Front Seat Belts for 41 60S ???

[Paul Phillips]

I am looking for success stories on installing seat belts in this model car (probably applies to the range of 39-41 60S models) where the mount points stay under the front seat and don't interfere with the underseat heaters.  I would prefer not to do as some I have seen where the mount is in the passenger floorboard and the belt runs over the footrest.  The car is on a rotisserie, so I can do anything reasonable in terms of fabrication.  My biggest problem is the reinforcing cage put in the interior to stabilize the body on the rotisserie prevents getting the front seat back in to test fit and try some things.  I want to complete this fab work before the priming/undercoating of the body shell, which needs to happen on the rotisserie.

Thanks for your help!

Paul

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Paul: With any installation of seat belts, the point where the seat belt end is anchored needs to placed so that in the event forward force is applied to the belt, that force needs to move from a person sitting in the seat, along the belt, to the anchor point in as much of a straight line as possible.In the 60 special that presents a problem to keep the belt straight. To keep the belt straight, the anchor point needs to be behind the seat as shown in one of the attached pictures. So that also means you need to cut slotted holes at the back bottom of the front seat. I know you would like to get all the holes drilled with the body off the car but in my opinion to get an accurate placement of the belts, you need to wait until you have the finished seat in the car. Sit on the front seat and lay the belts beside you to get the area where you need to cut the slots. If I remember correctly the outer belts can be anchored to the frame. The inner belts I used very large washers under the floor to anchor the inner belts. I also used a set of carpet pads to cover the bracket on the back floor. To make the slots through the back seat bottom, mark the center point where each belt goes through the metal, mark a point about 1&1/2 inches either side of the center point, drill a 3/8 inch hole at the outer points, draw a horizontal line from the top as well as the bottom of the holes connecting each hole. Now you have the slot outlined and I use a small hand held jig saw to cut the hole. Once the hole is cut, file the edges smooth and the use some duct tape to cover the edges to protect the belt. Use belt re-tractors on the outside belts. If you don`t use re-tractors the belts get in the way when closing the door.

Bill

[Paul Phillips]

Thanks Bill, definitely some good ideas. I was hoping to be a bit more subtle in the visibility of the mounting locations, trading a more robust attachment for a potentially steeper belt angle. Am also looking at incorporating a reinforced shoulder belt point in the B pillar, since everything is bare metal & wide open at the moment.  I am open to other ideas, if someone has had success.

Paul

[pauldridge]

Paul,

I did exactly the same technique as Bill described in the previous email.  That continuous curved metal plate between the upper and lower seat squibs is a real obstacle, but as Bill indicated, mark the desired location then cut a slot for each belt in the metal. I installed 3 sets of belts both front and rear in my '40 Fleetwood, and used the same slots for the right and left center set.

At Home Depot there is a waterproof electrical tape.. it is very thick, and very sticky... makes a great edging for that metal opening to protect the belts from fraying.

The only difference in my installation is that I did run my belts UNDER the rear foot rest.  I, like you, didn't want the rear seat pax stomping on the belts.
The attach points are not visible at all unless the seat is pulled almost all the way forward.  And that's how I installed mine... run the belts through the slots you've cut in the metal on the seats, underneath the rear foot rest, then push the front seat all the way forward, and install your belts so that just the bolt head is accessible.  Once the seat is in "normal" position, unless you are a midget, the belt attach points won't be visible at all.
Phil

Pictures of front seat, both front, rear, and side.  Note I ran the outer belt next to the door underneath the lower trim to keep it a bit more tidy.  I don't believe I had to cut slots for the outer belts.. just snaked them underneath and mounted to the floor plan.

Finally, Definitely use some big washers.. there's nothing but 18 ga floor pan metal under there.  By all rights, to be perfectly safe, you should fabricate a heavier member underneath to attach to, but I got lazy.  (For the rear belts, I did run one solid 3/16" x 3" wide piece of aluminum on the underside to give more support.

[Paul Phillips]

Thanks Phil - very helpful.  I am definitely interested in reinforcing the area, and now is convenient with the shell being bare metal.  Do you recall if the attach points were on the flat section of the floorpan or on the angled ramp section at the rear of the front seat platform?  (please see photo & ignor the cage bars - car is on rotisserie)  Or if you would be able to take a photo of your front attach points from underneath, that would be even better.

Thanks again
Paul