Rear harness mounts

[Pete Clayton]

Looking for some photos of how rear harness mounts have been done on Phaetons. Most common thing is obviously some box section welded between the roll bar but are they sleeved and bolted through or are bosses welded on like the locosts? I have seen some that seem to use angle iron bolted to the original seat belt points and the harnesses bolted to that.

[Paul Sheridan]

Weld a cross bar in..... the same size tube as the roll bar is made of. Then either weld a boss to it, or as I am going to do;  make a clamp to go around the bar and bolt the belt anchor to that. I was going to weld bosses on to my bar before I got it chromed, but thought that a nice stainless steel clamp would look better. Steer clear of drilling through any part of the roll bar, as they are made of nothing more that exhaust tube !!!! and not very strong as is. Note, this is talking about S1 & S2,  I think that the S3 and 4 are made a little stronger. 

[Pete Clayton]

I was thinking maybe I could mount them to the cross piece of the seat back I will be fabricating?

[Big Vern]

Remember the roll bar on S1 & S2 and before are just exhaust grade tube. Pete, I would mount a separate cross bar for the harnesses. If you want to replace the whole roll hoop then there is a sketch in a rebuild thread on mr G's

[Pete Clayton]

Paul sent me the contact details and I have seen the sketch. A separate cross bar wouldn't be a problem but it was more how was best to fix the harnesses to it I was trying to figure out

[Paul Sheridan]

Spoke to my MOT bloke about this, he said for the purposes of mot the seatbelts just have to have secure fixings. For the purposes of safety, obveously the fixings have to be good enough, not to come adrift if you have a whack....... problem is, in these cars, if you have a wack big enough to break a seat belt mount, you wont know a lot about it any way !!! 

[2zb8cfd8f5ygm]

I just fix a bar across and wrap the belt around it.

[Big Vern]

You often see this on trackday cars but it make removal of the belts more difficult/time consuming. For a car that has no roof or spends time outside undercover this may not be practical.

[1midz0wwbl268]

I have a simular problem with mine, as i have 3 point innertia reels,  my prefered option is to take some angle, and weld in a tab at each end to bolt into the seatbelt mounting  cut the top of the angle round so that it rests against the roll bar but leave the bottom edge long enough to go flush or if you prefer bend it round the tube  that way its secured on the seat belt locations on the roll bar and by the front edge you could then weld up the top where the  angle touches the rolel cage and the sides on mine i am going to have to weld in locating plates for the seat belt reels on the angle bar, either to mount them flat, of on the front edge  these might need to have triangulation added for strength 

[Pete Clayton]

On the Phaeton's (early ones at least) the original seat belt mountings are on the rear of the roll bar the start with rather than the side.

This is how my old one was done

[1midz0wwbl268]

one option  , Can you get some u channel steel?  then cut the top so that you slide it over and down and then bolt  it in from behind, same as you have there, to hold it in place  then finish it off with welding on the top and sides to the roll bar?

[Big Vern]

Indeed but the tube the roll hoop is made from is not seamless CDs its just the same tube that exhaust systems are made of, it crushes easily and will bend/snap without too much force. It is there only to hold the wet weather gear! Dutton didn't get reg 14 seat belt approval until the phaeton s3& Melos. Again modifying these at belt mounts on these later cars would invalidate the reg 14 approval.

[Dave Taylor]

Under the S3 floor behind the seats is a chassis rail which I used drilled and sleeved welded up with large washers top and bottom also welded on, bolt goes right through. I have single rear fixing for the harness. This also gives you about the right angle for the belt to work correctly, if you fix it to the seat frame you will have no resistance in a shunt (ouch! Hello steering wheel).
You will need to cut some of the tub away so you can weld, I did mine before the body went on.