Hi guys. As an add on to the seat replacment, Clyde asked about the seatbelt assembly. Here are pics of the outside "swivell" assembly in position, as well as spread apart, and the inside static hip belt. Also pic of hip belt adjustment in relation to seat. Again, positioning and configuration depends on the original mounting point of whatever classic you want to fit the new belts to. This might include if your original mounting points are sound and strong, or if you need to remove the old ones and modify.
B.

So the eye bolts are original? I had thought maybe someone with a drill had just dropped a few holes through the floor panel, in semi random spots, for a retrofit.

In the seat thread, the comment was that these are extremely well reinforced and could not possibly rip out of the floor.

I don't know if they were deigned for use with bolt on seat belt ends. Someone who knows bolt strengths can comment and correct me. I remember suggesting welding a seat belt mount for a different application and someone quickly told me I would be responsible for everyone else's welding ability and eminent death. Looking at a bolt through an eye bolt makes me nervous.

But they do look like they were designed for use with clip in seat belts, like the older style racing belts.



Upper left hand corner is the clip by itself, lower right hand corner assembled into a belt end.

I made comment in the previous post that safety is paramount. Going by the photos of the mount of the belt they are not correct. The eye blots are designed for clip on harness types. The bolt from the belt should mount through the floor, either into an original mount or through a reinforcing plate under the floor. No extra welding is either required or allowed. Seat belt bolts are a standard size (which escapes me) world wide. Next time you are in an auto shop go to the seat belt area and have a look at the aftermarket kits.

Peter

I remember a conversation with another Japanese car driver about how he had such an easy time converting from original bolt in seat belts to eye bolts and clip end racing harness, because to everyone's surprise, his Japanese car came with SAE thread seat belt bolts.

I was pretty envious, because my post-1980 Isuzu cars all have a metric (something like 16 mm) seat belt bolts and no one sells metric seat belt eye bolts on this side of the world. Even the Musashi bolts from Japan do not match Isuzu's fetish for using extra fine or extra coarse threads whenever possible, to make sure that replacement nuts and bolts are available nowhere else and must always be bought from the dealership.

Although the new assembly through the original eyelette is super steardy and secure, and would need some pretty serious shunting to move anything, I realise now the eye was originally intended for a clip on belt end as shown by JT191, which could swivell around in any direction. Definitely no add ons or welding to the eyelette, out of the question !!

Thanks for shining more light on the topic guys.

B.

This topic has been in the back of my mind for a while.
Something occurred to me the other day. I have been spending several days welding together 26 Gemini rear lower control arms from scratch (because unbent used ones are a little uncommon) and rehabbing and rewelding another 15 used control arms that I managed to hammer back into straight. I do a heck of a lot better job than the original Japanese computerized machine weld, and my control arms aren't filled with some Japanese worker's cigarette butts that he wants to hide from his supervisor while he smokes on the job.

No one says anything about me or anyone else welding together our own suspension arms, which see many times more force on a daily basis than a seat belt mount sees in a crash. But there is a big stink if we apply the same workmanship we use to make suspension arms that handle high G cornering loads on a race track, to securing a seat belt to a car.

From the standpoint of not wanting to be sued or locked up, we can't suggest anything other than what's legal. But from the standpoint of reality, just about anything we build will probably live through the worst possible accident while the rest of the car disintegrates around what we built.