OMP HTE-R race seats, Safecraft Harness, Tank Plates, RPM Roll Bar installation

[AustexaSS]

Installation photos of OMP HTE-R (regular width) race seats, Safecraft harness, Tank Plates and a RPM 6 point chromoly roll bar with SCCA cross bar.

1.The race seats are welded onto factory seats sliders that were salvaged from a junk yard Camaro. Why seat sliders? Because I want the option of putting the factory seats back in with quick turnaround and wanted to limit the amount of cutting and drilling on the car. I also am not the only person to drive the car so this flexibility is needed.
2. Welded a connection point onto the tank plates to receive the factory seat belt receiver from the Recaro seats so the factory seat belts are still useable when needed / if desired.
3. A replacement passenger seat occupant sensor was sandwiched into essentially a custom made carpet pillow case lined with cut down yoga mats, top and bottom, and then placed under the passenger tank plate to create constant pressure. The passenger air bag is always on in this installation. I did not want to try to incorporate the occupant sensor into the race seat which would involve cutting the seat to route the ribbon wire loom and plug and compromise the integrity of the race seat.
4. The RPM cage, although very nice in quality, is not perfect to the 1/8” in fabrication which it needs to be because it is an extremely tight fit. The installation instructions could use some improvement. Custom shims were made to mate the cage floor mounting plates to the ever changing contours of the Camaro floor pan. The back of the cage is bolted in while the front plates were cut down on one side to move the mounting point to the outermost edge of the car and then welded in place. This was necessary to make the seat width work and provide ease of adjustment with the seat sliders. An additional plus with welding is that the front plates don’t bolt mount through to the underside of the car with what is essentially a sandwich panel up front, risking crushing of the panel as bolts are tightened.
5. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread as it made life much easier in accomplishing this install. https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=434170

[s.hammer]

Nice work!

[Shoupaloop]

I threw my back out just looking at the pics.

[Og Neon]

Do the seat rails still work? Meaning can you slide the seat back and fourth? This is the best aftermarket setup i have seen so far that I like.

*Edit...never-mind, I finished reading.

[AustexaSS]

Originally Posted by Og Neon

Do the seat rails still work? Meaning can you slide the seat back and fourth? This is the best aftermarket setup i have seen so far that I like.

*Edit...never-mind, I finished reading.

Seats have the full range of motion forward and backward, until the seats contact the RPM cage side bar connection point as this is where the cage starts to taper into the main hoop. If you got the RPM 4 point cage additional range towards the back of the car is possible. The OMP race seats are positioned onto the factory sliders in the same approximate location as the factory Recaro seat. The first photo shows the drivers seat in its furthest back position. I am 6’-2” and fit very comfortably in this set up. Here is a photo of the underside of the drivers seat.

[bkevind]

Originally Posted by AustexaSS

Installation photos of OMP HTE-R (regular widith) race seats, Safecraft harness, Tank Plates and a RPM 6 point chromoly roll bar with SCCA cross bar.

1.The race seats are welded onto factory seats sliders that were salvaged from the junk yard Camaro. Why seat sliders? Because I want the option of putting the factory seats back in with quick turnaround and wanted to limit the amount of cutting and drilling on the car. I also am not the only person to drive the car so this flexibility is needed.
2. Welded a connection point onto the tank plates to receive the factory seat belt receiver from the Recaro seats so the factory seat belts are still useable when needed / if desired.
3. A replacement passenger seat occupant sensor was sandwiched into essentially a custom made carpet pillow case lined with cut down yoga mats, top and bottom, and then placed under the passenger tank plate to create constant pressure. The passenger air bag is always on in this installation. I did not want to try to incorporate the occupant sensor into the race seat which would involve cutting the seat to route the ribbon wire loom and plug and compromise the integrity of the race seat.
4. The RPM cage, although very nice in quality, is not perfect to the 1/8” in fabrication which it needs to be because it is an extremely tight fit. The installation instructions could use some improvement. Custom shims were made to mate the cage floor mounting plates to the ever changing contours of the Camaro floor pan. The back of the cage is bolted in while the front plates were cut down on one side to move the mounting point to the outermost edge of the car and then welded in place. This was necessary to make the seat width work and provide ease of adjustment with the seat sliders. An additional plus with welding is that the front plates don’t bolt mount through to the underside of the car with what is essentially a sandwich panel up front, risking crushing of the panel as bolts are tightened.
5. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread as it made life much easier in accomplishing this install. https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=434170

Thank you for this thread. Gives me some ideas. Did you use a local shop to help with this?

[frenchsquared]

Thanks, I am still trying to decide if I want a cage and seats. This pushes me a little closer to doing it. I think I will hold out another year as my daughter is 15 and every once in a great while I take the family somewhere in the Z28

[GODZL1A]

How do the recaro seats fit with the roll cadge?

[AustexaSS]

Originally Posted by bkevind

Thank you for this thread. Gives me some ideas. Did you use a local shop to help with this?

Yes, Winding Road Racing in Austin installed the cage and race seats. This is not a single person job and custom fabrication work occurred. They were excellent to work with especially on implementation of specific details needed for a successful install.

[AustexaSS]

Originally Posted by GODZL1A

How do the recaro seats fit with the roll cadge?

I have not reinstalled the Recaro seats due to future track events. I expect there to be zero issues. The race seats take up more realestate in total area because of the side bolsters and head protection. You can see many factory Camaro seats with the RPM roll cage installed on their web site and on this forum. The Recaro seats overall dimensions are not that different than an SS, RS etc.

[bkevind]

Originally Posted by AustexaSS

Yes, Winding Road Racing in Austin installed the cage and race seats. This is not a single person job and custom fabrication work occurred. They were excellent to work with especially on implementation of specific details needed for a successful install.

Thanks! i like the idea of welding on factory sliders, assuming they feel solid. But I am wondering if the height dropped at all? It's really close with my stock (crappy!) power seats. I have to lean back a little more than I'd like for helmet clearance.

[AustexaSS]

Originally Posted by bkevind

Thanks! i like the idea of welding on factory sliders, assuming they feel solid. But I am wondering if the height dropped at all? It's really close with my stock (crappy!) power seats. I have to lean back a little more than I'd like for helmet clearance.

Factory sliders are built very well, better than any aftermarket slider I was able to look at in person. The set up is very sturdy. Headroom clearance was gained plus you can swap out or remove race seat padding to gain even more head room. The whole point of this install is to be safer while on track to which the race harness when cinched down tight will keep you planted firmly in the seat preventing helmet contact with the roof of the car.

[bkevind]

Originally Posted by AustexaSS

Factory sliders are built very well, better than any aftermarket slider I was able to look at in person. The set up is very sturdy. Headroom clearance was gained plus you can swap out or remove race seat padding to gain even more head room. The whole point of this install is to be safer while on track to which the race harness when cinched down tight will keep you planted firmly in the seat preventing helmet contact with the roof of the car.

Awesome, thank you for the detail. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. I'll have a chat with Winding Road to drum up something similar.

[SS Performance]

Are the sliders manual? I didn't know Camaros came with manual sliders.