Really excited about this dual mod because I designed it myself. And also because it adds two big items on my list of things I wish the car had and that I need.
Stopped by my tech shop today because I heard they started on my project. Perfect day for it because there has been a lot of snow here and I'm bored driving my Tundra. Yes even that modded truck with over 500 hp is boring compared to the 4C.
Anyway they are well into the project and I thought I would share some photos and explain what it's going to be.
I tried a vendors harness bar system but I didn't like it at all because the horizontal bar took up much-needed seat adjustment space inside the car. In fact all harness systems I looked at had the same problem, you will lose lots of seat adjustment space. I'm only 5' 8" and I keep my seat one click from all the way back. But I do have my seats tilted back as much as possible because I like that feeling of spreading your body's weight over the larger area so it's more comfortable.
When I tried the vendors harness bar I lost 3 seat clicks. On the driver side that was very uncomfortable and on the passenger side I thought it was absolutely horrid. I looked around and all other harness systems and they all had some similar bar so I decided to design my own where the support structure was in the engine compartment and did not take up any space inside the passenger compartment.
So I started looking inside the engine compartment and saw that we could design and manufacture some custom-made bars to attach to the existing frame bolts. We then could just screw harness strap brackets on the inside through the firewall. And because these small holes were sealed with silicone the passenger compartment remains sealed and no engine fumes can come through. We situated the upper harness strap brackets in the correct position which fit very nicely just above the tops of the seats and to the left and right of the headrests.
The lower harness strap connections will tie into the existing seatbelt to frame connections. We have not completed that yet.
When I want to use the harness straps I can either leave them in all the time and just hook the existing factory seatbelt behind the seat and out-of-the-way. Or I can quickly disconnect the entire harness strap system and store it in the boot then just use the factory seatbelts for daily driver use.
We ordered a special Schroth German harness system that is a four point connection but works as a six way connection with straps that go around and between your legs. I included a photo of a custom system they made for someone else with different less expensive harness straps but you can see how it works if you look. This is the only way you could get it to work with factory seats and fit safely and properly. Also allows the factory seats to still be adjustable.
I also wanted more storage space in the car. Especially having a Spider and having to store the roof in the trunk.
I saw that there was quite a bit of space in the engine compartment just behind the firewall. We came up with a custom-made box made out of aluminum that will hold three water bottles or cargo the equivalent of it. May not look like a huge glove box but it would be close to a normal size glove box. And if you want to look at percentages I just increased my glove box 500% ha ha.
From the pictures you can see where this glove box will mount above the factory glove box. It will have matching black leather but solid face that will clasp to lock. It will also have a metal plate that can attach to it that will have a tripod screw mount on it for a good solid surface to mount a camera to. And this lid to the box will be strong enough to stay closed in case of hard braking or an accident. The box will be sound deadened and also fireproofed.
And there will be a second much larger box also inside the engine compartment but in the corner that will hold my air compressor and all the funnels miscellaneous parts that come with that Alfa kit. I will also be room for some other things but this box will be something that you rarely access. I will be so strong that it will not have to be taken out during racing but I might take it out to save a few pounds.
So I won't have to carry the Alfa kit and air compressor in my trunk anymore which will give me quite a bit more trunk space.
Really psyched about this project when finished. My car has huge sway bars, very fat sticky tires coil overs and all kinds of other mods that make it extremely tight. Racing around the track in the factory seatbelt was getting really old.
While driving the car and chucking it into four wheel drift slides you could hang onto the steering wheel and kind of tolerate it. But in the passenger seat it was absolutely miserable. You had nothing to hang onto other than the underside of the seat and you felt like a slab of meat just being flopped around. And a few minutes into a session you would basically just give up and just let your weight go against the side of the door hoping it doesn't fly open!
So I'm really looking forward to next spring and using this harness system. I think it will really improve my driving by allowing me to just focus on driving not trying to keep my body from flying around.
I also had them install my duckbill spoiler. They ended up fabricating an aluminum bar along the underside of it and then drilling through the boot lid. I really wanted it strong considering the trunk will be slammed open and closed a lot. I know some of you may disagree with this but the owner and myself think that that duckbill spoiler will actually be quite helpful for aerodynamics. I feel the air will be going over the roof of my car and then coming down hard on that back lid right where the spoiler is. Nice thing about this spoiler is that I don't lose any rear window visibility.
This will help balance out my car as I have just a tiny bit too much oversteer now with my square 245 tire set up.
This spoiler will help out at any speeds above 60mph and we get up to close to 150mph on this track. I got up to 141mph last spring and that was before all my mods so I think my Alfa will be doing 145mph+ this Spring. Maybe even more when Chris at EC gets me that elusive extra 50 HP!
This race tech shop is really amazing. They do their own welding, fabricating and even have a 3-D modeler. They know what they're doing and they care about safety and that's huge with me.
I included a few photos of some of the cars that in the shop and the big semi they used to take their race cars to circuit races. That semi can store cars double decked! Also a pile of car frames out in the snow, looks like a gearhead statue!
