Fitting rear seat belts to syncro panel van

[sandwedge]

Hi all

Looking for some advice/pointers regarding fitting rear belts to my syncro panel van.

The problem I have come up against is, fitting the buckle and center lap belt.
I know I need to drill the body to fit these with spreader plates. The issue I have is access, do I need to drop the fuel tank to fit these, or is there a work round, like welding a strengthening plate to the cabin side with the nut attached.

Has anyone done this? are there any pictures of how to fit this part of a belt to a panel van, or am I correct in assuming the only way is to remove the tank, and does this mean taking the engine and box out?

[slobbo]

Don't go welding there. Too close to the petrol tank. A easy way to do it is to get a length of box section from wheel arch to wheel arch. Drill the box section through the wheel arch and put your load spreaders there.

Pictures aren't great but here is what I did.




This is what I did. I used 2 bolts with 2 seat belt mounting plates each side through the wheel arch. I used 25mm box section. quite a heavy gauge as I didn't want it to bend. To fit the belts you just drill the box section and use the belt mounting plates (behind the box section but inside the van). You might want to drill the seat belt holes before you bolt in the box section.

This is how I did it and I was happy with what I did. If you do something like it you do so at your own risk. I am not an engineer nor a professional where seat belts are concerned.

[sandwedge]

Thanks Rob

I think that confirms what I feared.

So I will need to drop the power train, and tank to do this "pooh", I was hoping this would be strait forward.

[Ray]

I did the same as slobbo. Pre welded the spreader plates with nuts onto steel bar then bolted the bar through the wheel arch. works fine and hidden by the r&r bed. Beats taking engine and tank out!

[syncrosimon]

My Finnish Army Ambulance bus came with some fairly hefty welded steel plates in for mounting oxygen tanks to. They were welded straight onto the body right next to the tank.



When I took the tank out I found that there was a gap of an inch and a half (iirc) and the heavy welding had not effected the tank at all. Worked on numerous other Army Ambo's. I have used these for welding the middle seatbelt fixing points to.

[sandwedge]

Thanks Simon

I think that's the route I'm going to take, make a spreader plate with legs and captive nuts and weld in from the cabin side, should make the whole job much quicker, and as long as the plates are seam welded round the edges it should be able to take the load, just pray I never need to find out

[syncropaddy]

Don't go welding there. Too close to the petrol tank. A easy way to do it is to get a length of box section from wheel arch to wheel arch. Drill the box section through the wheel arch and put your load spreaders there.
This is how I did it and I was happy with what I did. If you do something like it you do so at your own risk. I am not an engineer nor a professional where seat belts are concerned.

The best way to do this in a manner that wont kill anyone is to (unfortunately) drop the box and tank. Its a total bitch of a job but it will be done properly. If you weld inside the van you will be too close to the tank (BOOM) and will burn off any paint / underseal in an area that is prone to rot. Mounting seatbelts to a piece of box section that is only supported in two places 4 feet apart will, in the event of an accident, do you and your passengers no favours at all. A 10 stone body strapped in, in a situation where there is a 30mph head on crash, will become VERY heavy and will rip that box section out as if it was stuck in there with bluetak. So not only will you have a flying body in the back of your van but they will be dragging a lump of sharp metal as well. It makes me break out into a sweat just thinking about how unsafe that is. I'd hate to think what the insurance companies would say in the event of a smack.
I am an engineer and spent 18 months in the late 70's smacking cars (Metro and Maestro) into concrete blocks at MIRA. There is good footage of stuff you can look at on you tube on the subject.

[sandwedge]

I hear what your saying syncropaddy, Ive done seat testing myself for Jaguar and bentley, I recon I can get some heat reflective mat between the tank and the body prior to welding.

The van is a daily drive at the moment so I wont be able to take it off the road for the few days it will take to drop the box and tank, unless its possible to do this in a weekend with only a trolley jack and two axle stands.

That brings me to another question is it possible to take the tank out with only the gearbox removed or does taking the gear box out mean dropping the engine as well, and if Im going down this route what jobs should I undertake whilst they are out of the body?

[syncropaddy]

Yes you can drop the box off the engine to get the tank out and yes 2 stands and a trolly jack is enough. You could get the box and tank out in 3 hours but it really is a bitch to get it all back together and it will take two as you will need a helping hand. As with everything else to do with an old vehicle, while you are in there, clean off all the muck and s**t and then give a good wire brushing followed with a good going over with some Hamerite or something like that.
If you do go down the box section route then make sure there is 2 inches of weld every 4 inches along the full length of the section, top and bottom.

[garyd]

You all seem to be making very hard work of this. When I fitted rear seat belts I got them made to my specification (ie roller orientation, belt length, buckle type, etc) and took advice from the manufacturers about the mountings.

They say that only a surprisingly small spreader plate (less than 2" square) is needed. For the two 'centre' mounts at the rear I got nuts welded to the spreader plates. Then I taped these to a length of 4mm fencing wire and poked them in between the tank sound proofing felt and the body sell from the wheel arch.

With an assistant inside the vehicle it is possible with a bit of determination, to get these lined up a pre-drilled clearance hole for the fixing bolt. Put the bolt in and tighten it. Pull hard on the wire and tear the tape away. Repeat from other side. Job done.

In fact I went a little further and drilled through the floor and spreader plate and fitted two pop rivets to hold the plate should the bolt be removed. When drilling, make sure you have a tube over the drill bit to prevent it punching through into the plastic tank.

I have done this on two vans now with no problems.

Hope it helps you.

Garyd

[sandwedge]

That good to know I think I will give that a try first, will save me loads of time and hassel.