Seatbelts
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Seatbelts
Hello! I have a 1954 later type series 2 4 door saloon. I want to fit seatbelts and I'm not sure how to do it on a car that was not designed to have seatbelts fitted. Can someone point me in the right direction
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Dean
- Minor Legend
- Posts: 2180
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 9:41 pm
- Location: Sutton Coldfield
- MMOC Member: No
Re: Seatbelts
My Minor:
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
-
Dean
- Minor Legend
- Posts: 2180
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 9:41 pm
- Location: Sutton Coldfield
- MMOC Member: No
Re: Seatbelts
Front - I'll have to explain as I didn't do any pictures.
1) I took off the kick plates to reveal the sills.
2) I drilled a 7/16 UNF clearance hole at the base of the middle pillar from the inside of the car, you may need to tilt the front seats right forward to get access.
3) I then drilled a 7/16 UNF clearance hole either side of the transmission tunnel where the tunnel meets the rear seat base.
The arrows give some idea of where I mean, but you will be better off going as near to the floor as possible as remember a handbrake cable is the other side of this panel. You will need to pull up the carpet and the panelling in front of the seat to save it getting damaged. This isn't my car by the way.
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4) You need to buy some seat belt captivated nuts from ESM, like the ones in the rear seat belt fitting, you will need six just for the front.
5) One fits inside the sill, you can either simply bolt it in place or fix it in first. Best to re-assemble the kick plates after you have fitted the belts, you don't want to have to take them off again.
6) Fit another two captivated nuts inside the transmission tunnel (underneath the car) and tighten up the buckle fastener part, don't tighten with the fastener against the floor. Tighten it with the fastener rising at about 45 degrees, I explain later why, it is pain for rear seat passengers but you'll thank me for it as the driver. As with the rear, it would be good to use loads of seam sealer underneath and you may need to shape the captivated bit inside the tunnel. You may also have to but the ends of the bolts off so nothing fouls.
7) Now you need to take your trafficators out (one at a time so you still have a pattern in place ;) ) You need a 7/16 UNF clearance hole through your pillar from the inside. This hole is just below the hole where your trafficators are fixed (the lower hole), you'll find the trafficator sits in a recess, this recess is slightly longer than the trafficator and your clearance hole just fits in. Do not drill too quickly and with lots of pressure...... you do not want to damage the hole on the outside of the pillar where the trafficator comes out.
You will need to modify the captivated nut to fit inside of the pillar, I cut mine into a rectangle, with the nut in the middle, and drilled a little hold to hold it in place in the pillar. Get a log piece of wire and feed it through the hole in the captivated nut, this is so it can be retrieved when you drop it down the pillar (because you will).
9) So my modified captivated nut is fed into the pillar from the outside, making sure the wire is unravelled, held in place and bolted up (dry run). Undo the wire just before fully tightened, when tightened drill another hole through the pillar and the captivated nut to allow for a small self tapper to hold the captivated nut in place if you have to take the belt out.
7) Undo bolt, refit trafficator (you may need to trim a bit off the bottom), drill clearance hole in side trim, bolt up triangular pivot thingy.
Bolt real to sill captivated nut, you may use an extended chrome piece supplied so real sits on top of sills.
9) Sit in seat, you'll notice the pivot piece that is attached to the pillar pivots around your shoulder height. Because the rear buckles were tightened at 45 degrees pointing up, when buckled up the belt pulls across your chest from over the shoulder. If the fastener is nearer the floor, the belt will roll off the shoulder in use which is wrong and not very safe.
Now I hope you understand... I'm going to read through it myself to see if I understand it lol!!
1) I took off the kick plates to reveal the sills.
2) I drilled a 7/16 UNF clearance hole at the base of the middle pillar from the inside of the car, you may need to tilt the front seats right forward to get access.
3) I then drilled a 7/16 UNF clearance hole either side of the transmission tunnel where the tunnel meets the rear seat base.
The arrows give some idea of where I mean, but you will be better off going as near to the floor as possible as remember a handbrake cable is the other side of this panel. You will need to pull up the carpet and the panelling in front of the seat to save it getting damaged. This isn't my car by the way.
[frame]
4) You need to buy some seat belt captivated nuts from ESM, like the ones in the rear seat belt fitting, you will need six just for the front.
5) One fits inside the sill, you can either simply bolt it in place or fix it in first. Best to re-assemble the kick plates after you have fitted the belts, you don't want to have to take them off again.
6) Fit another two captivated nuts inside the transmission tunnel (underneath the car) and tighten up the buckle fastener part, don't tighten with the fastener against the floor. Tighten it with the fastener rising at about 45 degrees, I explain later why, it is pain for rear seat passengers but you'll thank me for it as the driver. As with the rear, it would be good to use loads of seam sealer underneath and you may need to shape the captivated bit inside the tunnel. You may also have to but the ends of the bolts off so nothing fouls.
7) Now you need to take your trafficators out (one at a time so you still have a pattern in place ;) ) You need a 7/16 UNF clearance hole through your pillar from the inside. This hole is just below the hole where your trafficators are fixed (the lower hole), you'll find the trafficator sits in a recess, this recess is slightly longer than the trafficator and your clearance hole just fits in. Do not drill too quickly and with lots of pressure...... you do not want to damage the hole on the outside of the pillar where the trafficator comes out.
You will need to modify the captivated nut to fit inside of the pillar, I cut mine into a rectangle, with the nut in the middle, and drilled a little hold to hold it in place in the pillar. Get a log piece of wire and feed it through the hole in the captivated nut, this is so it can be retrieved when you drop it down the pillar (because you will).9) So my modified captivated nut is fed into the pillar from the outside, making sure the wire is unravelled, held in place and bolted up (dry run). Undo the wire just before fully tightened, when tightened drill another hole through the pillar and the captivated nut to allow for a small self tapper to hold the captivated nut in place if you have to take the belt out.
7) Undo bolt, refit trafficator (you may need to trim a bit off the bottom), drill clearance hole in side trim, bolt up triangular pivot thingy.
Bolt real to sill captivated nut, you may use an extended chrome piece supplied so real sits on top of sills.9) Sit in seat, you'll notice the pivot piece that is attached to the pillar pivots around your shoulder height. Because the rear buckles were tightened at 45 degrees pointing up, when buckled up the belt pulls across your chest from over the shoulder. If the fastener is nearer the floor, the belt will roll off the shoulder in use which is wrong and not very safe.
Now I hope you understand... I'm going to read through it myself to see if I understand it lol!!
My Minor:
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
Re: Seatbelts
thank you for the comprehensive reply, it must have taken ages to type it all out!
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Alex'n'Ane
- Minor Legend
- Posts: 1024
- Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:06 pm
- Location: Nottingham
- MMOC Member: No
Re: Seatbelts
Its not essential to use captive nuts for either the main reel mounting (sill) or for the buckle mounting (trans tunnel), a decent spreader plate would do an equally good job, and my be considerably easier to fit.
___Anne___
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Dean
- Minor Legend
- Posts: 2180
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 9:41 pm
- Location: Sutton Coldfield
- MMOC Member: No
Re: Seatbelts
A few pictures to help decifer my descriptions.
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You can see the self taper in the bottom two pictures that hold the captivated nut in place.
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You can see the self taper in the bottom two pictures that hold the captivated nut in place.
My Minor:
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
-
Dean
- Minor Legend
- Posts: 2180
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 9:41 pm
- Location: Sutton Coldfield
- MMOC Member: No
Re: Seatbelts
More pictures.
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My Minor:
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535
A Clarendon Grey 1953 4 Door Series II.
MMOC - 66535