DIY Head Restraints

[billypotts]

A littel bit of time, some welding experience, and a patient kid willing to sit still to get the rigth measurements and you build your own head restraints:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150213297131469&id=405952211468&aid=350596#!/pages/Emery-Potts-Racing/405952211468

[PHA281]

Looks good, nice welds..


Just asking (I don't know) but is that "legal"?

[justfreaky]

Adam,

Yes, head restraints are legal in both Bando and Legends cars. The only thing I see that should be done is to round off the sharp corners.

Steve

[PHA281]

I meant as in making your own.. I would think the ones such as Kirkey and such are tested etc etc..

[sfreitas20]

They look really good.  Not sure if you are looking for feedback, but the only suggestion I would have is consider turning the bolts around so the head of the bolt is where the locknut currently is inside the seat.  It looks like the threads and the locknuts stick out quite a bit further than just the head of the bolt would stick out and they could end up wearing a hole in the seat cover or even make contact with the helmet too.  Just a thought.

Either way, looks like a good head restraint system.

[billypotts]

Thanks for the feeback guys. I mainly posted them to give newbies an idea of what you can do on your own (using good judgement of course), but I always appreciate someone elses suggestions and advice. 

I considered rounding of the corners but being that the corners are on the outside at no point and time do they come in contact with the driver and  they allow for greater surface area for atttaching the padding. However on our second car....I do plan to use a rounded pad which will allow for rounded corners.

The back of the Richardon seats we have are not padded except for the padding that come with the seat cover. we line the inside of our seats with dense 1" foam on sides and on back to give driver more comfort. Even then, once we buckled the kid in we determined the bolts on the back could in fact potentially still be an issue if the driver were slammed from behind so we added an additional contoured pad similar to the sides to absorb the helmet moving in a rearward motion. The kid said he felt really comfortable in the race.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[PHA281]

we line the inside of our seats with dense 1" foam on sides and on back to give driver more comfort.

SFI 45.2  foam I'm hoping!?

[justfreaky]

My thinking on rounding off the corners a little , was so you did not snag yourself on the sharp edges getting in and out. Not saying they need to be radiused like my Kirkey units.

Steve

[billypotts]

Yes PHA281...I used EIS W50 which meets and exceeds SFI 45.2 specs.

Good point Steve....I think I'll reconsider that now wrap foam around the entire brace.

[justfreaky]

Does not necessarily need to be the big radius like on my Kirkey units. Just take off the sharpe edges.
I'm also thinking that, regardless of any padding; That the bolts really should be mounted the other way around.
Nice Job on the head restraints though!!!

Steve