390 Final Edition Harness Bar mount holes have no threads

[bnenjk84]

Long time reader first time poster.....

Im from Australia, so the car is setup to drive on the 'right' side of the road 🙂

Today I embarked on installing my 6-point schroth harnesses, harness bar, Tillett seats and rails, and at the same time removed the OEM seat belts.

All went swimmingly well (SRS Warning delete etc....) until I went to bolt in my harness bar and to my surprise, the normal harness bar bolt holes were not tapped!

I have searched high and low but cannot find anyone else reporting this issue. Tapping the holes is next to impossible without removing the rear shell (something I am loathed to do in a 1600km car).

Has any only else come across this with the final editions and if so, did you have an off the shelf product (SL updated harness bar etc.) that worked in a final edition?

Being based in Australia, I had procured the simply sport cars harness bar and it is a work of art, however sans the ability to bolt it to the car, its fairly useless!

Also, FYI - if you grab the GPS-09 from AIM Motorsports; you can continue to run the MXLotus build of the TFT dash and make use of the track features - I validated this today when I got the shits with my harness bar. The data is pretty good, obviously not as good as the 2EE version but enough for a time attack warrior to pull some decent data overlaid with track position and timing.

Please Help, I am hoping to find a solution by tomorrow so I can finish the car off this weekend.

NJK

[TonyKL]

I can’t help you directly but I had a harness bar fitted by Bell & Colvill in my FE Elise 250 Cup and I believe it was straight forward. They had to trim the rear panel as that covers the mounting points but all together a simple install. 
 

Also, regarding the GPS-09 module. If you get version A then it works with FE dash. If you get version B onwards it doesn’t. This is due to having to use different parts to make them and therefore a firmware update is required to use v.B onwards (we won’t get this update for FE dashes). 

[bnenjk84]

Thanks for the information, I have just ordered one of the SL updated designs that makes use of the seat belt mounts and I dont believe any trimming is required (but will get the Dremel out if I have to). Really hard to find valid info for the final editions. The Simply Sports Car mount is a work of art and bullet proof, I just wish I could have used it.

Regarding GPS and the dash; I really don't like the way Lotus went about this with a nobbled 'MXLotus' version. I understand the need for AiM to protect their market (having invested in the product development etc) but a 'paid upgrade path' via firmware would have made a lot more sense and allowed us to make use of the AiM firmware updates. I got lucky with the GPS and it's working and was able to update tracks etc.... over wifi.

I do find it difficult to believe AiM developed a whole new board just for the MXLotus product. I would love to have a crack at updating the firmware myself but also don't want to brick my original part. I will likely bite the bullet and get the AiM dash but it just seems like such a waste.

Will push on with the install of the seats and other harness components today, hoping the bar arrives before next Friday.

 

[stevensr34]

Hi - This is the same with my 240 Final Edition--- There's no threaded bolt holes for the harness bar on the back of the roll bar... Just a sleeve going the whole way through, with the threaded end on the front (where it can't be accessed)...

I went with a V-force harness bar instead, which attaches to the seatbelt holes - this fits perfectly with no cutting the rear bulkhead either....

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/miscellaneous/interior/sl-harness-bar

Here's my posting on this issue from a few weeks back:

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by stevensr34

[bnenjk84]

22 hours ago, stevensr34 said:

Hi - This is the same with my 240 Final Edition--- There's no threaded bolt holes for the harness bar on the back of the roll bar... Just a sleeve going the whole way through, with the threaded end on the front (where it can't be accessed)...

I went with a V-force harness bar instead, which attaches to the seatbelt holes - this fits perfectly with no cutting the rear bulkhead either....

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/miscellaneous/interior/sl-harness-bar

Here's my posting on this issue from a few weeks back:

 

 

 

Thanks fellow BNE Lotus owner. I pushed on taking advantage of the wet weekend and got everything done, now I just need that harness bar! These seats are amazing.

[stevensr34]

Hi njk84

As you are on Australia, hope you are on Aussieelises.com ?

rob

[Martrack]

One technical question, how did you mount the small floor bars ?
You drilled through the floor for the vertical screws ? So there are nuts under the chassis, right ?
What about the horizontal screws ? Are there nuts ? How do you technically mount / access them ?

