Page 4 yeah there's More
Before the cab could go to paint I had to come up with an idea how to mount the planned 3 Harness's I had for the truck.
Cabby (Tony Shailor) who had bought my 34 Sport Saloon a few years ago and actually made it so I could finance the
truck project, wasn't using the 4 point harness's I had fitted to the 34 and said I could have them for the Truck free gratis
which was great so that sorted me with 2 of them.
He even posted them off to me at his expense which I am truly indebted to him for. You need to go
look at his progress aswell, there is a link on the garage scene pages. He has done a proper number on the 34 now. Mind you I do feel quite embarrassed and ashamed he has had to do all that work. Cabby had bought it with some money he got after his Dad had passed away, and it is now more poignant to me as my Dad also passed away 2 week back and I know how I would of feel if I had used his money to remember him by on something that now is taking all this work..
But I digress, I now had 2 harness's in black from Cabby and I got one from my brother, a red one that my nephew Alan who was so awfully killed last year had in one of his cars to make 3 in all. I know it will look a bit weird and not very coordinated but the red one means a lot to me and I will feel that Alan is sat in with me even if just in memory.. So here is how I set about the task.
The harness's that I got from Cabby have only very short side straps and would not reach the cab floor. I suppose if money no object then I should of got two new ones that would, er but money aint no object and so I didn't. I scratched my head for a good long while and when I had it sorted that they could only be mounted to the seat base somehow, I unclipped the rear of the seat cover to see what it would reveal, and it reveled a very sturdy seat base frame that would be ideal for mounting the straps to no worries.
The many hog rings that I had previously fitted a few year back when I renewed the seat cover had to be unclipped but once off and the seat cover peeled back, I could get at the frame easy. I cut some 8mm plate and drilled and tapped to 7/16th unc the std thread for all seat belts.
They were then welded in place and should work a treat. I slid some aluminium sheet in between the frame and the seat foam first to stop it catching fire from any weld splatter.
Once the welds had cooled the cover was refitted and the bolts checked for the right width 400mm for my gurt arse, If I could fit in them, then pretty much anyone could. The middle harness has side straps that are long enough to go to the floor so I only had to do the the two outside ones to the rear seat frame. It's a hotch potch I know but that's how I am, scruffy by nature. I heard it said once if you cant draw a straight line then you cant build a rod, I would add to that if you cant write neat you cant build anything neat either..... well that's me. I am practicing with the neat writing bit though failing miserably most of the time ;o)
This is my main worry now the whole seat, harness's and three occupants are held in place by just these tiny bolts and flimsy frame. So I think I will have to weld the seat to the frame at least, that should make it a bit safer. I know I don't really need to go though all this hassle, as the truck don't need belts but I could not live with myself if anything happened to a passenger from even just a minor shunt without belts, so these will make the truck a lot safer and more enjoyable I recon.
The harness's would not really be any use if I just now bolted the shoulder straps to the cab floor as the seat hinges forward and would just fold down on impact. When you build a banger you put the rear strap that goes over your shoulders as close to the seat base as poss so on heavy impact that you get every few seconds ;o) does not go loose as it would if you mounted it farther back as the the car floor crumpled and got compressed. That then goes over the roll cage which is a loop behind the driver, so I had to somehow replicate that in the truck... er but without the roll cage as I didn't want one. I got some solid square bar and rounded the edges, got some flat bar and drilled a hole for it to slot into and welded that in place.
I cut that off and did the same the other side, but not before I slotted some round tube over the square to make it so the tube would roll and not chaff the belt material. That I then welded to some 3mm plate for a load spreader to weld to the cab rear.
One done just two more to go.
Two done just one more to go ;o) That about where I am now July the 8th, not had much time on it, The rear of the cab is warped to fuk with welding the brackets on, even though I took my time. Thing is with this type of brackets use, you need to weld not tack so I was welding about 1/2inch then blowing with the air line to cool but it still looks like the hills around where I live now and is going to add a lot of time and work to the cab prep. Bugger!
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