Rear seat belt mounting anchor

[dcfb77]

Thought I'd throw it out on the Syncro forum as having the fuel tank in the rear some of you may have also been faced with this.

I want to put rear seat belts in so means finding a way to fit a belt anchor on without taking the fuel tank out.

I was thinking of fitting one of these using high strength epoxy and steel rivets (and drilling slowly...)

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinf ... cc=1182305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Has anyone done done this another way without taking the tank out?

David.

[jebiga41]

Wouldn't go for that, 20 chances of hitting your tank. A lot peeps run a 5ft or so piece of angle or bar between from one side to the other you can bolt it onto the bulkhead over the wheel arches where there is no tank and use that as the mounting point for your belts. Or take out the tank, you know you want too

[garyd]

Hi,
have fitted rear belt anchors in a couple of syncros and never taken the tanks out.

When I purchased belts direct from the manufacturers (Securon on one occasion and Safety Belts Services on another) they advised that all that was needed to 'create' a belt anchor was a nut plate similar to that in your link. So long as this was on the 'back' side of a good piece of bodywork that would be sufficient. Belt loadings will not pull that plate through an internal body panel. Your question is obviously aimed at fitting the inner 'hip' mounts but the same plates are used for the outer hip and shoulder mounts. For these, though, bolt through the inner frame of the body side rather than the floor.

I found that by working from the wheel arch and unhooking & easing away the wire frame that holds the sound proofing between the tank and the sloping section of floor/engine deck I could get sufficient access. There is around 40mm space between panel & tank at the top of sloping floor section. Firstly this access is needed for a strip of ply or metal to protect the tank whilst drilling through the panel (alternatively, use a stop tube around the drill bit to limit penetration to the minimum) and secondly to push in the nut plate.

Having decided where the fixings needed to go I drilled the first hole and opened it out for the belt fixing bolt. I then held the nut plate against the face of the panel and drilled through a couple of holes for 4mm pop rivets. I then used a piece of fencing wire, bent it around the nut and taped it securely to the plate. The plate can then be pushed from the wheel arch, up between the sound proofing and the panel and wriggled about to get it aligned with the hole. Once the main bolt (with a spacer) is engaged with the thread, you need to rotate the plate until the rivet holes are aligned too (think about this orientation when taping the plate to the wire. Then wind the bolt in finger tight, insert and 'pop' the rivets, wriggle and pull the wire out of the tape and reseat the sound proofing and wire frame.

You can now undo the belt bolt, without the plate falling out of position, to remove the spacer, install the internal sound proofing, carpet etc, and the actual belts.

Repeat for the second side.

Have fun. It will take a while and is much, much easier with a second pair of hands.

Garyd

[dcfb77]

Thanks for the advice. when my fingers have recovered from the recent cv change I'll see if I can squeeze something in there.

Thanks for the help. Good to know it can be done...

David.