Thank you very much 👍

[Martrack]

Answering myself with some instructions :
http://www.billswebspace.com/Lotus6PointHarness.pdf

[bnenjk84]

12 hours ago, Martrack said:

One technical question, how did you mount the small floor bars ?
You drilled through the floor for the vertical screws ? So there are nuts under the chassis, right ?
What about the horizontal screws ? Are there nuts ? How do you technically mount / access them ?

Thank you very much 👍

Apologies for delayed response. I have reviewed that link previously and drilling large holes with a holesaw in the bottom of the car was not something I wanted to do. I used masking tape to help with the punch and pilot hole drilling. Measured 4 times, eye-balled it and then went for broke!

The mount is half way between the two rail bolt holes on either side.

I ended up using M8 rivnuts for the horizontal bolts into the cross member (11mm holes) and then drilled 8.5mm holes in the floor for M8 bolts (mushroom head hex) coming from underneath with Nylock nuts in the vehicle.

I also did the horizontal rivnuts first as I could then just drill straight through the holes in the floor mount.

There is also a brace joining the two bolts under the car to stop tearing of the aluminium in an accident by spreading the load. This is highlighted in the red box (it has a 150mm thin ruler over the top of it in the photo but you should get the idea). I used a small amount of sealant but given the washers and how well everything sealed, I don't think that water proofing would be an issue without a sealant.

Im by no means an expert however, I hope this helps.

 

[Inversed]

I want to check my FE for harness holes, where are they located exactly? Any photos?

[Martrack]

3 hours ago, bnenjk84 said:

I ended up using M8 rivnuts for the horizontal bolts

Really nice idea 🙂
Many thanks for all the details 👍

How / where did you mount the lateral belts ?
They are supposed to be mounted directly on the floor for best security, but perhaps you used seat runners here ?

The 6 points harnesses are to be used with fixed seat runners, as per parts finder :
https://www.bellandcolvill.co.uk/deroure?qs=1&preview=1&make=1&model=42&groupid=11564

Wondering then whether or not they could be used with standard seats, well, what would prevent from using them with for example Cup 430 seats...
Any idea ?

Thank you again !

[bnenjk84]

I used the mounts on the Tillet EBR brackets I got with the seats. The bolt size mimics the standard seats and has a sleeve with a spring to reduce rattles/limit play. I dont have any photos of that part but will take some and upload.

I removed the standard belt bucket (and belts) but they would fit on the bracket too.

The rails and EBR brackets are extremely well made and offer almost infinite adjustment.

[bnenjk84]

On 15/05/2022 at 09:27, stevensr34 said:

Hi - This is the same with my 240 Final Edition--- There's no threaded bolt holes for the harness bar on the back of the roll bar... Just a sleeve going the whole way through, with the threaded end on the front (where it can't be accessed)...

I went with a V-force harness bar instead, which attaches to the seatbelt holes - this fits perfectly with no cutting the rear bulkhead either....

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/miscellaneous/interior/sl-harness-bar

Here's my posting on this issue from a few weeks back:

 

 

 

SL updated harness bar turned up yesterday. Its very close to fitting but doesn't actually line up! Im looking at what I can do bend the mounting plates slightly so I can thread the bolts on both sides, cannot believe it!

[stevensr34]

Make sure the "V" part of the bar is as far back into the rear parcel shelf as it is possible to go - otherwise there is a bit of a mis-alignment.  Apart from that, mine fitted within a millimetre...

[bnenjk84]

Thanks, mines out by about a mil and try as I might (with the v all the way back) I just cant get it there, gonna sort it with a clear head tomorrow.

[DangerousDave]

Glad i'm not the only one with harness bar issues

 

[Matt W]

Does the SL one fit in the end, was just about to order one.

Seems odd Lotus changed part of the interior just for the FE editions.

[stevensr34]

My Seriously Lotus V-bar fitted my 240 Final Edition perfectly

[DH2]

We have 100% fitted a normal harness bar to a 250 Cup FE.  But maybe Lotus did something different in the non-Cup cars - it certainly wouldn't be the first time, trust me!

Dave

[bnenjk84]

SL bar fitted with some very minor dremel work to get the angle spot on without the standard belts.

Apparently every 50 to 60 cars has them missing. Must be an end of day or work experience kid type of issue.