seat belt install; 320

[burrito213]

probably one of the things i want to do most to my truck is install some lap belts to the 320 so i can have a little better feeling when i have/plan to get the kids to ride in the little blue truck.

 

i know this was not an option for my truck as it does not have any mounting for lap belts but i was wondering if anyone has any pointers as to where mounting the hardware would be or could be, if anyone has done this already, or any critisism for or against this.

 

i have seen this done before to other 320's but i cant find the oics to research.

 

i have a standard 1964 320 seat with the coconut hair or whatever they call it. i plan on getting it re upholstered but not now.

 

any help?

[datsunaholic]

I'm pretty sure my '64 came with anchors, but maybe not. Prior owner was pretty ingenious. Mine even has shoulder belts.

 

Best way to do it is to weld in anchors from the underside of the body, but that's not always an option. You want the anchors to be well-anchored. A 4" X 4" x 1/4" steel plate, bolted through the floor (to the underside), with a 5/8" to 3/4" hole (this depends on the belt hardware) would probably be sufficient.

 

Never, EVER mount the belts drirectly to the seat. The seat frame isn't strong enough nor are the seat mounting rails. Unfortunately I've seen people do that on a stock bench.

[burrito213]

 

Never, EVER mount the belts drirectly to the seat. The seat frame isn't strong enough nor are the seat mounting rails. Unfortunately I've seen people do that on a stock bench.

 

 

thank you. this was an idea/assumption i now need to avoid.

[wayno]

Mine also has shoulder belts, Mike Klotz mounted them somehow up just above the back of the seat, it looks like the lower near the door mount uses the cab body mount bolt as the anchor, I am not sure how the tunnel mount anchor is setup anymore.

[KFunk740]

I've got 3 point retractable shoulder belts..... bought new universal ones from seatbeltplanet.com (basic chrome airplane style), along with mounting hardware of the proper specs. Most places recommend using their giant 3" wide special washers behind the anchor points, or their reinforcement plates. It would take a huge amount of force to pull one of those huge washers thru sheet metal.

 

Anyways, I drilled thru the tranny tunnel and put huge washers on the underside of the tranny tunnel (one for each side). I used another washer on each side near the back corners of the cab. I mounted the retractors on the bolt that holds the cab to the frame rail (seems pretty damn sturdy to me). For the 3rd point, I driled thru the thin sheet metal in the pillar behind the window, one big hole for center post and 2 little holes for rivets, and put one of their rectangular reinforcement plates behind it. I managed to fish it up in there just fine use one of those claw grabby tools. I then held it in place by starting the big bolt a little, then put pop rivets in the little holes to hold the plate there. With the rivets holding the plate from turning, you can torque down the big bolt and hold it all in place (no, the rivets don't help structurally, just give you a way of holding the plate from spinning while you tighten it down). All other places just have nuts behind the giant washers, since it's easy to hold a wrench on them from underneath.

 

No, probably not ideal at all, and not crash tested by any means. But it follows most recommendations I found online, and it's better than nothing.