[Dwight Romberger]

I know seat belts are a contraversial subject, but if I wanted to install them in a 1930 Buick what would be the safest way?

Thanks guys,
Dwight

[Larry Schramm]

Find a good anchor point and put big enough washers on both sides of the sheet metal where you are going to anchor them

[Bhigdog]

Try to find spots near reinforcing ribs. Rather than washers I make up 3" X 1/4' plates with round corners...........Bob

[Tinindian]

I havn't installed it yet but I made a cross member out of 1/8 x 1 1/2 x 3 channel. The ends are drilled and will be bolted into the top flange of my frame and into the vertical part. I am using 1/2" bolts that are installed upwards through the flange of the channel, with a nut to retain them. The bolts will extend through a 1" hole in the floor boards (to be sealed with flexible caulking so the floor won't leak and there will be no direct pressure between the frame and the body of the car). Anothe nut and washer will be under the belt mount and topped off with a washer and an acorn nut.

[Tishabet]

I have heard others recommend that you mount them into the body of the car (rather than the chassis) in case the crash is severe enough that the two part ways.

[Mark Shaw]

As long as you use grade 8 bolts, it appears you have a good plan.

[Telco]

Thought I'd add a bit here. I used to have a 1987 S15 ext cab pickup that I'd had a flat floorpan put into, and a set of 2000 or 2001 Caddy CTS seats installed in. The Caddy seats had the built-in seat belt, the truck used anchor points. I was always concerned about whether or not I'd made a good decision on this until the day I became my own crash test dummy. A girl pulled out in front of my truck at an intersection (2 way stop, I had right of way and a 50MPH speed limit, was going 40MPH) and I T-boned her. The seats didn't so much as crease the flat sheet metal required to mount them. When I installed the seats I had a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of L-angle iron under the floorpan that connected the front bolts together and the rear bolts together. After the accident I checked the floorpans and bolts, and found no sign of a problem. Each piece of angle iron extended past the bolts by about 2 inches. This spread the force of impact across a very large piece of metal, because in order for the 50lb or so seat plus my 230lbs to be able to break loose, it would have had to ripped out about 30 to 35 inches of metal to get the rear bolts out, and another 30 to 35 inches of metal to get the front bolts out. The force needed to rip the seat loose from the sheet metal would likely have been high enough that I'd not have survived the wreck regardless, and then it wouldn't have mattered either way.

Another thing, and this is something I'm VERY glad I discovered during the installation process; I initially was going to use stainless steel bolts to hold the seats in. I used bolts as big around as my index finger on all 4 corners. After the test fit I went to remove the bolts, and one of then SNAPPED! I could instantly see the future if I went with stainless bolts for the seats, because if I was able to snap a bolt of that size with a 10 inch long ratchet wrench, an accident at any speed might have been enough to snap all 8 bolts (4 to a seat) and kill both people in the truck. I replaced them with grade 8 regular steel bolts. I later found out that stainless has a much lower tensile strength than regular steel, which means the stainless bolts are more brittle.

Hope this helps someone with an old ride with their seat belts.

[Larry Schramm]

When you put the anchor washers in if you do, just be sure that they do not have any sharp corners. Rounded corners are good.

[newbaufish]

Related topic, how long of belts have people had success with?

[arbys]

The length depends on a few things. The attachment point, how you thread it between the seat back and cushion, and the girth of the person.