Thanks for the photo. I will try getting a better look at it when I am under the car the next time.

 

I just verified in the FSM since I'm back at my computer today, the PNP sensor is the one on the right/passenger side of the transmission so fortunately you don't have to screw around with that weight plate.

 

I want to install a 5-point harness for my bucket/racing seats that I have installed. I have a harness bar. The 5th point belt at the crotch, apparently needs to be attached to the chassis. The belt manufacturer says I need to drill a hole in the chassis and bold the belt to that hole. That makes sense in theory to me.

1) How do I drill the hole safely and avoid any leaks to form ? Assuming I do this with the right drill bits and sizes.
2) How do I thread the hole for a bolt ? Never done this before.

Anyone else done the drilling for a crotch belt install ?

Thanks.

 

It helps if you have a second person to hold the crotch belt in the right location on the floor while you're seated in the car, then they can use a sharpie to mark out the middle of the bracket.

Use a razor knife and cut an X in the carpet where you will be drilling. I'd make a cut maybe 1" to 1_1/2" long, then take the carpet and fold it UNDER ITSELF so those petals of the X are folded under. This does a couple things, keeps the carpet out of the way, helps trap metal shavings so you can vacuum them up later, and if you ever remove the bracket in the future the carpet can be easily sealed back up with a dab of adhesive or double stick tape placed over the hole (under the carpet). Don't actually REMOVE carpet.

As for the drilling itself, it's very straightforward, if you have NEVER used a drill before then you should watch a couple videos and start by practicing drilling through a 2x4 piece of wood.

Drill slowly, if you have a 2-speed drill I recommend using the high speed gear, but only giving about 1/4 to 1/2 trigger. The lower speed gear will generate a significant amount of torque and is more likely to snap a bit, the higher gear has less torque and is a lot more user friendly for smaller bits. Do not just use full trigger to drill, the floorpan is like 3-4 layers of metal all sandwiched together into a unibody, you will probably cook your drill bit.

If your drill has a clutch USE IT, that will be a numbered ring between the drill gearbox and the chuck. Start with a lower number, don't use the highest range (usually an icon of a drill bit) unless you're familiar with the tool, it can be easy to snap drill bits, the bit will try to bite into the metal right at the end as it penetrates the last bit of metal and it will twist the drill in your hands, that's when everyone snaps a bit. To get through that final burr I like to manually rotate the ENTIRE DRILL (don't use the trigger, just rotate the entire drill) to break the burr off if it's being stubborn. The chuck clutch setting won't matter, manually rotating the drill will be full gear engagement.

Use BOTH HANDS on the drill, I like to have my left hand on the trigger/handle, and I wrap my other hand alongside the drill, the drill bit runs clockwise, when it binds up it rotates the drill body counter clockwise. By having your right arm wrapped around the drill and ideally pinched up by your abdomen you can stabilize the drill very easily.

I'm guessing it will be a 3/8 x 16 thread bolt (or M8-1.25 if metric)? If so I personally would start with a 5/32 pilot bit, then step directly to the 3/8 bit. If it takes a 1/2 x 13 thread pitch bolt (or M12x1.25) I would go 5/32 then 3/8, then 1/2". You might need to step down a touch if it is metric, you can usually buy the tap and it's corresponding drill bit as a combo though.

You need to use some kind of thread cutting / drilling compound though for either drilling or tapping, I prefer Anchorlube, but Rapidtap is more popular and you can buy it basically anywhere. Drill for a few seconds, use more cutting oil, drill, cutting oil, rinse/repeat. This keeps the bit cool, if the bit gets too hot it will melt the tip and loose it's sharpness, then it's useless. Anchorlube looks like green toothpaste, it's very easy to clean up, rapidtap is usually a liquid that works great for drill presses but sucks for things like carpeted floorpans because it leaks everywhere. Rapidtap does make a PASTE that would be better than the liquid if you can find it, there is also many brands of cutting WAX that comes in a tube. Paste/wax you put the drill bit directly into the paste, liquid you can dribble onto the bit or directly into the hole you are drilling. Anchorlube you can do either/both it's much more versatile. There are some other green toothpaste looking stuff besides Anchorlube so don't get all caught up in brand names, they all work fantastic.

