Volvo 480 Club Europe

Was torn between Styling and Body & Interior...hope i picked the right one?!

Well i was curious as to whether anyone has fitted harnesses to a standard 480 seat? Or should i say around, as i dont want to rip apart the nice interior i have I personally feel a lot safer when driving with a harness as opposed to a standard seat belt, but at the same time, i dont want to rip apart a lovely interior to replace with non-standard ricaros or sparcos or something!!

Any ideas?

Esta

I have a 4 point harness in the Spitfire... it's lovely... untill you want to
press a switch n the dash, tune the radio, etc etc...

Harnesses are designed to keep you lashed to the seat tightly.. unlike
nice spring loaded standard belts... So unless you want to indulge
your bondage fetish in public.......

<2p> don't do it </2p>

Cerberus wrote:So unless you want to indulge
your bondage fetish in public.......

<2p> don't do it </2p>

Shhh. jeez, dont let every one know!!

I just feel safer in a harness when cornering and that, maybe i should just use the brake pedal?!?! As far as reaching instruments is concerned it'll make no odds to me, im too short to reach them anyway

Vin480t has harnesses in his 480 with standard seats. I have tested them to in luxemburg when his brakes failed

lee wrote: when his brakes failed

Ha ha good old 480s Very reassuring!

Hopefully he will see this topic and lend us some photos *hint hint*

Of course your other problem is that unles you have a roll cage fitted
harness mounting will be problematic.

If the rear ends of the shoulder straps are mounted on the floor then,
simply put, the harness would kill you in a decent sized accident. The
force of yor body going forwards would serve to pull the harness downwards
crushing you and your seat...

have a scan of this
http://www.securon.co.uk/fitting/extras ... itting.htm

It goes into detail about safe mounting of harnesses...

Thats a good piece of info there thanks for that link.

I did wonder if fitting it would be a problem, hence why i wanted to ask around to see what others have done. If its possible i would give it a go, if not, im not too fussed, as i said abpve, ill just have to break when entering corners

Properly fitted a 4 point is great.. you do feel very safe..
Plus you get that whole race car driver feeling when tightening
the straps... (still talking about the seatbelt don't get excited)

But there are lots of chavs burning about with harnesses that
are going to kill them if they have an accident... (which may
or maynot make you smile) So if you fit them don't be doing
it wrong.. It's just not an area of the car you want to go for
bling over function

I recon if you try them in it will be a pain in the arse to install
them properly and safely and then within 6 months you will
be bored of being tied down in the car.. (well, using yr seatbelt
for it at least)

but whatever you do please please please dont buy a halfrauds
'padded seatbelt cover' for that racecar 'look' because thats
just the saddest product in the world ever ever... (aside from
the fluffy pink steering wheel cover and the 'please can I fail
my MOT - pedal covers')

OK, first of all to cover myself, i do have those seatbelt cover pads on my seatbelt ordered especially from Oz woth VOLVO on, due to my height the seatbelt was cutting into my neck. The harness wouldnt need it, i know this from previous experience of using harnesses. But there is no height control with the 480s seatbelt.

also if i was to do the harness thing i would do it properly, the idea is to make me feel safer, and to be safer at the same time. it'd be a proper job not a chavvy job. more fool them if they dont want proper support in their plastic boxes!! i would get the harness from a proper rally supplier or similar.

cheers for all the advice, been well helpful!!

esta wrote:OK, first of all to cover myself, i do have those seatbelt cover pads on my seatbelt ordered especially from Oz woth VOLVO on

In the words of Darth Vader

NOOOOOOOoooooooooo..........

I suppose I have to forgive you for your diminutive size?

They are still horrible tho...

My harness came from these guys
http://www.lukeracing.co.uk/anat.php

in fact......
http://www.lukeracing.co.uk/rec.php?cat=2

thats the one I have...

connect the lover harness to the stock front harness connections and the ones that go over the sholders connect to rear stock seatbelt connections. No more problems I think. The then should be on the right angle. But also a new seat would be needed.

Cerberus wrote:

esta wrote:OK, first of all to cover myself, i do have those seatbelt cover pads on my seatbelt ordered especially from Oz woth VOLVO on

In the words of Darth Vader

NOOOOOOOoooooooooo..........

I suppose I have to forgive you for your diminutive size?

They are still horrible tho...

My harness came from these guys
http://www.lukeracing.co.uk/anat.php

in fact......
http://www.lukeracing.co.uk/rec.php?cat=2

thats the one I have...

