Herald Convertible rear seat belts

[Tom]

Hello, I currently have the rear tub off and have been welding both the chassis and tub, chassis is finished and I am about 3/4 way through the tub.It occurred to me today that I meant to fit some sort of rear restraint, I've had so much on I had forgotten. I have a set of inertia seat belts front a Fiat Cinqeucento that would be nice to use, the main issue appears to be where to anchor the top of the belt, I figure whilst the car is apart I could build a frame behind the seats but where might be the best place to anchor the frame?

If anyone has managed this and have a design it would be good to see.

Tom.

[Colin Lindsay]

Problem with Herald convertibles is that for the rear seat, the only really good mounting point is the floor. This then leads to the problem of where to route the belts, if you're trying to use anything other than lap belts.

If you're currently welding you may consider adding additional strengthening, but where exactly... here's a photo of a roll bar a local friend made for his car to accommodate rear belts, but you may not like it being so obvious?

[Tom]

Hi Colin,

yes making a frame is easy it's where to fix. I wonder if the one you show has new brackets bolted/welded to the chassis triangulated back to the body mount points just above the rear dampers? I think it's quite a neat job...headrests too!!

 

[Colin Lindsay]

I had a full set of photos of that setup, no idea where they are now but it featured in The Courier a few years back, made by a local man called Frank Bell - it came to one of the local shows here in 2011. The headrests are a great touch.

[Tom]

Oooooh I'd like to see those pics! If anyone out there finds the article in the courier and could photograph or scan it and post it that would be great!!!

[Clive]

MAny years ago when we had a family vitesse CV we used lap belts to secure the little ones car seats (with the seat base removed it got them low enough to keep them out of the breeze too) As they grew, the lap belts were employed, but I started to think about 3 point belts.

My idea was to remake the frame around the back/sides of the seat in stronger rectangular box section, with legs vertically down. The frame would come forard to teh B post as usual, but obviously stronger than the pressed sheet sections the factory used.

However, to brace the frame (hopefully enough) O was intending to bring a box section from this framework, attaching to the top corner (by your shoulder if that makes sense) down to the bottom of the B post so in the event of a crash the forces would transmit down, and I think with some work could be taken down to the siderails.  I think some rear facing angled box from the vertical sections to the chassis mounts would help too. 

Virtually all the rear seatbelt setups I have seen look like they will do nothing but flap about in an accident, Colins one above looks like it has potential depending on how it is braced.