Mounting seats and belts to a wood floor?

Not complex at all. I understand your frustration, did I mention I had a early chevy problem. I liked them alot, but you want to talk wood. You need 2-10 gauge 1x4 made to go across the car to the door pillars and behind. with extra plate and nuts welded to were youll mount the seat rear and belts to. Weld the plate to the existing metal floor behind the seat or to the door pillars. Even if you have to cut out some more of the floor to make it work. Once welded you can make tabs to weld to your new body cross member to screw into the wood pillars at the bottom. Just sayin. Ive been thier and done that. Hell I even get paid to.

 

I never quite get these questions. If the main concern is safety, buy a new car. I've seen what happens to a car that the body seperates. The seat belt was unrecognizable on the poor kids. It was a part of them.

The kids weren't screwing off, they were doing roughly the speed limit. Roads were slick and the diver lost control. Launched the car across the medium island into a truck. Kids were still sitting in the back seat. It's just that the belts were inside of them.

Securely mount the belts the same way as the seats and hope for the best in case of the worse. It's the best you can do if you wish to drive a car that wasn't designed for todays roads.

 

Heck yah. These are 4 wheeled motorcycles.

 

My main concern isn't safety, but there's no reason that I can't make the car more safe than what it was 75 years ago...

Are you saying to mount the brace to the top or underneath the floor? I think I am picturing what you're saying, but maybe not. I don't know if I can screw to the door frame from underneath... I'll look tomorrow. Thanks for the ideas...

 

Could run them through the floor and have them bolt to a cross member.

 

Something that I just realized has been lost in all of this is that my belts are mounted to the seats, so it's all included in the seat mounts. The belts will move at the same rate as the seat, and therefore my body. So the question is whether I want to move at the same rate as the body or the frame... Ideally, I'd rather just keep the frame, body, and myself all in the same place at my destination...

 

In a crash, the loads placed on seats & belts are friggin remarkable! Anyone that's ever seen a crash test video can attest to the fact that ALL substandard mountings will fail when a 100# body applies 3000-4000#'s of force to the restraints (body, belts, or seats).

Most human damage in an accident comes from occupants getting ejected, impailed on the stg column, or hitting something so hard that it damages internal organs. That's why race cars keep the drivers in place at all times.

I'd rather take my chances on a seat & belts that are SECURELY mounted to an X-member that connects to the frame, than ANY other method. Do as you wish, but it is always safer to let the metal move around you, rather than you moving uncontrolled in a crash situation.

Just my $0.02...

 

Oh but it is, as I said;
First of all, in lumber terms, a board that is described as 1x4 , measures ¾ inch x 3-¾ inch. That’s a small board. A board described as 2 x 8, measures 1 ¾ x 7 ¾.. Yes, I guessed the board would be about 2 x 8. If you weren't thinking in lumber measurement terms, I can see how that confused you.

Your crossmember, before you removed one half of it was 1.25 x 8 (actual dimensions) , instead of 1 3/4 x 7 3/4, as I estimated it to be. My memory is usually off by one half, give or take, anyhow!

You were'nt alone in the confuseion, because what threw me off was, up front in the tread you said; “The crossmembers aren't very hefty (maybe 1x4) “
In the grand scheme of things there's a lot of diff between a 1x4 and a 2x8!

Your latest picture is much clearer, showing a board, 1.25 x 4 . Add that to the one you removed “The crossmember that was cut out was at the front of the seat and was cut out by me.”

Those two 1.25 x 4 (actual dimension) cross members added together, was/were the seat cross member, dovetailed together, making a crossmember of 1.25 x 8 inches, tied to the sills with mortise & tenon joints.

Your picture, that I edited and re-posted, the yellow outline is exactly where the half of the crossmember used to be, before you removed it.


If you choose to restore it the strength will be quite adequate to mount the front mount bolts of your seats to, or reinforce the half that you didn't remove with steel underneath.

Now, you need to install one more member to mount the rear of the seats to.

Good luck.
Keep on keepin' on.

Or…………….whatever………….

 

Ideally no doubt. If they are all mounted together, one isn't going to move while the other stays in place (or moves less) so you are good there.

 

Meh, whatever. Like someone said, it doesn't matter what was there, but what am I going to do to make it better? SO when I reinforce the front crossmember and add the rear one, how should it be mounted? Under the floor, obviously, but how should it be attached? Bolted every so often to the floorpans and then to the sills at the end? Should the ends be inside the frame rails or out?

Thanks for all the help so far...

 

Whether you use wood or steel, attach the crossmember to the sill with a steel plate, on top and bottom of the joint. see picture.......

 

What's the best way to mount seat belts in a glass bodied t-bucket?

 

Ahhh, the fiberglass question. I have done those before also. What does your seat bolt to now?

 

It's a one piece bottom that sits on a wood base that houses the electronics.The top is wrap around that is secured to the body wood.

 

Well then, does the seat bolt thru the wood to large diamiter plates or just the wood. The best way is with big diamiter 10 gauge or 1/8" steel "washers" for the seat bolts and the seat belts. The amount of area of "washers" should be 2 1/5 to 3 times the diameter to bolt lenght, kind of a lame rule but pretty good. I use 4" diameter washers with 1 1/2 bolts for what its worth on fiberglass/wood floors. The washers go on the bottom, just in case.