Seatbelts in FC?

[sarah_warhurst@hotmail.com]

I have just purchased my FC Holden Sedan - original condition.
I  had seat belts put in the car for personal safety. Unfortunately they were put in without my discussion and approval. Now I am stuck with two front seat belts, that have been bolted through the floor and above seat on panel near door. I am unhappy with how it has been done and somehow want it fixed. Or re-done. But I realised there have been four holes drilled into the frame of the car. What can be done now??
Help needed from a new owner of an FC!!!

[none@unknown.net]

Hi sarah,  Its cool to hear that you got an Fc. Awesome stuff. Ive got the exact bolt holes in my holden. I realise they may look a bit bad but in the end I actually would rather the safety of my lap sash seat belts than just the plain old lap belt. I realise it may change the look of my totally original car but thats the price Id rather pay than getting hurt with the lap ones. But Im sure others will tell you otherwise, which is cool, cause its a discussion board...and im saying I agree with you on the look of the bolt holes through the upper outside panels.  How did it happen without  your consent??? could you get them to pay for the repairs?  Cool! Good luck with your cruise mobile..they are the max!

[Richard Thomas (Guest)]

Hi there Sarah,
I'm really pleased to hear you've got yourself an FC.  The standard fitment of lap-sash seat-belts in FE and FC Holdens involves a bolt through the "B" pillar (the pillar between the doors).  It's not especially attractive (as has been commmented), but it is original.  You can otherwise fit lap-belts, but their safety is questionable.
Original lap-sash seat-belts have an unusual bolt-head external to the car.  It is not a standard hexagonal shape, nor a coach-head or cup-head bolt.  It is flat, but more or less oval in shap.  Like the letter "O", in fact.
But you've just got to weigh up safety and originality.  Certainly it is not a big job to repair if you are really offended by the bolts.  I doubt that you have much recourse to the installer, though, since it sounds like they have been fitted correctly.
Hope that helps,
Richard Thomas

[Tony FC5859]

Hi Sarah,this might help.It's from Street Machine Magazine Aug 84 in regards to an FC."Inertia reel seat belts have been used,but a prerequisite here was that the top mounting bolts did not intrude through the cental pillar.To overcome this,a plate measuring six inches by half an inch with a high tensile nut welded to it,was installed into the pillar through a slit that had to be made and was welded into the correct location."  Copied word for word.Then all you would have to do is weld up the holes on the outside of the pillar.Hope this helps. Tony

[sarah_warhurst@hotmail.com]

I have had time to get over the initial shock of the seat belts, and yes I would rather look after my personal safety than the original condition of the car. I am ordering some new black seat belts to match the trim of the car, and as for the bolt of the out side of the car, I am getting two crome caps made to make it look that bit nicer!!! Thanks for eveyones advice. I am joing the Club ASAP!!!! Sarah

[David]

I have just about completed my FC Station Sedan.  I have installed inertia seats to it by using a concealed method.  In the side of the pillar we made an incision with a chisel and hammer.  Sounds gruesome but it wasn't.  A neat incision was made and peeled over to access the cavity inside.  We then formed a piece of 50mm x 50mm x 8mm thick steel to the contour of the pillar.  Before installing we located the position of the hole and drilled a hole approx. 10-12 mm in dia.  We had drilled and tapped a hole in our piece of steel and threaded a bit of wire through it and then through our pillar cut and hole.  This is so you don't drop the steel down to the bottom of the pillar and lose it forever.  Our steel and then put in place and welded in with a mig.  Then the cut is folded back into position and welded and smoothed over.  We made our cut as close to the inside as possible so the our door rubber will conceal any blemishes.  This makes for a much better finish than the old bolt use.  Mind you we were intending to repaint the car completely as this was a ground up rebuild.  Hope this helps.  Bye.

[chris stokes]

Hi sara

Once again great taste shown in the FC.

I am about to do my seatbelts for the second time and have taken much good info from the chat you  have generated.

You could chrome or paint the bolt heads for appearance.

On another matter however, and speaking without any real insight into the circumstances , any installation of seatbelts done by a repairer or any workshop would almost certainly have to comply to an australian standard or some type of industry safety compliance for both hardware , including bolts, and fitment methods.

If you think that these may have been compromised , it would be a powerful bargaining chip towards a better solution.

Also consider the legal implications for yourself in a third party personal liability case if the belts were found to be defective or illegal. Insurance companies by and large are in the business of NOT PAYING out if they can do so , so its better to be safe than sorry.

Hope it works out ....I hope you post your solution to share

Chris

[Richard]

Further to this, there is a catch.

when I upgraded our FC to inertia reels in the 70s, the Engineers in the ACT insisted that the door pillar be strongly reinforced.  In fact, they insist on this for all upgrades to inertia reels.  The inertia reel hanger acts as a pulley with a mechanical advantage of about 1.8: pull the belt 100kg and there is 180kg load on the pillar.  This can be enough to implode the frame in a crash.  I had to do this also on another 1954 model car (not a Holden) in the 1970s too, but I would never drive without belts.

[Jason]

 

How about inertia reel seatbealts in an FC ute?

Cheers
Jason

[FE_225]

Jason
What about using the inertia reels out of the rear of an old Statesman Caprice in the FC ute ? They were parcel shelf mounted with only a small reinforcing plate, 90 x 130 mm, under the shelf. It also avoids having bolts thru the pillar. Just a thought......
Cheers
Tony

[Jason]

 
Tony

Thanks for the info! It looks as if this will be a good choice for the ute.

Cheers
Jason  

[gree!]

hi sarah,

i am not  a particular fan of the bolt through the pillar either..

in my fc, a small slit was cut in the inside of the pillar right down near the floorline (the carpet and scuff plates concel the weld where it was joined back together). a hole was drilled where the seatbelt was to hinge from up on the pillar, and as the other guys said, a thick piece of steel with a nut welded on was prepared. a piece of string was then fed through the hole to the slit at the bottom of the pillar and threaded through the nut on the plate. a thick coating of metal bonding stuff was put on the plate, then it was drawn up through the inside of the pillar with the string, and set in place. this eliminated the need to cut open the top of the pillar, and when the seatbelt is bolted in, it is quite strong. (got engineered anyway!)

hope this helps....

[ron .w qld]

After having read some of the replies on this subject there seems to be different ideas as to how thick the concealed mounting plate should be. Fitting seatbelts for a living I'm fairly sure there are size requirments set out in the Australian Design rules,which should be followed,regarding size of mounting plates.Don't get me wrong I'm all in favour of seatbelts,I also think it is illegal to sell second hand seatbelts .And after doing pull tests on cars ,and seeing seatbelts brake I would never think of using second hand ones.   Food for thought...