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showbizkid
Moderator
USA
3481 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 3:07:29 PM
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My wife bought be a beautiful pair of new seat belts for Barney as a
Christmas gift, and I finally got round to installing them over the
weekend. Anyone with cars model year 1962 or higher has lugs
pre-mounted in the floor to make adding belts a pretty simple procedure
(sorry, prior to '62 you'll have to drill). The former owner of my car
had no idea these lugs were present, so he attached his belts to the
seat frame .
In
the event of a crash, these will not help at all, as the seat will tear
loose from the floor or, at very least, the belt mount from the seat
frame. Worthless.
If you peel back the carpet and backing,
you'll find two rubber plugs behind the front seat, a pair on each side
of the trans tunnel.
They're
not easy to pick out in the photo above, but look toward the center of
the photo (vertically) and you'll find two black dots. Those are the
rubber plugs that fill the mounting holes.
The belts Stude
vendors sell are the kind with twin J-hooks on the mounting end; these
clasp eye bolts that thread into the floor lugs and secure with a
cotter pin. Along with the eye bolt, the kit also includes a nut, lock
washer and large reinforcing washer.
Thread
the eye bolt into the floor mount until it's tight. I used 12"
adjustable wrench for leverage; most of them went in with finger-ease,
but one lug was a little corroded and even after I chased it, required
the wrench to install.
From the bottom, the big washer goes on
first and is captured against the underside of the floor to prevent
tearing out in case of stress.
Repeat for all four mounting points.
Since
no project is complete without a snag, I found that one of my
attachment points (the outboard point on the passenger's side was
closer to the frame than would allow the strain washer to mount. To
cure this, I used my Dremel to remove about 1/4" of material from one
washer edge. That did the trick.
A
tip: while you're tightening the nuts under the floor, you may need to
enlist a helper to hold the wrench above, to make sure the eye bolts
remain longitudinal (pointed front to back).
Clamp the J-hooks around the eye bolts and install the cotter pins to lock them on. You're done!
One of the easier tasks I've performed lately
Clark in San Diego '63 F2/Lark Standard https://studeblogger.blogspot.com www.studebakersandiego.com |
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Maynard
Champion Member
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 3:27:28 PM
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This is a good post, and something I've had on my mind. Would you know if the same attachment points are present on truck cabs? |
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JDP
Commander Member
USA
10097 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 3:50:41 PM
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quote: Originally posted by showbizkid
My
wife bought be a beautiful pair of new seat belts for Barney as a
Christmas gift, and I finally got round to installing them over the
weekend. Anyone with cars model year 1962 or higher has lugs
pre-mounted in the floor to make adding belts a pretty simple procedure
(sorry, prior to '62 you'll have to drill). The former owner of my car
had no idea these lugs were present, so he attached his belts to the
seat frame .
In
the event of a crash, these will not help at all, as the seat will tear
loose from the floor or, at very least, the belt mount from the seat
frame. Worthless.
If you peel back the carpet and backing,
you'll find two rubber plugs behind the front seat, a pair on each side
of the trans tunnel.
They're not easy to pick out in the
photo above, but look toward the center of the photo (vertically) and
you'll find two black dots. Those are the rubber plugs that fill the
mounting holes.
The belts Stude vendors sell are the kind with
twin J-hooks on the mounting end; these clasp eye bolts that thread
into the floor lugs and secure with a cotter pin. Along with the eye
bolt, the kit also includes a nut, lock washer and large reinforcing
washer.
Thread the eye bolt into the floor mount until
it's tight. I used 12" adjustable wrench for leverage; most of them
went in with finger-ease, but one lug was a little corroded and even
after I chased it, required the wrench to install.
From the
bottom, the big washer goes on first and is captured against the
underside of the floor to prevent tearing out in case of stress.
Repeat for all four mounting points.
Since
no project is complete without a snag, I found that one of my
attachment points (the outboard point on the passenger's side was
closer to the frame than would allow the strain washer to mount. To
cure this, I used my Dremel to remove about 1/4" of material from one
washer edge. That did the trick.
A tip: while you're
tightening the nuts under the floor, you may need to enlist a helper to
hold the wrench above, to make sure the eye bolts remain longitudinal
(pointed front to back).
Clamp the J-hooks around the eye bolts and install the cotter pins to lock them on. You're done!
One of the easier tasks I've performed lately
Clark in San Diego '63 F2/Lark Standard https://studeblogger.blogspot.com www.studebakersandiego.com
Note: If your floor are solid, you don't need the nut or strain washer.
Just screw the eye in like the factory did, the floor is built to
handle the strain. The nut and washer is included in the kit to be used
on early cars without the reinforced floor.
JDP Maryland Disclaimer: None
of the discussions of my Studebakers are a invitation to buy nor a
promotion to sell, I'm just sharing the hobby the way I practice it.
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Mark57
Commander Member
Canada
3677 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 3:59:30 PM
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quote: Originally posted by Maynard
This is a good post, and something I've had on my mind. Would you know if the same attachment points are present on truck cabs?
I
have installed the same set of lap belts in my C-Cab... it was fairly
straightforward, you just have to drill the drivers side around the gas
tank. There are no specific points to drill out for the mounts as the
factory "kar-belts" were attached in a different manner.
Mark '57 Transtar Deluxe "Star Performers with Saving Ways!"
Vancouver Island Chapter https://visdc.shawwebspace.ca/
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doug
Regal Member
USA
486 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 4:40:15 PM
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My pickup is June of '62 and does not have factory installed
attachment. I had to mount old style (with large washers because of no
faith in the strength of T-cab floors). |
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N8N
Commander Member
USA
6119 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2010 : 7:10:46 PM
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just as a side note... the new belts are very similar to the original
style used in late Studes, but the original factory belts used a little
tiny machine screw to hold the two pieces together that hook onto the
eye bolt, not the cotter pin.
I can't remember if I
drilled/tapped the ones in my '55 yet to use the machine screw, but I
think that looks much cleaner than the cotter pin. If anyone ever looks
down there, that is.
nate
-- 55 Commander Starlight https://members.cox.net/njnagel |
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