Also its a very subtle one-not bright pink or red with IM A BOI RACER INNIT written across em! I'll find u a pic

In my gti swift i had a fully functioning f.i.a cage and luke 4 points.
This made it difficult to get in and out but i felt very very safe
as far as the 480 i cant see why not if its done properly with a propper half cage to mount them too
the cars are pretty solid anyhow ...
P.S you dont need to brake going into corners just go down a gear and throttle off
then push the pedal back into the carpet for exit speed

As cerberus quite rightly pointed out if not fitted correctly then they will do more harm than help and possibly crush you
Hope you get this small issue sorted and cant wait to see the route you go down

my old 480 had height adjusters on the top mount of the seat belt....in fact all of em did iirc....are you sure yours dont?

braking in corners lol....just dont do it....get the line and speed before you hit the corner, accelerate on the apex and youre off

theres an old trick we were taught (did an advanced driving course with police when i had a 6 month ambulance driving job (the old biddy bus ambulances too...not the emergency ones))

try it....goes like this....as you approach a corner, watch the curve on the right hand side of the road....where it meets the curve of the left hand side is called the something point...dont remember....so, as you drive into the bend...watch that point...if it moves towards you, youre going too fast...stays the same distance away, youre speeds fine...if it moves away, you can go faster....sounds hard but once you do it a few times its like riding a bike...is a basic principal in racing and crap.....that and out-in-out on corners.
as for the harness thing.....nah!

rgrds
rob

robkendall wrote:my old 480 had height adjusters on the top mount of the seat belt....in fact all of em did iirc....are you sure yours dont?

braking in corners lol....just dont do it....get the line and speed before you hit the corner, accelerate on the apex and youre off

theres an old trick we were taught (did an advanced driving course with police when i had a 6 month ambulance driving job (the old biddy bus ambulances too...not the emergency ones))

try it....goes like this....as you approach a corner, watch the curve on the right hand side of the road....where it meets the curve of the left hand side is called the something point...dont remember....so, as you drive into the bend...watch that point...if it moves towards you, youre going too fast...stays the same distance away, youre speeds fine...if it moves away, you can go faster....sounds hard but once you do it a few times its like riding a bike...is a basic principal in racing and crap.....that and out-in-out on corners.
as for the harness thing.....nah!

rgrds
rob

Hi, Rob. Actually, for maximum stability, you should be accelerating slightly all the way through the corner; you can increase the acceleration when you reach the apex. I was taught that on the approach to a bend you should have slowed to the point where you can apply throttle before you start turning the wheel.
The words you can't remember are "limit point" & limit point analysis is just about the best technique you can learn for making maximum safe progress through bends.

Cheers, Chris.

NOOOOOOOoooooooooo..........

- That's what I was thinking! Not the padded chav straps! Can you not just wear a scarf or something?!

pol

pol wrote:

NOOOOOOOoooooooooo..........

- That's what I was thinking! Not the padded chav straps! Can you not just wear a scarf or something?!

pol

PLEASE DONT JUDGE ME!!!!

Nah jus kidding about the angry face ...i could wear a scarf but kinda find them annoying and alwas in my way!

Look, heres the pic...nice subtle ones-black blends in with the seatbelt!!

there not too bad i seen them when u popped round
im sure there should be a seat belt adjuster on youre car though theres one in mine

hey chris...hows things....

chriskay wrote:....... for maximum stability, you should be accelerating slightly all the way through the corner; you can increase the acceleration when you reach the apex. I was taught that on the approach to a bend you should have slowed to the point where you can apply throttle before you start turning the wheel.

yup...absolutely.

chriskay wrote:The words you can't remember are "limit point" & limit point analysis is just about the best technique you can learn for making maximum safe progress through bends.

Cheers, Chris.

yup again...limit point...
has probably been the single best thing i ever learned to do...driving wise

robkendall wrote:hey chris...hows things....

chriskay wrote:....... for maximum stability, you should be accelerating slightly all the way through the corner; you can increase the acceleration when you reach the apex. I was taught that on the approach to a bend you should have slowed to the point where you can apply throttle before you start turning the wheel.

yup...absolutely.

chriskay wrote:The words you can't remember are "limit point" & limit point analysis is just about the best technique you can learn for making maximum safe progress through bends.

Cheers, Chris.

yup again...limit point...
has probably been the single best thing i ever learned to do...driving wise

Yeh i know about limit points and when and where to brake when approaching a corner...just like to feel safe thats all