Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc.®
Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc.®
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Your Studebaker Forum
 Technical Talk
 How To: Add seat belts, for cars '62-up
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

showbizkid
Moderator

USA
3481 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  3:07:29 PM  Show Profile  Visit showbizkid's Homepage  Reply with Quote
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

Maynard
Champion Member

USA
28 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  3:27:28 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
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?
Go to Top of Page

JDP
Commander Member

USA
10097 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  3:50:41 PM  Show Profile  Visit JDP's Homepage  Reply with Quote
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.
Go to Top of Page

Mark57
Commander Member

Canada
3677 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  3:59:30 PM  Show Profile  Visit Mark57's Homepage  Reply with Quote
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/


Go to Top of Page

doug
Regal Member

USA
486 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  4:40:15 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
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).
Go to Top of Page

N8N
Commander Member

USA
6119 Posts

Posted - 03/22/2010 :  7:10:46 PM  Show Profile  Visit N8N's Homepage  Reply with Quote
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
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc.® © 2003-2010 Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc. The SDC logo is a registered trademark. All rights reserved Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.22 seconds. Powered By: Snitz Forums 2000 Version 3.4.07