Seatbelts Anyone???

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, I was thinking of installing seatbelts in my 47 Chrysler Coupe.

I would of course install 3 in the back, and probably just 2 up front.

Now because the front split bench seats do not lock, can I still use 3 point shoulder harness type belts, or do I have to go with lap belts only.

I am not crazy about installing seat belts, but do need them in the back seat for my 2 youing kids, one is still in a car seat she is 2yo.

Any suggestions, was thinking of going to a pick and pull autowrecker and finding seat belts.

Should I mount them right through the floors, what have some of you done with is idea?

Thanx Fred

[knighthawk]

I seen new belts for sale some place for about $20 a pair, dosen't pay then to use 'dirty' junk yard stuff. I'll look and see where it was, and get back to you.....my opinion : I would definitly bolt them to the floor some how and use a larger fender washer style washer beneath the floor, and thru some kind of re-infiorcement area under the floor. I don't think I would rely the sheetmetal floor pan to save anyone.

[Norm's Coupe]

I seen new belts for sale some place for about $20 a pair, dosen't pay then to use 'dirty' junk yard stuff. I'll look and see where it was, and get back to you.....my opinion : I would definitly bolt them to the floor some how and use a larger fender washer style washer beneath the floor, and thru some kind of re-infiorcement area under the floor. I don't think I would rely the sheetmetal floor pan to save anyone.

Fred,

I don't like seatbelts either. I still have the ones I bought back in the late 90's in the package they came in. That said, I agree with Knighthawk. If you're installing seatbelts for safety sake, why go with cheap junk yard junk. I'd go with new or nothing at all.

[steveplym]

I put seat belts in my p-15 last summer. With the kids in the car was probably a really good thing to do. I went with new belts from a street rod parts dealer.

I think I paid about $50 for a set of four. Check out the link below as I took some pics of the install.

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u122/siufan6/seat%20belt%20install/

[Normspeed]

I put lap belts in my wagon. My original floor is still solid, so I used the hardware that came with the belts, and added some large fender washers. There are seat belt vendors at the larger auto swap meets, the quality looks good. That's where I got mine. I went with the aircraft type latches.

[knighthawk]

here's a couple websites I'm thinking about using...www.julianos.com , and www.Autolock.com, both are about $19 , one of them had some mounting re-inforcement (washers) brackets, and of course there's www.JCWhitney.com for about $ 23

[Plymouthy Adams]

shoulder harness..full retractable...

[Plymouthy Adams]

think belts for original is totally out of the question..but I know you meant matching belts front and rear and close to the color of your interior theme. I cannot find green belts..(shoulder harness) most cars have gray or beige interior..few black sets..a blue here or there...I will be doing my best to put retractable shoulder harness on the front seat..not sure if I would even consider placing them on the back seat. Good thing about the wagon body is they have compartments on each side of the rear seat to hide the retractors in...

[BobT-47P15]

Bought two for the front (lap belts) from a Mustang restoration vendor at

a swap meet. Don't recall the price, but was reasonable. Attached to the

floor using some large washers also. None in the back seat.

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[Norm's Coupe]

The ones I bought for my coupe were shoulder and lap belt combination, retractable also. When I bought them they were $80 each or $160 for the pair. Got them through JC Whitney to match my interior. Think they are up to about $120 each now.

[bigred48]

check out blueskies website in his interior section he has a whole bunch about seatbelts and how he has done it. I will be installing seat belts two eventually, and i thought his approach was a good one.

http://www.50plymouth.com/

[Andydodge]

Fred, I've had lap/sash retractable belts in my 40 Dodge for 30 yrs, works well, the lower mts are relatively straightforward, the upper mount I used a piece of 1/4" thick by 3/4' wide 3" long steel strip with a 7/16th nut welded on the inside of a hole drilled in the midpoint of the strip, found a hole in the upper part of the door pillar and lowered the metal strip inside the door pillar to a hole I worked out was the spot to fit the upper seat belt mount to, was able to use a 7/16 bolt to screw into the welded nut, drawing the strip hard into the pillar, then drilled thru the lot and used 4 large pot rivets to hold the strip to the door pillar, when I retrimed the car the pillar trim had a hole cut into it fro the upper belt mount and everthing worked fine....the lower belt mounts are thru the stock floor into 2"x1/4" thick steel plates 6" long........I also mounted the rear (non retractable)seat belts the same way tho' the upper belt mount is thru the rear parcel tray.......hope this helps.......andyd

[Andydodge]

BTW..........that should be "pop" rivets in my story above......and just checked Blueskies seat belt info and he's the same as what I did......lol......andyd

[martybose]

just a sidenote: In addition to selling a multitude of different seatbelts, Julianos has a special floor nut for seatbelts that is definitely superior to just using flatwashers against the bottom of the floor. Highly recommended.

Marty

[builtfercomfort]

One caveat - do NOT attach a seat belt anchor to a frame, ever. Attach it to the body somehow, big fender washers come to mind.

[in a severe accident the car body can shift or even lift from the frame, and if you and the seat belt are attached to the frame, and the car body is not... ]

[Guest jjmorrse]

julianos has some really nice mounting hardware. help keep the attachments from pulling out a little better than fender washers

[hoofchaz]

Check out my post on the HAMB;

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=250985

CHAZ

[Captain Neon]

I have five sets of five lap belts that I bought a few years ago. They will go in when I re-do the upholstery. This was looking like the year. After spending $1300 to rebuild the tranny and replace the clutch, the new upholstery (and seat belts) will just have to wait until later.

[tkimball]

Getting ready to order seat belts for my '47 Plymouth Business Coupe and I'm wondering what length you guys used?

Thanks a ton!

[Oldguy48]

I also used the method Andydodge used for shoulder belt anchors in my P15. Don't have the interior re-installed yet, but looks like it should work well.

[brian hood]

I used a pair from a IH Scout at a local Pick-A-Part. They work great.

[blueskies]

As mentioned above, I did a quick write-up about installing three point belts both front and rear in my '50. Very easy to do, and the look like they came with the car.

Pete

[Jim Yergin]

Getting ready to order seat belts for my '47 Plymouth Business Coupe and I'm wondering what length you guys used?

Thanks a ton!

I installed 60" belts on all three seats in my '41 Plymouth wagon.

Jim Yergin

[cwcars88]

When I get to the to the seats on my coupe I plan on using seats out of a pick-up that have the shoulder strap built into the seat. Easy install and no strap to climb over to get in the back seat.

Wayne