GT350 tribute

[StephenSLR]

a coupe is a little different on the back seat.

They don't have such a pronounced hump in the middle right?

s

[jusTANG]

Yeap, got it in one

would hate to be the middle person in a FB thinking about it

[hybrid]

It could provide more stability if the right sized crack was available?

[nassi]

It could provide more stability if the right sized crack was available?

Hhmmmm, I think if there were a crack that large in the back seat then you may have other balance issues.

[StephenSLR]

I drove my car over to Geoff at All Vehicle Restraints.

He's currently doing a mock up using a string line.

He used the existing hole in the roof rail, a 150mm drop link & a 250 mm riser bracket off the floor.



He moved the floor anchorage back & used a 75 x 50 bracket off the floor and thinks this will all work quite well.

There is clearance everywhere for the belt path. The rear Q-panel will require about 20mm cut out of it to allow belt to come up through, there is about 10mm o/lap of top panel so the slot will end up about 10mm wide.



I'm preferring this way as it hides the retractor in the panel so it's not on the floor as an obstacle.

Thoughts?

s

[ozbilt]

Cut a slot in the inner rocker & feed a plate (with a 7/16" UNF nut welded to it) through the slot so it lines up with the new hole location you have drilled in the inner rocker (where the angle plate is).

Plate size has been discussed already.

Floor is 1mm mild steel & the join to the rear torque box (if original) will be "iffy" as it only had a couple of resistance (spot) welds in it. Inner rocker would be 1.5mm thick, so a 50% strength gain.

Other added bonus is that the bolt position is in shear not in tension (that would rip the floor in a collision).

[Shaunp]

By law if you put a plate behind a panel to hold a belt mount point it only has to to be held so it dosen't fall out when you undo the belt bolt in real terms so even a pop rivet is fine. The other way to do it is to get some 2" x 1/8 strap and and weld this up from the floor (wrap it over the floor) & on to the inner sill, this is perfectly fine as again it is in shear as Kerry said and also pulls on the floor as well as the sill.
My coupe will have inertia reels front and back, fronts will have a plate from the floor up over the sill.

[StephenSLR]

Some more progress on the belt set up, it's still in a bit of a mock up phase, have yet to order the blue belts, etc.





The light tube is in the way so needs to be trimmed.











s

[donoauto]

Wow , I thought the inertias didn't want to extend if the reel was at any form of angle ?? I've struck this on many a production car when ginning around. Or is there a diff. between retractables & inertias?

[StephenSLR]

Wow , I thought the inertias didn't want to extend if the reel was at any form of angle ??

I believe you have to order one with the correct 'tilt bias', you've probably seen the ones that lie flat, etc. They all have different tilt biases.

Here's some light reading concernng the angles.

http://www.apvsafetyproducts.com/wps/wcm/connect/7c520c8041f6bfb0b27db3255c5b96c9/GENERAL%2BSEATBELT%2BINFORMATION3bcd.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

'Retractor' means it obviously retracts and inertia means resistance to a force, in this case the reel locks (resists) when a force (mass x acceleration) is applied. They're two components that make up the retractable inertia reel. Retractor is easier for me to say and type.



s

[StephenSLR]

Geoff's made up spreader plates for roof anchorage today







He's also altered the 30 x 3 brace (previous post) for the retractor riser to come across the body horizontally rather than downwards. It's more in the direction of pull on the anchorage.

He say's he's not 100 per cent happy with the floor mount for the retractor as the floor flexes even though he used an oversize plate under the floor.

What he says he's going to do is make a plate to sandwich the floor in this area



He'll also fit another spreader plate to the hole at the bottom of pic & also bolt thru this hole. This hole is thru a triple panel that attaches the front spring hanger to the floor pan.



It will work out to be about 140 x 150mm then have the riser bolted on top of it.

This is how the belts will sit in the car



The black texta in the lower panel is the amount of cut out for the belt.



s

[ozbilt]

I bolted the unit to the torque box as it is a structural box made of thicker steel. I used a long drill & went through both sides of the box & then used a hole saw on the underside to provide access for a socket to tighten the nut.

You will also find that directly behind that torque box, there is a thick plate that can act as a sandwich to the floor.

[StephenSLR]

I bolted the unit to the torque box as it is a structural box made of thicker steel. I used a long drill & went through both sides of the box & then used a hole saw on the underside to provide access for a socket to tighten the nut.

You will also find that directly behind that torque box, there is a thick plate that can act as a sandwich to the floor.

I've just forwarded this ^ comment to him, as well as your previous one, after you posted it..

Will see how it goes.

s

[StephenSLR]

Some more pics on the progress:










Fitting the plate into the sill panel:





^ spiral stretch wire



The plate is attached to a piece of yellow tongue floor joiner with a couple of turns of tape, a pop rivet stem is tied onto string with half hitch.



The plate, string & yellow tongue is fed into the sill, the string pulls the plate toward the 7/16 hole & yellow tongue holds it horizontal.



The plate is pulled up to panel with string & pop rivet stem



String is threaded thru a bolt with a 1/8 hole thru it.



Bolt is screwed up with a wheel nut which centres the plate with the hole in the panel.





The yellow tongue is pulled out of tape, the string & pop rivet stem is then pulled back, the plate is then drilled & pop riveted in place, bolt & nut removed.










Geoff's had a bit of a play showing another way the belt could be done.

He's made templates for the floor plates & ordered them, ordered the belts and will paint the brackets.

Just wondering, should the hole in the sill be welded back up? I'm thinking it should be at least painted or treated to stop the onset of rust.

s

[StephenSLR]

1965 fastback lap sash seat belt installation

The belts and plates came through and I took the car back to Geoff's to continue where he left off.





He noticed the retractor would move sideways during use so he added an extra vertical bar for stability.



This is how the rears were positioned by previous owner.



This is how Geoff was thinking of mounting them.



He changed his mind to this method.







As he cut the light tube he secured a painted tin can in place to stop the interior light bleeding through.







The belt nicely lines up with the body.







s