Slotted Recaro Seat Bottom for 5/6 Point Harness

[cdb95z28]

Full disclosure ! I'm making this post here to help my for sale thread in the Interior Parts & Accessories subforum. But maybe it will inspire others with the Recaros to use a 5/6 point harness. Left Coast32 did this mod on their Z/28 and they gave me inspiration to do it too. Here's a bunch of pics of this mod.


I tried sitting on my Schroth 6 point anti-submarine belts, but that was very uncomfortable and technically, it was not proper. So I slotted my 1LE Recaro seat bottom and cut a hole in the metal seat bottom. Proper routing of the belt from the floor is tricky but doable. It just will limit the for-aft movement of the power seat when everything is complete. But on the Z/28, which does not have power Recaros, this makes the install and use much easier.

I'm selling the seat bottom here:

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=599988







The problem with routing anti-sub belts between the bottom and seat back is that you then sit on them. And they wrap around your groin and under your ass, it is not very secure or the way that SFI or Schroth intends for anti-sub belts to be mounted. Not to mention the safety is compromised.

This mod was such a massive improvement in how the 6 point harness worked. It was comfortable when using it on track and the anti-sub belt would just flip forward, out of the way, when using the OE 3 point belt on the street. The 6 point worked like an anti-sub slot on race seats work.

I took a chance on getting the alignment correct, between where I mounted the sub belts on the floor to where they came up into the seat. There is not much room for forward or rearward movement of the seat and having the sub belt not run into anything.

The Z/28 Recaros would be easier to do this to because they are not power seats. The motor is the biggest obstacle on the power Recaros.

As for the slot, I calculated where it should be based on published recommendations by Schroth and other safety groups. Cutting the Recaro seat cover and foam was the easy part, cutting a slot in the seat frame was a little more difficult because you don't want metal grinding debris thrown everywhere. There is a stamped steel bottom to the seat framework. Once I had that hole cut, and the seat cover hole open, It was just a matter of installing the plastic bezel.

I also used a Brey Krause harness bar with their lap mounts.

To make the complete system you would need the Recaro seat bottom and included slot trim piece, a harness bar or roll bar, lap belt mounts (included with a Brey Krause Harness Bar) and a high quality 6 point harness. I used a Schroth Flexi 2x2 6 Point Harness on my setup. You could use a tank plate to mount the anti-sub belts too. I have one for sale too!

As mentioned, this can be used on the Z/28 Recaros, but take note that the Z Recaros have a slightly different fabric which has a perforated look to them.

Since I sold the car, I bought a new Recaro seat cover and kept this modified one. A new Recaro cover is about $660 new. I am selling this modded cover for $600 shipped. Part #23127746

If you track/autoX your Recaro equipped Camaro, this is a great mod to improve the holding power of your OE seat, and the OE 3 point belt is fully intact and usable on the street, and you can keep the use of the air bags. That is something that a race seat cannot offer for street use. I think this is a nice bridge between both an OE seat and a race seat.

[cdb95z28]

[cdb95z28]

[cdb95z28]