On or around Sat, 23 Aug 2003 18:57:08 +0100, "Lee_D"
enlightened us thusly:
are you trying to achieve 3-point belts? do RR seats have the upper anchorage on the seat, or on the door pillar?
good lap belts will hold child seats down, and just require a decently-reinforced mounting under the floor. IIRC, there's no actual minimum standard for this, but a minimum 2mm (3mm better) steel plate
100mmx100mm or similar area, seems good enough for most floors. You then want a 7/16" UNF nut, drill a 1/2" hole in the floor and the plate, weld the nut to one side of the plate, and fit it to the underside of the floor, so that from the top you go floor-plate-nut. it helps to secure the plate in place with a couple of small screws or pop rivets or similar - makes fitting the belt from the inside much easier :-)
if you insist on 3-point belts, you need a strong point on the side of the vehicle to fit the upper anchorage too, which will take a bit of fabrication.
alternatively, hunt some modern minibus seats which have integral 3-point belts. These are 'kin 'eavy, but the whole thing is a unit with belts and simply bolts in. The rear seat mounting bolts through the floor need to conform to seat belt mounting standard, as above - the standard specifies the 7/16" UNF bolt, too, so if you're doing it properly that's what you should use. Bolt quality is not specified, so I assume the bolt size is specced so that cheap-shit bolts will be strong enough - obviously, high tensile will be stronger still.
I've got the regulations for retro-fitting seat belts somewhere, but it'll take a while to find 'em.
Yup it's integral , this seemed the quickest and cleanest option without faffing around with mounts on the side which would be entertaining to fix on.
Yup considered this too..any suggestions for sources or are we thinking breakers yard. Seats which could fold flat to possibly made into bunks would be good but I think is asking alot.
Renault espace seats would be good as they unclip so could be removed and turned about or dropped to form coffe tabel etc etc...but they don't have integrated seatbelts...any one think of an MPV that does similar?
Nuts and bolts will be big f'er....best being on the safe side.
On or around Sun, 24 Aug 2003 13:02:23 +0100, "Lee_D"
enlightened us thusly:
fair enough, in that case, the seat is already strong enough and it's a good solution apart from the likely cost of second hand good ones.
there's a lot of merit in using the standard size ones, if you're going to fit belts to the body, as they suit the seat belt ends. Also, if acquiring seatbelts from old cars (a legit source, especially for lap belts) you can blag the mounting bolts at the same time.
On or around Sun, 24 Aug 2003 14:54:57 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:
well, I tended to assume that all child seats should be capable of being fitted to the centre seat of a car, which nearly always only have lap belts. Consider as well the typical forces due to a child in the seat, much lower than adult-restraint forces.
hehe.
worth checking, if possible, that it's OK to mount the seat on a lap belt only - I'd be surprised if that wasn't so for most of 'em, as the middle seat is a favourite place to put 'em.
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