Really crappy english design!

[yellowss7]

It was recommended that I should replace my 12 year old 6 point harnesses, as it could be a tech fail issue. So I orderded a nice Willans set made specifically for the Caterham and figured it would be a nice simple job. WRONG! I started on the passenger side, figuring that I have a trackday on Monday and didn't want to run into any issues.

 

I started with the lap belts and got the first bolt out without too much trouble, replaced that side and the had the next bolt almost out when it wedged in tightly to the seat runner and after several attempts no joy. I Decided I'd just take out the whole seat assembly. Four bolts no big deal. Wrong again. No captive nuts or bolts, Arms not long enough to hold the bolt down while loosening the nut under the car. :deadhorse:

Got it out and recalled during my assembly process 12 years ago, that it was a real pain installing them. Duh. Finally got the bolts undone and seat assembly comes out, belts go in Simple! Wrong again, now can't hold bolts down when reassembling. Call a neighbor over and finish the job in 3 minutes. Other side goes alot better, Just needed an extra set of hands to get er done. :dupe:

 

I think I spent almost as much time trying to get the submarine straps adjusted properly. :svengo: Well, job's done, and I'm beat. Much more fun to drive than to wrench. Sorry, just had to vent.

 

Tom

[jimrankin]

I have an old set of vise grips I welded a 30" piece of pipe to that I use in an emergency to hold the "other side" for me. You can clamp them on the nut or clamp them on the wrench on the nut and usually you can get one hand on the pipe and one hand on the "tighten" side. It usually works and it's way easier than asking the wife to come out and get gritty laying under the car for you. LOL.

[Klasik-69]

My 2004 Caterham is also somewhat of a pain but less than you encountered. The seat has to be removed to have access to the lap belts and anti-sub belts attachments. Seat rails have allen head bolts on top and nuts and washers underneath. I simply put the allen wrench into the bolt head and worked the nut underneath without issues.

 

The issue I ran into is that the attachment plate for the Caterham belts have a 0.545" hole and most harness have a 0.375" or 0.435" hole to accomodate swivel mounting of the plate. So I had to remove the new harness attachment plates and drill them out, six of them per side. The lap belt attachment is a bolt into a threaded bushing welded to the frame. There isn't a nut to hold onto (Thank God). The anti-sub belts use a nut and bolt attachment and having long arms is a definite plus, or a friend who isn't doing anything at the time.

 

Overall, the process of changing the belts to the new Racequip belts took about 3 hours from beginning to end. I went with Racequip since they have the smoothest camlock design and their belts are the best value. In comparison, the stock Caterham belts were adequate but I would rate them as minimal. Racequip uses 3" webbing for both the shoulder and lap belts, 2" for the anti-sub belts. They are also fexible enough to use with a Hans devise without the need to have them stitched back to a 2" size at the shoulder. And I really like the looks of the red harnesses in the black 7.

 

I also ran into some SCCA issues with the stock Caterham roll bar and its rather minimal attachment so I welded another attachment plate towards the front that utilizes the outside most harness attachment bolt hole. It is very solid now.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Klasik-69