Seat belts
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 823
Likes: 4
From: Calais, Vermont
Seat belts
While I am attempting a stock restoration of my 53 F-100, one concession to modern times might be seat belts. I have seen 3-point seat belt kits available that use a plate welded between the rear window frame and the strike side of the door jamb for the shoulder belt part. I imagine that the connections for the lap belt part is pretty staright forward. What about the seat? Is there anything done that keeps the seat back from tilting forward? What have other folks done? I must be getting old, because I imagine getting a faceful of metal dashboard and/or a chest full of steering wheel if the truck was in an accident. I never used to give this any thought at all. Twenty five years ago, I drove this old truck around with my son next to me in his car seat lashed onto the bench seat with 3/8" sisal rope.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,522
Likes: 21
From: HUDSON, FL
Why not get a pair of bucket seats from a dodge or a chevy pick up they have the builts already buily in them,just install the seats & you are done no welding or anything & if you ever want to change just pull the seats out
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 859
Likes: 3
From: Newberg, OR
I fabbed my own anchor points and used belts out oft he rear seat of a Aerostar van. they are inertial type only, no release latches with a lever switch in the door jamb like many front seat belts. The stock seat has two 5/16" bolts in the rear end of the seat rail on each side. I think this would be sufficient to hold the seat down in a pretty hard head on collision. If you use a seat with built-in belts then they need some pretty solid anchors.
upper anchor point.
outboard lab belt anchor point.
upper anchor point.
outboard lab belt anchor point.
old and in the way
Joined: Jul 1997
Posts: 5,921
Likes: 1,052
From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
I fabbed my own anchor points and used belts out oft he rear seat of a Aerostar van. they are inertial type only, no release latches with a lever switch in the door jamb like many front seat belts. The stock seat has two 5/16" bolts in the rear end of the seat rail on each side. I think this would be sufficient to hold the seat down in a pretty hard head on collision. If you use a seat with built-in belts then they need some pretty solid anchors.
Das... what sized bolts will you use for the belt mounts ?? looks like 7/16" or 1/2" maybe ???
I gotta do this shortly and I was thinking like you and fabbing up the upper mounts... and after getting the seats positioned.... weld in some plate under the cab for lower bolts..
john
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 19
From: Austin
Hey Jvmcc,
The other Safety Modification that we went with was to change the Master Cylinder to a Dual Chamber one vs the single chamber that comes standard on the truck. We went with a new '68 mustang master cylinder as the parts places are lousy with mustang parts for their enthusiasts.
Good luck over there in Vermont! That's actually one of our favorite states - we visit the Manchester/Dorset area every summer to cool off. Not sure how I missed visiting Calais, Vt?
Ben in Austin
1950 F1
(We also switched to Disc brakes as I wasn't comfortable driving around Austin - a city of >1Million with drum brakes. You should be fine in Vt.)
The other Safety Modification that we went with was to change the Master Cylinder to a Dual Chamber one vs the single chamber that comes standard on the truck. We went with a new '68 mustang master cylinder as the parts places are lousy with mustang parts for their enthusiasts.
Good luck over there in Vermont! That's actually one of our favorite states - we visit the Manchester/Dorset area every summer to cool off. Not sure how I missed visiting Calais, Vt?
Ben in Austin
1950 F1
(We also switched to Disc brakes as I wasn't comfortable driving around Austin - a city of >1Million with drum brakes. You should be fine in Vt.)
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