Stopped by my tech shop today because I heard they started on my project. Perfect day for it because there has been a lot of snow here and I'm bored driving my Tundra. Yes even that modded truck with over 500 hp is boring compared to the 4C.
Anyway they are well into the project and I thought I would share some photos and explain what it's going to be.
I tried a vendors harness bar system but I didn't like it at all because the horizontal bar took up much-needed seat adjustment space inside the car. In fact all harness systems I looked at had the same problem, you will lose lots of seat adjustment space. I'm only 5' 8" and I keep my seat one click from all the way back. But I do have my seats tilted back as much as possible because I like that feeling of spreading your body's weight over the larger area so it's more comfortable.
When I tried the vendors harness bar I lost 3 seat clicks. On the driver side that was very uncomfortable and on the passenger side I thought it was absolutely horrid. I looked around and all other harness systems and they all had some similar bar so I decided to design my own where the support structure was in the engine compartment and did not take up any space inside the passenger compartment.
So I started looking inside the engine compartment and saw that we could design and manufacture some custom-made bars to attach to the existing frame bolts. We then could just screw harness strap brackets on the inside through the firewall. And because these small holes were sealed with silicone the passenger compartment remains sealed and no engine fumes can come through. We situated the upper harness strap brackets in the correct position which fit very nicely just above the tops of the seats and to the left and right of the headrests.
The lower harness strap connections will tie into the existing seatbelt to frame connections. We have not completed that yet.
When I want to use the harness straps I can either leave them in all the time and just hook the existing factory seatbelt behind the seat and out-of-the-way. Or I can quickly disconnect the entire harness strap system and store it in the boot then just use the factory seatbelts for daily driver use.
We ordered a special Schroth German harness system that is a four point connection but works as a six way connection with straps that go around and between your legs. I included a photo of a custom system they made for someone else with different less expensive harness straps but you can see how it works if you look. This is the only way you could get it to work with factory seats and fit safely and properly. Also allows the factory seats to still be adjustable.
I also wanted more storage space in the car. Especially having a Spider and having to store the roof in the trunk.
I saw that there was quite a bit of space in the engine compartment just behind the firewall. We came up with a custom-made box made out of aluminum that will hold three water bottles or cargo the equivalent of it. May not look like a huge glove box but it would be close to a normal size glove box. And if you want to look at percentages I just increased my glove box 500% ha ha.
From the pictures you can see where this glove box will mount above the factory glove box. It will have matching black leather but solid face that will clasp to lock. It will also have a metal plate that can attach to it that will have a tripod screw mount on it for a good solid surface to mount a camera to. And this lid to the box will be strong enough to stay closed in case of hard braking or an accident. The box will be sound deadened and also fireproofed.
And there will be a second much larger box also inside the engine compartment but in the corner that will hold my air compressor and all the funnels miscellaneous parts that come with that Alfa kit. I will also be room for some other things but this box will be something that you rarely access. I will be so strong that it will not have to be taken out during racing but I might take it out to save a few pounds.
So I won't have to carry the Alfa kit and air compressor in my trunk anymore which will give me quite a bit more trunk space.
Really psyched about this project when finished. My car has huge sway bars, very fat sticky tires coil overs and all kinds of other mods that make it extremely tight. Racing around the track in the factory seatbelt was getting really old.
While driving the car and chucking it into four wheel drift slides you could hang onto the steering wheel and kind of tolerate it. But in the passenger seat it was absolutely miserable. You had nothing to hang onto other than the underside of the seat and you felt like a slab of meat just being flopped around. And a few minutes into a session you would basically just give up and just let your weight go against the side of the door hoping it doesn't fly open!
So I'm really looking forward to next spring and using this harness system. I think it will really improve my driving by allowing me to just focus on driving not trying to keep my body from flying around.
I also had them install my duckbill spoiler. They ended up fabricating an aluminum bar along the underside of it and then drilling through the boot lid. I really wanted it strong considering the trunk will be slammed open and closed a lot. I know some of you may disagree with this but the owner and myself think that that duckbill spoiler will actually be quite helpful for aerodynamics. I feel the air will be going over the roof of my car and then coming down hard on that back lid right where the spoiler is. Nice thing about this spoiler is that I don't lose any rear window visibility.
This will help balance out my car as I have just a tiny bit too much oversteer now with my square 245 tire set up.
This spoiler will help out at any speeds above 60mph and we get up to close to 150mph on this track. I got up to 141mph last spring and that was before all my mods so I think my Alfa will be doing 145mph+ this Spring. Maybe even more when Chris at EC gets me that elusive extra 50 HP!
This race tech shop is really amazing. They do their own welding, fabricating and even have a 3-D modeler. They know what they're doing and they care about safety and that's huge with me.
I included a few photos of some of the cars that in the shop and the big semi they used to take their race cars to circuit races. That semi can store cars double decked! Also a pile of car frames out in the snow, looks like a gearhead statue!