Seat Belts

stewwolfe

stewwolfe

Senior Member
Shortly after I bought my S/W Cabriolet I decided to put seat belts in. Today I went out to work on it and have run into a dilemma. My Roadster was easy because the seat doesn't move, but my Cabriolet has a movable seat. Has anybody added seatbelts to a Cabriolet with a movable seat? I don't want to attach the belt to the seat because it's not firmly anchored to the frame, but don't see anywhere else to anchor it to. I'm open to suggestions. This is a picture of what I have under the front seat. image.jpg
 
Do you mean thread the belt under the bottom of the shelf at the back of the picture? I ask because everything in the picture moves.
 
I don't think it is a big problem. If your belts are attached through the floor behind the seat, when people get in the will adjust the belt length to fit in the seat's current position. Just don't adjust the seat forward after belting in or you will get some complaints! :D
 
I installed seat belts in my Victoria that has a sliding driver's seat. There is an article describing the installation.

Go to the web site of the Santa Anita A's of Arcadia, California at santaanitaas.org. On the home page put your cursor on "Tech Reference", my name will appear below. Click on it and it will bring up a series of articles. Scroll to seat belts - Victoria. It is a pdf file. You are welcome to download and print it out and save it.

Tom Endy
 
I installed adjustable seat belts in my '30 coupe. It has an adjustable seat as your picture shows.

I cut a hole (2 or 3 in ) to the rear section under the back seat area. To the rumble seat area. Drilled through the frame and the cross member. Installed a 3 in. X 1/4 in angle iron across the area and bolted the belts in. Around the holes in and under the front seat area I installed plastic wire wrap.

Neat and the adjust and work A OK
 
Dlfrisch, what do you mean by plastic wire wrap. I started to cut holes this afternoon but was concerned about fraying the belt material on them.
 
You have to cut a hole in the lower portion of the seat frame and run the seat belt anchor behind the seat.

I ran a 2" wide by 1/2" thick bar from the cross sill the rumble platform front end attaches to the back of the wood cross sill, from the bottom- in the picture i have it laying on top of the floor. I put the front of the bar against the back of the wood and welded a metal plate that screws into the wood cross sill. The idea was to translate most of the force forward into the long dimension of the wood. Keep in mind this is not a perfect solution, but it will certainly hold for a little bit in a real bad accident.

In the pictures you will see 3 rectangular holes I welded up on the seat frame. I made a single hole about mid way up that lower area. I then took brake line and slit it and welded over the edges to give the sheet metal nice round edges for the belt.

The side belts are also place rear ward. When installing seat belts you always put the action on the bolt in a shear as that is where you get the most strength.

I have also included my solution for a rumble seat belt middle mount point. That is heavy 1" square tubing. You have a very small place to put a mount point up through the rumble riser as the seat frame comes back pretty far. Again, not the best solution for the forces. I had to compromise to make something work without being ugly. The side belts will bolt to the rear triangle piece on the inner quarter panels.

Anyway, not sure if it is the best or even a working solution. I believe what I have done will keep people in the car through most of the accidents I hope never to have. Certainly there will be accidents that these will fail on, but I figure there are many accidents in this car that will have bad outcomes not matter what. Seat belts are all about probabilities.
 

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I cut four holes in the bottom back of the seat frame to run the belts through to the rumble seat floor. I installed a 1/4 inch by 2 inch strap across and underneath the floor area and through bolted, with fender washers also, to the strap. It's not as good as what today's cars have, but it should hold up in the unfortunate event I ever hit something. Thank you all for the help in figuring this out satisfactorily.
 
Tom,

Great article on installing seat belts. Unfortunately your method won't work with coupes or cabriolets because the attachment point is in the rumble seat compartment, and you have to go through the wall separating them to get a satisfactory attachment point.

Stew
 
I know some may not agree with this idea but I wanted to stay with my car. I put a 3/4" angle iron under my frame where I wanted to bolt the seat belts. Then drilled holes through the body down into the angle iron. This gave me the option to put the seat belt bolts downs where I wanted them. I know some say this is a problem because if you are in a fender bender, you are stuck in the car. I think I sooner be in the car than out of it.
 
Staying in the car is far preferable to making an unexpected, and unplanned, exit through the windshield or out a door that pops open
 
stewwolfe said:
Staying in the car is far preferable to making an unexpected, and unplanned, exit through the windshield or out a door that pops open
Click to expand...

Certainly can't argue with that. I have lap belts in my Tudor that will only help keep me (and aassenger) in the car but I'm about to put a harness in it and my Phaeton. The law here requires that if you put any belts in a car, they must go in all seats so I'm going to put lap belts in the back attached to the strong rectangular section down behind the rear seat. I will have a specially made 3 point harness to keep me off the steering column and it will plug into the buckle side of the lap belt in the back. I have put a piece of angle iron between the two bolts that hold the body on at the base of the B pillar to hold the front lap belts.
When I have back seat passengers, they will use the lap belts and I will just have to go without for that short time. I'd rather have a belt on but......
Oh, and I've just adjusted the brakes!
 
Ans. to Stewwolfe : Sorry for the time delay. I am having a new enclosed deck/porch being built and it is a time thing.
I meant the same wrap that is used to wrap a wire(s) in - comes even in colors. Get a pack at your local auto parts store. They come in different dimensions, lengths and diameters. Cut the length you need and snap them in.
 
I ran a steel perforated ANGLE IRON BAR across, frame to frame on my 68C, and attached the seat belt fixtures with #8 hardware.
For the RUMBLE I have ONE belt connected to the body on each side which is good to keep the grand kids locked in during parades.
None of these things would probably meet present DOT standards, but they will keep you in the car if a door pops open on a curve or bump.
Keeping away from the steering post might be difficult as IT would probably come into the steering compartment. I figure to remember this and not be there by leaning over if time permits.
 
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