- Does this ever happen to you?
Do you feel like you're being thrown around
when you're trying to drive hard?
You're trying to steer precisely,
but you're also trying to brace yourself
against the steering wheel
while you're trying to remember
just where the pedals actually are.
If only there was some cool way
to lock your body in the perfect driving position
so that you could just focus on clipping apexes
and shaving seconds.
If only.
Well, today we're gonna be installing
a set of seats and harnesses in the Miata.
And along the way we'll show you what to look out for
if you're trying to do a set of seats and harnesses
in your car.
I'm Zach and this is "Money Pit".
Let's take a seat.
(thunder) (hip hop beat)
Now we've done a lot of stuff to the Miata
to keep it planted into the ground,
but we really haven't done anything
to keep me planted to the Miata.
Usually I say
seats are one of the first things you should do to a car
because of how much of an improvement they make
for the whole driving experience.
But today we're gonna be installing
a set of OMP's racing seats and harnesses.
Even with how impressed I honestly am
with the stock Miata seats,
I've got a sneaking suspicion
these are gonna blow them right out of the water.
But I guess we're just gonna have to install them
to find out if they're actually worth it.
So today, along the way,
we're gonna to be talking about
how to choose a set of seats for yourself,
how to size them to yourself, how to install them,
how to choose harnesses, how to install those,
We're gonna be talking about
a lot of seats and harnesses stuff today,
so I'm gonna try not to forget anything.
But the first thing that we need to do
is get those old seats out of the Miata.
So why do you even want install
a set of racing seats in your car anyway?
Well, first, to me, in my opinion,
the biggest thing is the support that they give you.
When you're driving hard and hitting corners,
you know what they say,
a body in motion tends to stay in motion
and your body wants to go in a straight line
when you're cornering.
So stock seats don't really hold you in place very well.
They're usually pretty flat
and they don't give you much side support.
But a good set of racing seats,
that'll lock your whole thing in so well
that you can just focus on driving.
And that is important.
(synth music)
First off the stock seat is a reclining seat,
it's got a steel frame in there,
where this is a fixed back with a resin frame.
So being a fixed back and made the way it's made,
allows this thing to be FIA certed
so it can be raced with in sanctioned race events
where this cannot.
On the stock seat you can see
that the butt area is pretty dang flat.
You just basically sit on it.
Whereas the racing seat, this OMP,
it's like a big crater that you climbed down into
and then it holds you tightly.
It gives you support on both sides of your thighs
and support up here for your shoulders
and the whole way down your torso.
You're supported from all that side to side motion
you experience when you're cornering.
So that's the whole point of this thing,
that's what keeps you locked in, is these big sidewalls.
You basically just climbed down into this thing
and you're trapped in a good way.
So you might think
that we're ready to slam these seats into the Miata,
but it's gonna take a few steps to get there.
We've got to figure out
our side mounts and our floor mounts,
figure out where to position the seat.
There's a lot to do.
But first let's talk about how you even choose a seat
and choose a seat that fits you.
I bought these seats sight unseen and they fit me great,
so how did I do that?
Well most, if not all seat manufacturers,
have seat measurements available generally online.
So you can take some measurements of your body
and then compare them to the measurements of the seat.
It's often in millimeters,
so get your millimeter tape measure out
and just do some kind of rudimentary measurements
and you'll be able to tell
if the overall dimensions of the seat
will fit in the space you're trying to put them.
The other thing you have to keep in mind
is where the harness pass-throughs land on your body.
Now the lower ones are usually just always gonna be good,
but the upper ones matter and it depends on how tall you are
for how they fit you.
You know, one of the easiest way
to get a set that will probably fit you
is to get a set of seats with these big holes
because they fit a wide range of heights.
You can see I'm sort of at the upper end of that range,
but you want the seatbelts to be able
to pass straight through the seats
and straight onto the top of your shoulders
with no real angle.
Now if you're not a real race car driver
you might think you don't need an FIA certified seat,
and that is technically true.