If you can't find any of those locally then you can use basically any kind of penetrating oil, machine oil, MOTOR OIL, any aerosol lubricant, WD40, etc. You will need to use more of those product because they're really not designed for the extreme heat generated by drilling and they'll just turn to smoke quickly. You would need to use 4-5x as much of those products compared to a real drilling/tapping fluid.

Use a HS grade bit, they're made of a tougher metal and will stay sharp longer, HSS is even better but it's more expensive, HS grade is perfect for the steel on the floor pan of a car. I don't like pilot point bits, they are usually a trash grade metal that dulls quickly.

I've never seen a crotch belt that was TAPPED into the floorpan, it should be through-bolted from top to bottom, through the ENTIRE floorpan and fastened down with a minimum of grade 5 hardware (I would just run grade 8 considering how important it is). If it is tapped for some reason you could use a t-handle for the tap. Again, watch a video, I normally just chuck up taps into my drill however I have literally spent decades drilling/tapping metal (I spend hours each week on the job drilling/tapping 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 holes for mounting our electrical panels/transformers/etc. I'm basically the shops metal fab guy).

A tap will require a smaller final drill bit, 1/4-20 needs a #7 bit, 3/8-16 needs a 5/16 bit, 1/2-13 needs a 27/64 bit. Again though, I've NEVER tapped a floorpan for belts, it's always either welded to the floorpan or through bolted to the floorpan.

To seal up the floorpan once it's bolted just take a can of flex seal or undercarriage spray and paint the entire bolt, nut, washer from under the car. It sprays on thick and will completely seal out moisture. Flex seal is pretty amazing for all kinds of stuff like that. No need to do anything special inside the cabin, properly sealed up under the car is sufficient.

Here's a couple pics of how I hold the drill for reference.

 

Wow! That's an amazing post cleric670. I think the idea of bolting the belt using grade 8 hardware from the undercarriage area is what I will do. thank you so much for this post. I do have cobalt tipped drill bits from Milwaukee but I will look into the HS/HSS type bits before starting and great idea on the carpet and FlexSeal.

 

Those Milwaukee cobalt bits work fine as long as you REALLY stabilize the drill. They are SUPER brittle though, HS grade black oxide bits have a little bit of flex to them while still being great for automotive (as well as mild steel). Cobalt bits can take quite a bit of heat so they're exceptionally good for basic use when people aren't using cutting fluid because they can take more of that sort of abuse.

 

03 Coupe here. I don't have the mem seat option. My seats no longer go to the rear when bringing the seats back to position. This happened after unplugging the battery. I'm unsure how to enable the rear movement. Fuses are fine too. I read the service manual and followed the instructions but still no luck. Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

 

So you're saying the seat motor no longer functions when you hit the slider button? Or the rear seat entry/exit button doesn't work anymore?

 

The auto function of not working correctly anymore.

It used to work before. Take a peek at the recording.

https://imgur.com/a/dVpKS2S

 

So my passenger seat memory is working now. I wonder if it's associated to me leaving the door open for an extended period of time. Wild

At least it's working on one side where the lever is located.

Edit: so I found a broken piece of magnet touching an area of the seat motor. I wonder if that interfered with the seat position. I got all I could see out of the area and will report back.

 

Nice to see a driver's seat without the rip at the bolster!

 

I figured it out... Looks like the broken metal piece broke a plastic part in the motor for seat memory. I'll need a new motor.

 

Just ordered a Z1 plenum spacer and Z tube for my stock 03 G35.

Is there anything I should expect after install in regards to HP gains, overheating, just anything to be on the lookout for?

 

Id say you will probably be okay.
Unplug battery during install. When you start again after installing the parts, you will let the ECU reprogram for the new air and fuel mix.

 

How about the engine cover? I heard some folks have to modify to make it fit after plenum install. All the threads I found are super old and the supporting pics are dead links lol.