I believe there is an expotential rise in the impact force as both objects have their own mass x velocity in action.
I seem to recall some figures some where that a headon collision creates some massive forces.

 

Ok I am either confussed or educated or both. Just FYI When I looked into desiging the plates for the upper 3 point harness and the needs for the lap belt these were the guidelines. I sell only the washer recomended by the Federal guidelines which is 3" wide and 3/8" thick, (it has to do with how much force is required to pull 3" of steel that is 3/8" thick THROUGH 18 gauge sheetmetal.) Anyway, if speedway is selling a smaller washer it is becuase they assume you are putting it behind thicker sheetmetal such as on a roll bar or reinforced floor and they sell universal stuff. We sell only certian things because we only sell stuff for 1953-56 trucks and I assume the guy putting it in might be in nowhere USA, can not weld, does not have access to you fine folks, etc.etc. Any reinforcing of the floor would mean a smaller washer is needed. In some cases you mention, the reinforcement itself is more than the washer would be. Weakest point at this point is the bolt, then if using an L bracket, then the seat belt attaching triangle mount. Lets just not run these fine old trucks into anything, anytime, anywhere. OK? I just hate loosing potential customers.:-)

 

Build it "Hell for strong" and then drive it carefully. The little bit of extra weight and material cost when it comes to seat belt installation means nothing.

I think one of the greatest saftey issues with these old 'EFFIES would be keeping the doors shut during and after a collision. I didn't do anything to mine; just used stock latches. The stock latches on these things are probably best suited for a chicken coop rather than a motor vehicle. I saw a rare slow motion movie one time of a crash test on a '50's vehicle. All the doors flew open almost immediatly upon impact. You see movies all the time of late model crash tests and the doors always stay closed. Staying in the thing is very important.

Good luck and be safe.

BobJonesSpecial

 

Bob, I agree with the latch thing. In 56 Ford added 'LIFEGUARD SAFETY COVERS" to the striker plates. In todays world it seems a little simple but it did help. I reproduced these covers and they will fit both 56 and 1953-55 striker plates. It is better than nothing and does capture the star.

 

Regarding the impact forces, they don't rise exponentially with velocity. In the energy equation, the mass is mulitiplied and velocity is squared. Which is why you can see a small speeding vehicle reverse the course of a large slow moving vehicle.

 

Sy:

Do you have a cover that would work on a 52?

 

SteV8e, The striker area of yours is not the same as the 53-56, I have not made anything for the 52.
Don't have a 52 to play with. Notice you have a nice one, Love the bigger ones, what kind of a box do you have on it.

 

I think the real concern is the disapation of force on the sheet metal, which will fail way before the washer. The larger the area washer you use the more energy is disapated. I think thats a very good point about the part speedway sells, its built for units they know the stregnth of. I was just at home depot and they sell 2 3/4 inch squares with holes in them. they are 3/8 thick. I think sandwhiching the floor with those should be sufficient.

 

Build it REAL STRONG, then drive it carefully. I used about 6-inch long pieces of 1"x3"x1/8" channel iron for the under the sheet metal washers.

I think the greatest saftey issue on these old Effies is the door latches. I didn't do anything to mine, just left them stock and made sure they were in good shape and well adjusted.

I think the stock design latches (star-wheel and rack gear) are greatly out moded.

I saw a rare movie of a slow motion crash of an early '50's car crashing into a fixed object. The doors all flew open almost immediatly upon impact and all the occupants came flying out. Bad deal!

I'm sure you've seen many times on TV the crash tests of late model cars. The doors stay closed, and the occupants stay inside!

I think up-grading to late model door latches would be high on my list if I ever build annother Effie.

Good luck, and be safe.

BobJonesSpecial

 

Hi folks, new user here, been eavesdropping for a while and this subject interests me since I've got my 51 F1 cab off and am completely going through it. While I'm going with the shoulder belts and bucket seats with headrests (cause I don't wanna smash the rear window with my head after my new seatbelts save me from the front windshield), I think the post from BobJonesSpecial raises a good point. Even though a lot of people I know are dead set on stock appearance (read: no seat belts at all) because they "won't be driving it on the highway" or something to that effect, you can get T-boned by any nut running a stop sign, and if your door flies open with nothing holding you down, you are going to be in a lot worse shape than you ever wanted. So at the risk of being a safety nut, if anyone is really not concerned with adding seatbelts for the sake of stock appearance, I always discourage it, and tell them add at least the lap belts and they can always just stuff them under the seat at car shows and presto, stock appearance.

 

On the subject of doors staying closed during impact, I agree there is a real problem. My latches were only touching on half the outside edge of the stars. So if the door/cab would have flexed about 1/8" then the door would have nothing to keep it shut. It seems only logical to have the metal faces of the latch and the star squared up as much as possible rather than being off center. I bought the shims from Sy so my latches cover the intire face of the star. The door shuts better too/tighter too. Good luck, John

 

Sy:

I will have to take a look at the latches, and see if there is a way that I can improve them.

Regarding the box on my F3, It is from a later (53-56) Ford. I am a fan of the larger trucks, like F2, F3, and F4.

 

Sorry for bringing this post up again, but where could I get the covers mentioned?

 

I saw them offered in the Mid fifty catalog. John

 

Thanks John, I found 'em.