But I would still recommend getting one
because it's safety equipment after all
and it is literally holding your life.
After that it's just personal preference.
Pick what you like.
So now that we've got our seats picked out,
let's figure out how we put them in the car.
First thing we're gonna need is a set of side mounts.
(funky music)
So this is a side mount
and basically its job is to mount to the seat
and then figure out how to mount it to the floor
or the lower bracket or your slider,
whatever you have beyond this, we'll get there.
So you can see there are a lot of hole options
and this basically lets you determine
the angle of your seat,
whether or not it's upright or leaned back or what have you,
and then some options on the lower side of things.
So these go between the seat and what we'll talk about next,
your floor mount.
This is a floor mount
and it's made specifically for the Miata.
The holes on it line up
with the holes for the seat and the floor which is great.
The problem is that where that would position the seat
is basically right under the steering wheel.
The Miata's pretty small
and I usually have the seat all the way back.
So to make this floor mount work with these side mounts,
I would basically have to install the side mounts
hanging way off the back of these floor mounts
and it just doesn't seem very sturdy.
So to get the optimal driving position
I'm gonna put this thing on sliders
so we can move the driving position.
I'm gonna reuse the stock sliders with these side mounts
and not use these floor mounts.
Okay, so now I've got the slider off the seat
and mounted into the car
so we know this is the way the slider wants to be mounted.
Now I can set our side mounts and our seat on top
and mark where I need to drill my hole into the side mounts.
It appears
that we've got two holes that'll work.
Sweet.
So we got to put a bolt in there, sandwich that together,
and then we'll make holes
at the back ends of the side mounts
for that hole to mount up to.
(funky beat)
All right, so in trying to mock up these sliders
to get our holes drilled
I found that this spring,
where the spring is retained for the slider mechanism itself
runs into our side mounts right about there.
So I'm gonna have to cut just a little notch
to clear that part of the spring.
Should be easy.
(saw buzzing) (funky beat)
That should be plenty of room for our little spring to sit.
Now we've got some bare metal so I'm gonna paint that up.
We've got the fronts of our sliders
bolted to the side mounts
and now we're just trying to figure out
where to put the holes in the back of the side mounts
to mount in the back of the sliders.
Since we know the fronts are in the spot that they should be
and this fits into the car,
basically gonna to measure up the side of the side mount
and make sure that this measurement
from the edge of the side mountain to the edge of the slider
is the same measurement all the way up.
I'll do that on both sides so everything's square
and then I'll measure the gap between my holes,
double check with the car
to make sure everything looks right,
then I'll mark my holes, cut them,
and install the seat.
Well I'm basically the second from the most upright setting.
So the seat's gonna be pretty upright
but that's what I want.
It fits the best in the car that way
and should be the safest that way as well.
Be putting some low strength thread locker
just to make sure nothing vibrates apart.
I would like my seat to stay where I put it.
(chill hip hop beat)
(Zach grunting)
All right, our seats are all done
and ready to go in the car.
But before we can put them in
we gotta put the lower mounting points
for our new harnesses in place.
Should be pretty quick and easy,
and then we can put the seats in
for hopefully the last time then get these done.
So the harnesses come with these eyelets
and these take the place
of the factory seatbelt mounting and locations
for the buckle and the lower mounting point here.
We gonna to put some blue on these bad mama jammas,
and then she'll thread right in.
(Zach making weird noises)
Stock belt out of here so we can use its mounting point
for our new eyelets.
(wrench rattling)
Hey, I'm sitting in an OMP seat in the Miata
and it's got four bolts in the floor.
Doesn't have any padding in it
but a step in the right direction,
we're making progress.
So that's one seat officially in.
Now we got to do the other.
(Zach grunting)
Pretty dang easy.
Ah, dang, hit the door bar.
Ah crap.
I guess that's gonna happen.
