Re:Seat Belts

[Bill Watson <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

Back in thoee days, seat belts, radios and heaters were all optional, but
Chrysler did have the needed four front anchors installed at the factory,
complete with threaded nuts and bearingn plates welded to the floor.

My omly concern on your installation is over the anchor plates (or bearing
plates as Chrysler called them).  They should either be round or have two
parallel sides curved away from the floorpan.  See the factory installed
front anchors to see what I mean.   There is a possibility that the square
corners could cut into the floor as the passenger is thrown forward on
impasct.  This would result in the plate cutting through the floor and the
seat belt anchor coming free.  Also, the bearing plate should be thicker
than the floor pan steel.

A sharp piece of sheet steel can do a bit of damage.  Back in 1973  I hit a
Chevrolet Impala at an uncontrolled instection (my fault).   The front edge
of may 1972 Dart cut into the front fender of the Impala and the resulting
twist in the hood edge, as the Impala driver continued from my right to left
through the intersection, sliced the front fender, front door, rear door and
rear quarrter panel.   Cost $150 to reapair and paint the hood edge and
replace the front bumper.  The Impala was written off.

As to having the centre belts share holes/mountings with the outer belts, I
do not see what the problem is.    I have yet to come across a facotry
installation where the centre belts are mounted separate from the outer
belts.   Check the front seat belt installation on any six-passenger sedan.
I have removed many front seats and seat belts from cars of the 1970's to
get the carpetting and iusulation and all had but four anchors to button
down three sets of belts.  Same on the rear.

For the rear belts. the outer anchors should be low on the rise for the rear
axle.  When installed, the anchor should be below the compressed seat
cushion.  Same for the centre anchors, which should be installed on either
side of the driveshaft hump.  If you get a chance to wander through a junk
yard, check for a vehicle with the rear seat removed or remove one from a
4-door sedan or wagion.

Bill
Vancouver, BC


------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:01:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bob Fortson <bobt1885@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Seat Belts?



Hi Robert...Fitted belts in the rear of my 63 Fury
'vert.  I used "of the period" new belts and anchor
bolts (available from many vendors...some much cheaper
than Juliano's...seems to be same stuff)...I also used
an anchor plate on the bottom side that I had
fabricated about 3" X 3" with proper size hole...I
simply passed the bolt thru and torqued.

The key thing is to see where the type belts that you
buy want to go to properly restrain...then mark the
close approx. spot from the inside of the car...BUT
DON"T DRILL YET!!!!!Get your mate (or brother) to help
yo make sure you are not drilling brke lines, fuel
lines, etc.....we found it best to drill some holes
from the topside down and some from bottom up to avoid
those things that shouldn't be drilled !
FYI...Installed 3 belts in the rear seat and used the
the two inside (nearest the tunnel)bolts for double
duty...I have an engineer friend that looked over my
plates and the supplied eye-bolts and and pronounced
them fit for double duty... he did suggest avoiding
head ons at over 65 or so if doing threesomes in the
rear...duhhhhhh.
Any help here ?

Bob Fortson
--- Robert <r.lane@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>
> Hi again
> Another question...
> Has anyone out there fitted rear seat belts to a 63
> Dodge (or similar - I presume there will be other
> years of both Dodge & Plymouth b-bodies that have
> the same/similar floor pans)?
> We had our back seat out for the first time last
> week to get the rear panels off to send to SMS for
> resto (but that's another story!), and looked to see
> if there was anywhere obvious to mount rear seat
> belts. There wasn't. I know Julianos
> http://www.julianos.com/catalog.html also sell
> anchor plates which should make a neat installation
> wherever they're fitted, but I was wondering if
> anyone knows the best place to locate the fixings?
> Were rear seatbelts ever fitted in these cars at the
> factory or at the dealerships?
>
> Any help gratefully received, as ever.
>
> Regards
>
> Robert
> 63 Polara 500
> England
>
>
>


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