Rear tunnel seatbelt mount

[Chris Pomares]

I've seen somewhere a picture of a fixture welded behind the seats to the tunnel to anchor the inboard seatbelts retainer. It looks like a good SWB solution. I need a outboard solution also.
If you know where it is I've tried for an hour to find it. If you have made a strong and clean solution for this issue I'd love to see a picture. As most of the SWB owners know the factory locations are not a good design.

[mepstein]

Restoration Design makes reinforcement plates with the correct size receiving thread. My metal guy duplicated something similar so I could have the lower belt mounts in the correct position across my hips. Having the belt cross above the hips is very dangerous. I still haven’t decided on the mount for a shoulder belt. My 67 doesn’t have the reinforced B pillar of the lwb cars.

[stretch]

You can pick up FIA certified Harness spreader plates like these on ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331610532...Bk9SR-Sm_pfGYw

[Chris Pomares]

Thanks guys!

[Richard]

Hi Chris,
I did this exact modification on my SWB 912 Renegade project some years ago when I built it. I've attached several pictures here. If you want more information, go to the Renegades section of the 912 Registry and look up NORCAL Renegade. I posted most of the story of my build there years ago with pictures. You may need to go back a bit to find it since I haven't posted recently. I mentioned at the time that I felt the SWB seat belt mounts are unsafe. They cause the belts to cross your stomach and chest at much too high a location. I solved it by the simple mod shown in the pictures. I made the side seat belt mounts by welding a nut to a small plate, drilling a hole large enough to clear the nut in the inside rocker panel and welding the plate in place. I made the center tunnel mount by cutting out the center tunnel seat belt mount from a '74 or newer 911 (a wrecking yard car) and fitting it the same way it was fitted in the later car in the tunnel between the seats on my SWB car. It was simple to do and has worked well for a number of years since I built my 1968 SWB 912 Renegade. Yes, it is a 1968 SWB car. It just looks a little different because I also installed small fender flares that were removed from a friends '70 911 when he was adding RS flares to his car. I deliberately left my car a SWB car because I wanted to retain the SWB look, but I wanted the slightly wider look the small flares gave it and I was able to fit 7x15" Torque Thrusts which was always part of my plan. I always thought the small flares would look good on a SWB car, give it a bit more attitude, and my 912 Renegade project was the perfect car to try it on. I'm happy with how it turned out. I've lowered the car a bit since the picture was taken.

[lbpa18]

Richard, beautiful car as a result of a lot of obvious work. Question on the driver's outboard seat belt mount. It looks like there is quite a bit of the anchor bolt still sticking out of the nutplate. That gives a lot more leverage for the seat belt to pull on that bolt potentially bending it or causing a premature failure. It looks like there is room for it to be quite a bit farther in and still allow freedom of movement by the seat belt hardware. Is there a specific reason it is as it shows? Thanks.

[Richard]

Thanks for your positive comments. For a long time I had envisioned building a SWB car with small flares. I thought it would give the slab sides of the SWB car some attitude and also allow me to run the wider 7x15" Torque Thrust style wheel and tire combination I wanted. My plan was always to leave it a SWB car because I like the proportions of SWB cars and felt the small flares would just add to that. I found an inexpensive SWB 912 that had been off the road for 20+ years and it was the perfect candidate. It was built in August 1967 and the original owner picked it up at the factory on September 1, 1967, so it's a very early '68 car. I wanted the simpler look of the '65-67 SWB cars so I built it that way and deleted '68 items that (to me) busy up the car such as the '68 side markers, '68 door handles, larger Durant mirror, black surround gauges, etc. My plan was for an Outlaw from the start. It was surprisingly easy to mount the small flares from a '70 911. I mocked them up on the car and they fit like they were made for it. A friend came by on a Saturday morning and we butt welded them on in my home garage in a few hours. Regarding your question about the strength of the anchor bolt on the outboard sides of the seats; I used the factory seat belt eyebolts for both strength and ease of installation. I ran them down to the shoulder of the eyebolt which is as far as the threads permit so only the eye part of the anchor bolt sticks out which allows just enough room to install the seat belts. They feel solid as a rock and my seat of the pants testing tells me they are super strong, but I'm not a government safety agency. I did a ton of other mods to the car in my home garage except for the paint and final body work but that's a story for another time. It was a fun project and I've enjoyed driving the car this way for a number of years.

[sithot]

Richard:

That is a stunning car. Well done.
PS:My '67 is the favorite car in the garage.

Go to 5:35 for the definitive answer.

[911MRP]

Having worked as an advisor to the FIA’s global leadership and its national ASNs I have seen first hand the great work they do both wth the manufactures and regulators on road vehicle safety through things like NCAP as well as the regulations they publish in their role as the world governing body of motorsport. While I’m no expert on the particular topic myself (not in scope if my role) perhaps if doing something bespoke it is worthwhile looking at their current relevant publications on such matters, rather than having a go and hoping it’s ok in a crash.

Steve

[Chris Pomares]

Steve,
Would you have a link or suggest the best place to look up this subject on the web.
Chris