Gotta do a little bit of persuading
but so that I don't have to take the carpet out
and I can just smash the carpet I put a glove on my hammer.
It's not bad, it's really not much,
I just want to give this lower corner of the seat
a little more room.
(hammer banging)
Alright, that's two seats in a Miata.
Now we just got to do those belts.
(funky music)
So we've got these two inch four-point harnesses from OMP
and they should be a breeze to install.
First I'm just gonna run the shoulder belts
back to the rear.
We'll deal with them later.
You got the lap belt,
and then this little clip just goes through the side here.
And then this will go down
onto the eyelet we put down there.
And then about a bada bing bada boom,
that one is done.
Now let's do the same thing over here.
Bring this through the side.
Alright, so now the lap belts are in.
Now we need to do the shoulders.
All right, so this is similar to strapping on a helmet
if you know what I'm talking about.
We're just using a link like this
and this is gonna be what holds our seatbelt in place.
Now the first thing you want to consider
is how long you want your shoulder belts to be.
You want them to be snug on you,
but in the case of this car where we have sliders
and shorter people might be driving it,
I'm gonna leave a little extra adjustment room
just in case somebody short starts driving.
So this is about where I want the seats to hang.
Our link is gonna end up on this side.
So over, under, over, under,
then we got one more to cram through
just to send it backwards.
All right, same thing over here,
just gonna click these things into these things.
You know what I'm talking about.
So they give you options
where you could add some anchor points
for these threaded eyelets to the rear
if you don't have a roll bar or if your situation's unique
and it's the same thing
for five-point and six-point harnesses
where you'll basically have to
weld a receptacle for an anchor to the floor
in front of your seat rather.
Anytime you hear a number and then point,
that's how many points of attachment it has to the car.
So you can see we've got one, two,
and then three, four down in those eyelets.
So these are four-point harnesses.
five-points are similar and then they connect to the floor
through the front of the seat.
Why would you potentially go with a five or six-point
over a four-point?
Well, it's an added level of safety.
You get into a front end collision
and your body wants to go forward.
As your body goes forward it pulls on your shoulder straps,
which pulls up on your lap belt.
So when your lap belt pulls up it goes over your hips
and into your soft bits,
and that is not where you want it.
So if you're gonna run a four-point
it's absolutely critical
that you make sure your belts are set up right,
and that's taking into account that your seats fit you
and that the angle of your shoulder belts
back to the harness bar or your roll bar
or whatever you've got your belts attached to
is relatively straight, no more than a 20 degree tilt down.
But the truth is that as long as my belt is set up right
I'm not personally too concerned about submarining.
My biggest concern is getting into a wreck
and my body staying dead still
and my head just whipping and rolling down the track.
So I was proactive, I want to keep my head on my body,
so I did something about it, let me show you.
It's pretty sweet.
I got a HANS device. (bell dings)
Listen, we're taking this thing to the track soon
and I want to be pretty safe when I do it.
The idea is that without this device,
if I were to get in an accident,
my head can just break my neck right off.
So the point of the HANS device
is to stop that from happening.
It attaches your helmet to basically your rib cage kind of
and limits the range of motion that your head has
no matter what.
So this thing should keep my head on my body,
this thing should keep my head in one piece,
and that thing should keep the rest of me
as good as I am now.
Let's finish up those final adjustments
and that should do it.
(Zach groaning)
- - submarine. (groaning)
Ooh, they're in and they feel great.
I am pumped.
But the fact is that the car kind of took a turn
towards being more of a track car today.
But that's okay 'cause we're going to the track.
We're going to Big Willow next week in the Miata.
I can't wait, it's gonna to be so much fun.
We're taking the Miata, we're taking the E36,
we're taking -- 2 Series.
We're even gonna try to take my RV.
Not to go on the track, but just to hang out in.
I can't wait.
I got to tell you it's gonna to be so much fun.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Follow me on Instagram @zachjobe.
Follow Donut at @donutmedia,
and I'll see you guys at the track.