WELCOME TO 170 A MODEL A
MOUNT RANIER IN WASHINGTON STATE
SEAT
BELTS AND INSTALLATION INFORMATION PROVIDED
BY
JOHN
YOUNG FROM SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
(John
provided me with this information shortly after the accident in which two
members of our club was killed ON May 7th, 2005).
John’s
Information.
I have tried to show you in the photos below how I installed front
seat belts in my ’30 Tudor. My
objective was to have metal to metal attachments to the body only and no wood.
You will note that my seats are mounted in a non-traditional fashion to
give me room to work the controls. I
am a big guy with long legs and even a Tudor was tight for me.
Forget a coupe, roadster or pickup.
I made those seat extensions so the seat would still fold forward and yet
give me a good range of seat attachment using the standard pivot points.
If any are interested I can share my pix of the parts I welded up.
Materials:
1.
One set of front MOPAR 71” metal to metal buckle belts with bolt-in
attachments. New belts off E-bay
for about $20/set. Any bolt-in
belts will do and retractables are an option as well.
2.
1 ½” wide X ¼” thick strap iron.
Home Depot.
2 ea about 9”
pieces for the side rail attachments measure your space under the
rails
1 ea 21” piece for
the center metal channel under the middle of the cabin floor, ½” hole in
center for both buckle receptacle ends
3.
3 ea 1 ½” X ½” – 16 grade 8 bolts, nuts, large grade 8 washers
and lock washers
You
see the materials are at a minimum.
The
long belts were attached at the floor side rails below the rear quarter windows.
The 9” pieces of iron were fit into the channel above the splash rails. There is room to reach under there to thread and secure the
nuts, etc. You will note the 9”
pieces had the holes closer to one end than the other.
This was to get the maximum length of metal and still have the belt
attachment far enough to the rear to
have
a good angle on the front seat cushion. Obviously
I drilled the holes first in the
body and then drilled the reinforcement plates to match.
The
plates were cleaned, sand blasted lightly and coated using satin black POR
15.
That’s
it, no rocket science.
Do
I believe the belts will save us in a crash like the Cooks?
probably not. However, the
stability you feel in the car with the belts makes a huge difference and I
feel I have better feel and control of the car.
My wife is quite crippled and you may see some handrails on the passenger
side that help her a great deal. However,
without the belts the old rock and roll of the “A” was very hard for her to
take. She is so much more
comfortable with the belts.
I
hope this helps and please let me know if you would like any more detail on any
of the above. Or better yet, bring
your cars to San Antonio and we will do them in my shop – it’s air
conditioned! How is that for an
offer?
be more to come. I just have
to assemble more data
and
IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION OR GUIDANCE ON THIS SUBJECT THAT YOU WOULD SHARE, I WILL
BE MOST HAPPY TO ADDIT TO THIS SITE.
Thank
you, Dick Burton
