Seat Belt Fitting

[mike.perry]

Is there a kit available to fit the seat belt reel to the sill on a two door pre seat belt car the same as on a later car?
At the moment the reel is bolted to the B post just abve the sill which is probably not as strong as the sill but is the only place that I could get a nut on the end of the mounting bolt.

[taupe]

Mike

You can buy seat belt anchor plates ... If you drill the step sill with a hole big enough for the nut welded to the plate you can push it into the hole and seam weld neatly around the plate.

Heres one on the bay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seat-belt-mountin ... 5197f3a678

Taupe

[mike.perry]

That is what I had in mind. Many thanks

[mike.perry]

Just been back to the site to order the plates and it has been withdrawn as no longer available

[taupe]

Mike

Just type 'seat belt plate' into ebay search there should be a few on there

Taupe

[Declan_Burns]

Mike,
ESM have them
http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... 4f4ace88b1
Regards
Declan

[fussyoldfart]

Mike

You can buy seat belt anchor plates ... If you drill the step sill with a hole big enough for the nut welded to the plate you can push it into the hole and seam weld neatly around the plate.

Heres one on the bay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seat-belt-mountin ... 5197f3a678

Taupe

Are you suggesting that the plate be on the inboard side of the sill? Or is your suggestion that the plate be within the sill but with the nut protruding through an enlarged hole? In either case, it seems to me the strength of the anchor is then dependent entirely on the welds.

Darrell

[taupe]

Darrell

Yes you are right it would be better if you can get it inside the closed sill section, however if seam welded all the way around it should be a more than adequate fix... unless your welding is complete pants!!!

Taupe

[chrisryder]

can you not remove the rear trim panel and get your hand down into that area? i've not looked at my 2-door shell in a while, can't remember how that bit goes together!

it may be a tight squeeze, you could employ someone with thinner arms/wrists to hold the plate down the back while you get a nut in.

if you can do that, it's good to hold the plate on the back just with a bolt, then drill two holes either side of that bolt to weld the plate in place. that means, when you come to take the bolt out in future the plate doesn't drop down out of reach!

[MarkyB]

Much better inside the sill, Russian roulette is no way to see how good your welding skills are.

[mike.perry]

Thanks for all the tips. ESM was going to be my next call. My idea was to remove the sill carpet behind the door, cut the hole in the inside of the sill and weld in the plate in with the captive nut on the inside of the sill. It is a box section so there is not room to get fingers down. As for the welding it would not be my efforts.

[Declan_Burns]

Mike,
There is no need to do any welding-see my earlier post. Remove the rear panel and you only need to drill one hole.
http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t= ... eat+declan
Make sure you use the string through the hole in the ESM bracket otherwise the bracket will vanish into "Moggyland" if you drop it. In fact I never removed the string and it's still there behind the rear panel just in case I ever have to remove the seatbelt.[frame][/frame]
Regards
Declan

[kennatt]

when I did my series 11 I welded a length of bar to the speader plate so that with the sill covers off(Bit of a pain) I could hold the plate through the boxing panel against the sill with one hand while fitting the belt bolt through the hole positioned through the sill below the b post reasoning that this is the strongest point.then drilled a small hole and fitted a little bolt to hold it in place .No need to weld, it would have to rip the whole sill and bottom of the b post to come loose.

[rayofleamington]

Much better inside the sill, Russian roulette is no way to see how good your welding skills are.

People rebuild their entire shells - if their welding skills are not good it's not just a seatbelt anchorage point to worry about. I've seen sills that could be removed with a screwdriver etc..

Personally I have no problems to weld a mounting plate to the 'carpet side' of the sill inner step. The sill would buckle before the plate pulled off.

But yes - some repairs I've seen are shocking. One that springs to mind was a Fiesta where the sill had rusted round 3 sides of a seatbelt mount - the repair covered the rot and was welded on one side (the non rusty side) and the other 3 edges hidden in underseal - absolutely no strength added but it managed to fool an MOT tester.
I can't imagine the type of person that would do such an incompetent and dangerous repair, and was glad my sister didn't have an accident in the few months she used the car before I got to look at it closely (& fixed it safely)

[Neil MG]

I did exactly that, as Taupe describes for a customer after his "captive" nut "escaped". Probably the strongest bit on the car! and a nice straightforward and quick solution for anyone who can weld (properly!)

[MarkyB]

My thinking is that welding thick plate to thin steel isn't especially easy, hard to know for sure that you have good penetration on both.

However the amount of force needed to pull a bit of plate through sheet metal would be enormous.

[rayofleamington]

My thinking is that welding thick plate to thin steel isn't especially easy, hard to know for sure that you have good penetration on both.

Welding 2.5mm steel to the inner step shouldn't be too hard as the inner step is decent guage. For structural repairs you need to aim for maximum penetration - if I don't get 1/3 of the weld right through the other side I'd be dissapointed.

However if the inner step is very thin because it's rusting away, a plate on the inside or outside won't make any difference as the inner step is too weak.

[MarkyB]

if I don't get 1/3 of the weld right through the other side I'd be disappointed.

That's what I'm saying but for disappointed read "face through the windscreen".
I think there would be something meatier than a 2.5mm steel plate to be pulled through, like a nut for the bolt to thread into.
The inner sill would have to be very thin before I would see putting the plate on top as a better option.
How do you check that you got 1/3 of the weld right through?