So... here's an interesting question for the HAMBers out there. I have a glass 32 roadster with a wood floor. My seats are currently mounted to the floor, sandwiched with large thick washers and I am about to mount lap belts. So the question is (and yes I have seen seatbelt mounting debate, but not directly related to wood floors).... so thoughts on mounting the lap belts to the inner skeleton (body bracing)/supports or to the floor? It seems to me that even mounting to the seat frames themselves might make sense if not tying into the frame is not ideal. Thoughts? I really appreciate it.
If you have a Wescott body with a steel inner framework you are probably okay to mount your seat belts to a solid section of inner framework. Otherwise attach your seat belt anchors to a steel crossmember which is attached directly to the frame. Otherwise you risk the belt anchors tearing out of the fiberglass and/or wood inner structure/floor upon impact.
No wood floor but my car has a Wescott body and as well braced as they are with steel, there really isn't anything to anchor belts too. I chose to attatch my belt anchors to the steel seat risers which are welded to the tubular seat frames. As you can tell by my (bucket) seat mounts, all eight are integrated into the frame, this was a major concern of mine.
My car has a "half cage" from the beltline down. Part of that structure is a steel plate running from left to right tying the 2 sides together. I drilled thru that plate then used the large, thick washers that came with my seatbelt kit. Worked great. SPark
I don't think you want to mount seat belts to the frame. If the body comes off the frame in an accident it won't be good for the occupants bodies. But as always the issue has proponents on both sides. Just my 2 cents.
Seat belts bolted through a wooden floor with no substantial sub-structure are just too dangerous and illegal here. Similar to DDDenny above, I welded my seat belt bosses to the existing and new frame X-members. The engineer I consulted indicated that was OK as well as me using OEM seats bases. (Wooden). My front outer lap belt mounts attach to the steel lower front seat braces that sandwich the body to the frame. My other mounts are 1" diameter bosses welded to frame and tapped for bolts. I only drilled 4 x holes through OEM floor, neither the body or seat belts are going to separate from the frame as they are nice and secure given that I added some additional internal steel supports that also bolt to frame . If the body does come off the frame in an accident I doubt that I'd be around to see it anyway.
Evo, on my Wescotts '32 roadster I took a piece of inch and a half angle iron and spanned the two body to frame mounting bolts that are just behind the seat. That provided me with a great anchoring point for my seatbelts. If I new how to post pictures I could show you, but I'm sure you can figure it out.
If this is a serious concern I think I'd be going back to hot rod building school to learn how to build a hot rod that is solid and safe. Anybody who's driving a hot rod which "might" come apart in a wreck needs to tear it apart and fix it so it won't. For most guys this is a non-problem...thankfully. .
Just my two cents........ This may be a good point but if you are in an accident in a car like this where the body comes off the frame it probably doesn't matter where you mounted the belts.
I'm thinking a glass body could easily be ripped off the frame in a good collision. So, if the belts are mounted to the body, you go where the body goes. If the belts are bolted to the frame, well, who knows. Maybe your body will be what holds the glass body to the frame. Lose, lose situation.
My youngest was 20 and was belted in with a seat belt and shoulder harness and that didn't save him, the shoulder belt probably broke his neck. {Factory installed belts in a Nissan pickup} So it goes both ways, you may be safer with them, you may not. I wear them, but don't feel any safer with them. I know there are statistics that say you are safer with them, but statistics don't tell the whole story and aren't always right. Just like polls, they can be made to say what they want them to say. Off my soapbox now....
W/o going into a long discussion why, I would mount the seat belts to the wooden floor (I'm Ass/u/me-ing 3/4->1" ply floor that's glassed over on both sides), but on the mount-point sandwich, there would be a 1/4" plate on top n bottom, at least 8"x 8" on the bottom, for each belt. If you can mount thru the body reinforcements, that can't hurt either. FWIW. Marcus...
Sorry for your loss. The statistics seem to fade away when they involve family and friends. Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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