[jene]

ok gals and guys

anyone ever do this? i've got front seat over the shoulder belts installed on both cougars with retractors mounted in rear floor but am thinking of how i might install them in the rear seats of the vert. i may have to let the 67 go to a good home due to parking issues.

so i have a problem where to put the retractor, under the seat? and tie the second point to wheel well as i would the fronts except where they tie in is the door jamb a much more ridged point than wheel well.

don't like the idea of hurting the grandchildren if any thing should happen while they're in the car and i've never been fond of the idea of hitting a steering wheel with my chest. i know some people don't like over the shoulder but it's my car and my family.

any ideas?

maybe i am just bored now that most of the car is together don't know?

jene

 

[67catXR7]

I plan on putting rear shoulder belts in my '67 and they will be anchored to the wheel wells.

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Jene,

I think Leon Bray may have done this (for the front seats anyway) on one of his cars. You might check with him. Think he attached at the front of the 1/4 trim panels.

For the rear seat ones, putting them under the seat bottom and then up and coming out of the top of the seat back certainly sounds feasible, but there would be a fair amount of hardware - custom or adapted to make up and/or modification to the seat backs to make grooves for the chutes the belts would ride in.

All sounds do-able but not without fab/mod's.

Bob

 

[leonbray]

I have three point inertial belts front and rear on both convertibles.

The rear belts have the real mounted to the bulkhead behind the seat back (there are a couple of recesses on the bulkhead) with the belt running up and over the seat through a custom guide

Sorry - I don't have any pictures of the real mounting points.

These pictures are of the prototype. We have a formal design but haven't got it back from the engineers yet. When I redo the interior I'll replace the top boot with one trimmed around the belt guide

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Nice job Leon! And thanks for speaking up to help Jene.

 

[jene]

thanks leon

way cool i was thinking of trying to use the old mounting points behind seat but i am laid up with shoulder surgery for a spell. getting warm out soon can pull car under my tree and begin working on it. nice place to put front retractor mine are mounted in rear floorboards with reinforcing washers like my 67 standard. did you use the rocker panel to secure the front retractors? why a belt guide, save them from flapping around?

67 front retractors mounted into rear floor well

jene

 

[leonbray]

I have the Eliminator interior apart so I will take some pictures of the mounting points for the front belts later this week when I put it back together. The retractors are mounted to the rocker panel

The guide for rear belts in the convertible is used so that they feed cleanly. They will work without the guide but will bind on the top of the seat

 

[E-tek]

Does the feed-guide mount to a solid point behind the seat? I'm guessing it does, as any forward force on the belt would pull the seat off in a second.

 

[leonbray]

Does the feed-guide mount to a solid point behind the seat? I'm guessing it does, as any forward force on the belt would pull the seat off in a second.

yes. The corner of the seat bulkhead is braced and there is a plate welded to where the guide mounts

 

[jene]

hi leon

just got car out of winter storage, shoulder healed and rearing to get started on this project.

any luck on pics on mounting the anchor points to the floor boards i am assuming you used old seat belts points. i've been thinking of adding angle iron to brace top of seat guide points, just not sure of size needed to keep out of top folding down. is the plate welding toward the front under the rear seat or the liner?

thanks

 

[jene]

<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> This is the completion of this rear seat belt project. Now a bit of background on me I’ve worked in the theater all my life where they frown on things falling from the sky so I’ve a tendency to over build things

I am not sure of the forces applied to sear belts in time of need so take what I’ve done with a grain of salt. This is my third 3-point seat belt install and I find each company has different designs. This one & last one were from Virginia classic mustang and they are different from each other.

Each company does give an assorted supply of rated bolts and hardware but for the vert front seat belts I had to make my own top anchor points from 1/ 8” steel flat stock and 1/ 2” threaded rod, about 2” long. Theirs were too short to fit through the side interior panel.

But I did get a chance to use the bolts and nilock nuts on this car.

I’ve only heard of one other person on these boards having done this project and he never had a chance to send my pictures of the anchor points so I was on my own. It took me days of being in the back seat hole on my knees. UGH

A lot of my time was spent taping stuff in position then putting seats back in place to see if it would work there. Then pulling the seats out again managing to kneel on sharp objects or scrap my skin off. But you don’t have to go through that. Be fore warned though.

After taping things in place the hardest part was figuring out how the retractor belts ran through the top point, drove me crazy as belts got twisted and I sat there sweating feeling stupid. It does work just look closely. 9322, 9327, 9371, 9372

Now I can start to drill holes 9290 starting at the top then moving down to floor. One needs to find the inner frame rail 9356 9357 to drill retractor anchor holes. That keeps the mounting stud from turning in place.

Then come the side anchor points 9295, as each companies are different and these were a stupid design 9320 I had to use two points, why the slot? On well. I marked the top of the bottom & back seat to have a good anchor point 9330 see also 9375 alternative anchor point.

The top retractor belt guide did worry me so after a few fits and starts this is what I came up with. 9321 is the stock point were I drilled through the pop rivet holes using screws to hold things in place. But one can see there is no metal to anchor to so I made a 6 5/8” flat stock brace 9361 anchored top and bottom using 1/2” bolts & nilocks. 9344, 9351., 9348. when using nilock nuts there should be two threads showing beyond nut.

Hopefully this should hold, I really wanted to use angle iron that would have been better but I didn’t have any handy.

The interior side panels need to have a slot cut in them for them to mount properly, not a problem as they are plastic covered in vinyl which I peeled back the glued it around the new hole 9362, 9341

Now pretty much in the home stretch leaving only the chrome well molding turned around and holes cut to fit under the top belt guide and screwed back into place. 9298, 9363

This should hold the big lug who did the work 9331 or just
Look nice as is 9366. Here the center belts cross just for a better fit but I don’t think they need to.

This took three days of working in 90-degree sun and not a lot of laughs but we, my wife and I did it. Now the kids can go to the beach in style safely tucked under their belts.

see photobucket album for pics as i can't figure out how to upload them tonight, long day. But this should give anybody a head start from where i began.

http://s1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/jeneyoutt/

 

[leonbray]

Sorry Jene - I still don't have the 69 in pieces to take the pictures. 68 is taking a lot longer than anticipated

 

[Bad69cat]

Good shots of the install Jene! I need to do this when I get started on my vert too.......an upgrade well worth the trouble. I also like the belt guide Leon has to protect the seat - not that I expect the back seat to see much use - but you never know.

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Nicely done, Jene!

Question, the last picture looks like three point for the front seats?

Again, nice job (and thanks for sharing it).

Regards,

Bob

P.S. I dig the headband, I wear them ALL THE TIME when working outside in the summer (have taken a fair amount of crap for doing so as well). Totally practical (but perhaps not fashionable - like I care about that!)

 

[jene]

bad69cat well when i was younger back seats had a lot more action than now.

 

[jene]

thanks bob

it was a lot of work and changes on the fly where to put what. now both my cats the 67 coupe and 70 vert have 3 point seat belts. the 70 has them front and back. i originally saw them at Mustang etc in van nuys ca, and it was pretty easy putting them in Cat so that when i drove across country i felt safer. it didn't seem to take anything away from winning daily driver at last nationals either. if it keeps my chest from smashing into the padded steering column so much the better.

it seem by the number of hits this is a popular thread, hope it helps save lives

jene