Seatbelt B pillar slots

[Harv]

I'm in the process of fitting seatbelts into the FB Special Sedan. Did lots of forum trawling, checked with the engineer, things are looking good so far. Lots of good advice on suppliers (I'm using HEMCO) and locations . One thing I am not sure of though is the B-pillar upper mount (the bolt that goes in to the car up near the driver's shoulder). A lot of guys have installed the belts, but I can't manage to find the answer to the questions below in a forum search.

I know I have two options. The first is to drill through both the inner and the outer pillar, and to bolt through with the special bolts/crush tubes. This is often referred to as the "Frankenstein" way, as the car ends up with two bolt heads sticking out through the B-pillars. I'd like to avoid this one if I can .

The second option is to drill the inner pillar only. An plate with a captive nut is then lowered down inside the B pillar on a string, held in place then plug welded onto the pillar. I know the plate has to be engineer approved, special dimension, rounded corners etc. The questions I have please are about the lowering process:
a) Is the slot at the top of the B-pillar already in place for a FB Special Sedan, or does it have to be cut with an angle grinder? I can picture myself setting the car on fire (again... ).
b) Can the slot be accessed with the hood lining in place, or does the lining need to come out first?

Bear in mind that the car is a daily driver, and my welding is crap - cutting out an inner B-pillar skin, welding a plate on, rewelding the skin back in and painting is not something I can do.

[Trev]

Bear in mind that the car is a daily driver, and my welding is crap - cutting out an inner B-pillar skin, welding a plate on, rewelding the skin back in and painting is not something I can do.

This is the only way that I know of doing it, maybe get someone to do it for you, Trev .

[fatboy66]

Harv,

interested on how you are going with this. My seltbelts are inertia reel but the lap catch is stuffed on the drivers side. Also there has been a crap bracket welded inside the B pillar that probably wont pass blue slip. basically I still need 2 new front belts and proper installation

[Harv]

Did a lot of headscratching on this one, and quite a bit of discussion with some signatories before I went ahead. I really didn't want to Frankenstein the car, but equally can't weld good enough to cut out and reweld a pillar skin .

In the end, I bought the belts from HEMCO - good service and product . Lap/sash on all four outboard seating positions and lap only on the two inboards.

a) All bolts that pass through the floorpan have reinforcing plates (about 4" x 6", 7/16" UNF nut welded to them, cad plated, corners rounded) supplied by HEMCO. HEMCO also supplied the bolts/washers/spacers.
b) For the two rear outboard upper mounts, the mounts go through the parcel shelf, and use the HEMCO reinforcing plates.
c) For the two B-pillar mountings (e.g. driver's shoulder), a process similar to this one is used: http://www.wescoperformance.com/retrofi ... -door.html

Part c) worried me a little bit, but in discussion one thing stood out. The long, thin reinforcing strip used on the B-pillars has a lot more surface area than the head of the bolts used in the Frankenstein process, and thus are a lot less likely to pull out.

Passed NSW RTA engineering OK, and feels a lot safer than running without belts.

[leinamoon]

Just a little side note on the above...
Have just acquired 4 outboard static lap/sash seat belts and 1 static lap seat belt,
from Hemco Industries.. in silver
It seems I've changed my mind , and now would prefer black!!
If anyone is interested in purchasing,
will do real good deal
PM...