Reproduction Parts for 1916-1964 Chevrolet Passenger Cars & 1918-1987 Chevrolet & GMC Trucks
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Good morning,
I am looking for some advice on seatbelts and frankly the seats in my 29. I would prefer to just have the seats reupholstered and add after market seatbelts secured to a cross member bolted to the frame. This is not an authentic restoration but I am trying to not do anything to the car that cannot be undone if a future owner decides to do a full restoration.
My wife is a retired trauma nurse and has seen the results of lax safety equipment and practices in cars, trucks and motorcycles. She rides in the car with me but is not really comfortable with no seatbelt and seats that could potentially launch you to the windshield.
So I think adding seatbelts is not a bad idea and really not an expensive or hard job. Then I started to think… I put modern seats in my 5 Chevy. They came out of a 2014ish Equinox. So could I do that with the 29? I know I can buy seat rails and maybe just mount those to the original seats so the seats are secure to the floor and will slide forward for access to the back seat. Then add the seatbelts secured to a cross member.
Has anyone added seat rails and or seatbelts to a car that they are trying to keep the original look in a safer ride?
Thanks
Rich
I have added lap belts in my 47 and 54 the 51 pickup had lap belts when we bought it. The only one I have not added belts is our 28 coupe. When I modified the 41 with updated drive train I used seats out of a 2000 Silverado that the seat belts were made into the seats. Your idea for later style seats is good if you can make it easy to change back to the original.
There are lot's of posts here and the AACA forum on this subject. Many opinions on this and some very reasonable reasons not to mount belts to the frame. For example what happens if you are belted in and the belts are mounted on the frame and the body separates from the frame in a bad crash? Tremendous force on belts in a crash so the engineering should be carefully considered. Not buying or selling but I would research the subject before doing it.
Dave
@david-dunton David, Thats a good point. On my 53 I mounted the belts to the sheet metal of the cab with big plates on the other side. I have 3 point belts in that. I was figuring since the floor of the 29 is wood I could mount a steel plate under the floor that spans the length of the wood plank with enough overlap to catch the plank on either side. That may be strong enough.
I figure in a fender bender it will keep her from sailing into the dash and windshield. If I hit something hard enough to separate the body from the frame a seat belt of any design will likely not save us.
I did do some research on here but couldn't find what I was looking for. The seatbelt distributor has some good information on angles of anchoring and backing plates but not much for wood bodied cars.
Thanks
Rich