Three-point seatbelt conversions?

[bamacamper]

I witnessed a pretty bad accident today - a lady in a Hyundai t-boned a Yukon in front of me (the one day I don't carry my camera) - she'll live, but she went to the hospital with a nasty gash on her forehead (she looked like Stephen King's Carrie with blood all aver her). But it made me think...there is nothing to stop my upper body from slamming into the windscreen/dash in the event (God-of-your-choice forbid) of an accident. I see all kinds of aftermarket 3 point seatbelts in VW catalogs, and it looks like it would be easy to drill holes in a bus and put some in. Has anyone done this? Got any pics?

[pizzaguywithasinglecab]

I searched the forums for the same topic a while back so I don't remember the exact conversation, nor do I remember which forum I was on. At any rate, you have to reinforce the B pillar to make it work.

The best solution that I saw was to drill a large hole down low on the B pillar and then take a piece of 1/4 inch steel with a nut welded to it (captive nut) and work it up through the hole by drilling a hole up where you want the belts to attach above the shoulder and fishing it through with a wire.

Once in place you give it a quick tack weld and your done.

The only other alternative is to cut a hole in the B pillar and then insert the reinforcement metal.

I think that there were some good pics on the aussieveedubbers site

[Capt'n Crusty]

The previous thread on this topic (which I was in on) is here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61966&highlight=

I just finished an install two days ago for my trip to BB. What I did is weld a nut plate to the B-Pillar. The plate comes from a shop that I deal with for my race car and it's harnes system. The plates are $5 each. You have to drill/cut a hole for the nut to sit down into and then weld the plate up. I suck at welding and grinding, but I had to go ahead and do this thing no matter how it looks...

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Chris - '65 Westfalia Weekender
Destin, FL

[travelvw]

I've been thinking about how to install three-point in my bus, too. Thats a great idea!
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1963 SO-34 camper
1969 sunroof beetle
1963 Adam's parts gilla

[pyrOman]

[ToolBox]

See Splitbusaustralia for the seat belt install info.

Moderator note:
The above website seems to have gone dead.
This Internet Archive link may work:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010418160547/http://splitbusaustralia.com/23_seat_belt_mounts.htm

Page content from above:

[MrWhoopee]

I suspect that the B-Pillar would collapse inward and forward under heavy impact load, but hey, they engineer crumple zones into modern cars. Splitties are still cheaper than reconstructive surgery (though maybe not for long). DO NOT put a four-point belt system anchored to the floor behind the seat/partition. Being anchored below the height of your shoulders, it would cause a serious compression injury to your spine in the event of accident.
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Craig ('51 WASP)
Rosie ('63 Double Cab)

[batjak]

i asked this in another post too, but what about child seats in a bus. my double cab has lap belts up front and nothing in the back seat. and no, bungee cords and rope is not the answer i'm looking for. the wife already didn't buy it.
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66 Double Cab

"Good enough is good enough if
your standards are high enough."
-Steve Frykholm

[Lind]

I have the factory technical bulletin on how to install 3-point belts into a splittie. there was a factory kit available for service instalation. I will dig out the scans and post them.
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Wanted:
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[j.pickens]

My '64 Deluxe has dealer installed three point seat belt mounting holes.
What they did was to drill right through the B pillar inside to outside, and put a bolt and washer on the outside of the bus and paint it to color match.
The holes are still there, just covered with tape in case I install new belts there. I'm running lap belts now, but have seriously considered the three point belts.

Cap'n, what brand are those three points? Where'd you get them? How much did they cost?
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BBX BBXII and BBXXI Long Distance Award Winner

[Stocknazi]

i have some belts that i think are dealer installed but i am not sure.
they are a lighter colored belt made in ny and they have a release that kind of slides open and attaches to an eye bolt. they screw into the factory locations inside the front doors and underneeth the front seat.
does anyone know what these are?
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WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

Thomas Jefferson

[DubStyle]

The plate to weld in is easy to make too! I used 1/8" plate, drilled a through hole for the bolt, welded the appropriate size nut to the back, measured and drilled a clearance hole for the nut and welded the plate to the pilar. Nothing says loving like 3 point belts for my son!
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Anthony

SBS #1
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"The original & best lowered Split Bus website/club"

[matthew henricks]

Batjak,

I put 3 sets of lap belts in the back of my 61 DC for my kids. I anchored them thru the rear cross frame member just above the opening behind the back seat. Drilled thru the member and backed it up with some HUGE and thick fender washers. I also consitered drilling out a 1/4" steel bar to match the holes as a backplate but have not done that. they are both still in child seats.

[batjak]

so the seats are secured with the lap belt, cool. thanks for the tip. i am a too be parent so i have a little time to figure it out, but not much. after reading this and other articles i think i'm going to try and track down some of those mounting plates to weld onto that frame cross member.

everyone always complains about the lap belts in the bus, until i point out to them that they are sitting in the crumple zone, quit worrying about the seat belt.

is your back seat in there pretty secure? it seems like on mine that the brackets are too far apart and opened too much for the bars along the back and bottom of the cusions. it's always falling off and wrecking my head when i'm digging under the back seat for tools. is this a non issue or do i just need to adjust the brackets...bend them inward?

cheers | ian
_________________
66 Double Cab

"Good enough is good enough if
your standards are high enough."
-Steve Frykholm

[Ragman]

[Lind]

I have all the pages for this, but these two are the important ones.

_________________
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Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
.

[Stocknazi]

thanks ragman. my belts look exacally like that except they attach behind the front seat on the bulkhead (nonwalkthrough 66 westy) i see you have a walkthrough and the belts attach through the body to the outside. cool that helps me out knowing the are og to the bus. i thought they were some po install, but i guess not. cool.
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WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

Thomas Jefferson

[Major Woody]

I do not want black plastic seatbelts in my bus, like the WW kit.

I did some searching and found a place that offers three point retractable kits in several colors. They also offer the various installation pieces separately.

Sorry I could not hotlink a picture.

I have decided to pull the reinforcement plate up from a hole in the bottom of the B pillar, using a piece of wire. I believe it can be held in place behind the panel using a pop rivet instead of doing a bunch of welding and repainting. After all, it is behind the sheet metal and all you are really trying to do is prevent it from falling back down inside the panel if the seatbelt mounting bolt is ever removed. I will cover the hole in the bottom of the B pillar behind the bulkhead with a big 'ol plastic plug. It will be covered on the driver side by the jump seat and mostly concealed on the passenger side by the presence of the icebox.

These prices seem very reasonable. Even JC Whitney is much higher in price, for an inferior kit.

The only criticism I have of these kits is that they don't have an old-school chrome buckle. I also found those offered online in a zillion colors, but the plastic pieces were all black, the inner side of the seatbelt was just floppy seatbelt fabric, and they were like $130 each.

Here is the link. http://store.yahoo.net/wescoperformance/resebe.html

[mynameismud]

to kick this thread out of the dirt, i was sitting today in my jeep wrangler while waiting to pick my son up at school, that the jeeps shoulder belts might be a nice shoulder belt option. they are small, non-obtrusive and mount up to the back roll bar.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i23....f%26sa%3DG
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[dreadnotmusic]

I figured I would use this thread to ask this question.

I'm about to complete a 3 point install in my '66 using the wesco performance backing plates to be installed in the B Pillar.

Instead of drilling an additional hole, why not use this factory hole? It's a bit higher than the other installations have used, but it's already there. Thoughts?

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66 Riviera