1950 Buick seat belt

[Mr. Reed]

Hello. I purchased lap belts for the front seats. It will make passengers feel safer with them. I don't want to just drill holes through the tin floor. I think there needs to be a bar or some angle iron with the bolts attached to under the chassis so they don't pull through the floor in the event of a collision. Anyone have pictures of their setup or advice thanks. There is still a floor in this car 😀

[rocketraider]

Large heavy flat washers are what a lot of people use when installing seat belts in cars that never had them or weren't engineered for them.

 

A piece of 1/8" or even 1/16" flat bar a couple inches wide welded to the bottom of the car floor would be a great way to mount these belts. The idea is to spread dynamic load across as broad an area as possible so the belt mounting screws won't pull out of the floor pan. That would be as bad as having no restraints at all.

 

Just make sure when you're drilling holes to look what's near them. I've known folks who drilled right thru their brake or fuel lines.

[Larry Schramm]

What ever you use, make sure it does not have a sharp edge.  I would suggest using these seat belt anchors.

 

[Skvitt]

Mr. Reed, I will be facing the same issue with my 49 Super soon. So will follow this thread for the answers. There is another question here. Does you seat frame look anything like this?

 

[usnavystgc]

I just had a thought about this;

 

Why not bolt them to one of the bolts that hold the seat down?  You could make a bracket that extends out as an attachment point for the seat belt.  This would require no modification to the car at all.  

[46 woodie]

A company called Juliano's, 800-300 1932 has several types of anchor plates available. I believe their website is Juliano's Hot Rod Parts and pictures are available of the anchor plates.

[Scott Bonesteel]

One of the problems that arises with metal seat frames that are found in most vintage cars with bench seats as shown above by Skvitt is how do you pass the belts through the seat frame in the MIDDLE.  I agree that a strong piece of flatbar or angle under the floor is needed to spread the load so the bolt does not pull out under load.  However, you still need to pass the fabric belts through the metal frame of the seat so that they do not chafe and eventually fail.  Julianos has great anchor plate options but unless you have bucket seats their 'hard' buckle belts, basically shrouded in plastic, don't work well.  What I used in my 34 Plymouth sedan was 4 junkyard-sourced belt protectors, which are basically a hard plastic flange with a slot in it and an extended shroud for the belt, extending about 4-6 inches, through which the belt extends.  This protects the belt from chafing and brings the end, both the buckle and tab sides, up through the cushions so it is accessible.  I had to do this on the outer sides of my seat frame as well, and was able at that end to go directly to the body bolt to the frame, which is right at the B-pillar.  Photo is from an ebay listing for bench seat 'seat belt guides', which is similar to what I used on my 34 (mine came from a Lincoln and were somewhat longer but otherwise identical). Have fun and good luck, very important safety feature if you are going to drive your Buick.

[Skvitt]

16 hours ago, Scott Bonesteel said:

One of the problems that arises with metal seat frames that are found in most vintage cars with bench seats as shown above by Skvitt is how do you pass the belts through the seat frame in the MIDDLE.  I agree that a strong piece of flatbar or angle under the floor is needed to spread the load so the bolt does not pull out under load.  However, you still need to pass the fabric belts through the metal frame of the seat so that they do not chafe and eventually fail.  Julianos has great anchor plate options but unless you have bucket seats their 'hard' buckle belts, basically shrouded in plastic, don't work well.  What I used in my 34 Plymouth sedan was 4 junkyard-sourced belt protectors, which are basically a hard plastic flange with a slot in it and an extended shroud for the belt, extending about 4-6 inches, through which the belt extends.  This protects the belt from chafing and brings the end, both the buckle and tab sides, up through the cushions so it is accessible.  I had to do this on the outer sides of my seat frame as well, and was able at that end to go directly to the body bolt to the frame, which is right at the B-pillar.  Photo is from an ebay listing for bench seat 'seat belt guides', which is similar to what I used on my 34 (mine came from a Lincoln and were somewhat longer but otherwise identical). Have fun and good luck, very important safety feature if you are going to drive your Buick.

That was exactly my question. Thank you for posting the answer!

[Mr. Reed]

On 11/21/2022 at 7:41 AM, Skvitt said:

Mr. Reed, I will be facing the same issue with my 49 Super soon. So will follow this thread for the answers. There is another question here. Does you seat frame look anything like this?

 

I'm honestly not sure because I've never removed the seat from the car but the idea of the mounting to the frame bolts seems sound so I don't have to drill holes in the floor but I like the brackets too.

[Larry Schramm]

Do not anchor the seat belts to the CAR frame.  In an older car if it is in a crash and the body comes loose from the frame, then the occupant in the seatbelt will be holding the body to the frame. 

 

I would guess that it would not be a pretty site.  Just my opinion and I am not a crash engineer.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[Skvitt]

As it was mentioned above, it is not a good idea to anchor belt to the seat frame, it won't do anything good in case of the crash. As Scott Bonesteel mentioned, we will need to cut the slots thru the seat frame in the area where cushion meets with the backrest, insert those plastic protectors and run seatbelts thru it and anchor them to the floor, with some reinforcement