Originally posted by tlorber:
If you put in seats that have the seat belts built in, does the floor of the cab or some other sheet metal need to be reinforced? Since the seats are only attached at the floor, the floor metal seems a bit dinky to hold the seats down in the event of a collision.
I had much the same question. I'm in the middle of repairing rust on the floor and am replacing the rear cab mounts on our 66. The seat belt nuts are welded to the cab mounts so I thought maybe a larger heavier guage metal plate underneath would be a good idea for safety. The existing set up is only the floor sheet metal and then the thin metal on the floor support.Each are probably only 18 guage metal. I called someone I know who is an expert in vehicle standards and safety ( he's also restoring an old "Harvard" airplane, a "Texan" I think in the USA). He claims that you would need about 5000lbs of force to rip that seat belt nut out of those 2 layers of sheet metal. He said that if you're in a severe enough collision where there is that much force, seat belts won't matter to you anymore. If I was installing a seat with integral belts I would probably run a couple of 16 guage or so straps under the floor where the seat bolts are, but more for my own piece of mind than anything else.
Back in my towing days I was called to a lot of ugly collisions but I don't recall ever seeing a seat or seat belt bolt ripped out of a floor.
One thing I would do is use Grade 8 high quality bolts to attach the seat. The bolts you've got left over from assembling your kid's swing set wouldn't be a good idea..
