundreds on here. My only worry with them would be the radius requirements, but it seems there is no problem there either.

Not usually, they shouldn't need one. If it was on a saloon it would be inside the sill anyway.