3point seatbelt question

[mlarnoldTR6]

I have recently achieved a long awaited goal of owning a TR6. I was bitten by the British car bug as a teen when the kid down the street got a TR for his birthday. I've been looking since! Now I have kids and I want to make the ride a little safer. I have purchased from Moss a set of 3 point belts which come with no installation instructions. I have thought about fixing the shoulder belt to the B post where the soft top attaches to the same. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[piman]

Hello Mlatr6,
I would have thought that the TR^ would already have the mounting points installed ready to fix seat belts. It should be a straight forward installation job.

Alec

 

[Steve]

Yes, the TR6 should have mounting points ready to accept the belts. It was mandated that cars in the UK should have seat belts installed from the mid-sixties (my memory of the Construction and Use Regulations is rather rusty) so all cars produced in the UK after a certain date were fitted with seat belt mounting holes, even if the belts were not fitted on cars for export. I'll look it up and get back to you

 

[Steve]

Found it.......cars first used in 1965 (in the UK that means manufactured after that date too) must have seat belts installed.......that means that the TR6 should have the mounts ready to accept the bolts. Most likely place is around the rear well behind the seats......have a good search for them.

 

[mlarnoldTR6]

Piman and Steve, thank you for your reply. (Oops, I just realized I posted this question in the wrong forum...a freshman mistake) To clarify this wonderful machine has the standard 2 point seat belts presently. The point at which the soft top frame attaches to the car is just behind the left and right shoulders of the driver and passenger respectively. I don't know if this position is reinforced to support shoulder belts in a collision. It certainly is the easiest point of attachment as there are already bolts and holes. An alternative would be to drill holes in the frame rail along the same line as the seat bolts (It feels wrong to consider punching holes in her). I really want to keep the car as original as possible but safety does come first. Your thoughts are sincerly appreciated.

 

[mlarnoldTR6]

I found the mounting holes tonight in the rear wheel well, pretapped and ready to receive the bolts provided with the new belts. I was feeling around and found a soft spot at the apex of the wheel well and voila!, shoulder belts.