Ok as some of you may know by now my van is a converted panel, as such no seat belt mounts in the back. I have also gone for a bed which sits somewhere between 3/4 and full width, I have two children 5 and 1 (six and two by the time it's done!) and I want them both to have three point seat belts in the back. Since I joined the forum I have seen this subject raised many times with no solutions for the furniture side belt, not even DIY solutions, although I did find a pic on google where the belt was mounted to the cupboard! Anyway, this is my solution, im not saying it's perfect but I have been involved in engineering for a fair few years now and built the entire chassis of my last project from scratch including seat belt mounts, that car passed the Iva test easily and the examiner was pleasantly satisfied with my work. I'm confident the parts I have made are way stronger than the wheel arch tub captive nuts so should be adequate for the task, although if any structural engineers see a massive boo boo feel free to let me know First up I made some 7/16 unf inserts on the lathe, some for the top mount of my brackets, some for welding to plates to go in the wheel arches / back panel and finally some to mount in box section. These are the brackets, one of which will be welded to the van and the other bolted to the newly welded in captive nuts, the bracket is made from 6.5mm plate. Here is the top captive nuts welded in, I doubled up for good measure. Here's the hole for the lower captive, I cut it wide enough to get the backing plate in but a little short on height as seen by the pen marks, then i pulled it against the overlap and welded it in. This is the plate bolted on with a crappy old front seat belt just for mocking up / proving purposes.
Once mocked up I gave it an almighty tug (snigger) which revealed a little expected flex in the bracket so I boxed it in to make it more rigid. All welded up, a pleasure to weld some heavier material after a year of welding warp if you sneeze on panels a blob at a time! Smoothed off. Bolted in. Looks like an ice lolly! You can see the burn mark in the paint from welding in my bracket, I purposefully positioned it here to try and gain rigidity from being behind the runner track. Next I started on the furniture side, I used 25x25x3 box section, I welded in the captive threads I made earlier with approximately 10mm protruding from one side. The plan is that the furniture board will have corresponding holes that these bosses will sit flush with enabling a bracket to be bolted on the outside. Welded to the van with a diagonal brace behind, cross piece to the side panel and a couple of gusset plates, all of which will be hidden with furniture. Just to give an idea of concept. All I need to do now is make another bolt in bracket similar to the other side, I'm quite pleased and confident in both sides, sometimes making it up as you go turns out well! They're both reassuring solid so should keep the brats contained.
Love it. What a superb job. I'm making do with the factory fittings in mine, which means finding a car seat that will take a lap belt.
That looks fantastic, rear seatbelts is on the to do list on our panel van, especially as we now have a newbie in the family.
Nice job. I opted for the easier solution where I bolted the retainers and reels through the flat steel of the rear air chambers. Just makes the belts extend longer.
Yeah I've seen a one or two like that, I'm having a cupboard at the corner so this wouldn't have worked for me.
Ha! From my earlier days getting under my dad's feet in the shed I always remember him going on about record making the best vices in the world! It's rubbed off on me and I wouldn't have anything else, it gets plenty of abuse which doesn't seem to affect it. Once the camper is done I'm going to treat it to a clean up, removing the weld spatter and old paint, re paint it with some old stock (probably illegal but brilliant) machine paint and get it some new jaws. Just a thanks for being a good vice, all hail the record vice!
