Dormobile inertia reel rear seat belts

[VeeDubMan]

I've mulled this over loads and have come up with the following solution for the seat belt on the cooler box side of the rear seat:

Normally it's a roof mounted mechanism for the centre seat of a Vauxhall Meriva but seems to work just as well flipped over the other way. Beauty is that after using the belt, the clips (there are two for the hip area) can be undone and the belt recoils so the bed can be raised normally.

Plan is to weld in a couple of seat belt mounting points behind the top of the seat and mount it there. My big concern though is that the fuel tank is directly below and I'm worried about potential explosions with welding heat/sparks and petrol fumes!

Am I right to think that and should I play safe and drain the tank first? Would also give me the opportunity to remove the R7 pipes and fit R9 I guess.

Thoughts appreciated.

Steve

 

[GOM68]

Where abouts behind the rear seat are you going to weld it, there is a storage box behind the seat so not sure where you mean.

If it i possible I would personally drop the tank for safety reasons. Also it would be a good opportunity for you to clean the tank out and get rid of any gunk that might be in there! However to drop the tank I believe you have to remove the engine so maybe a drain and air would be the best approach.

GOM

 

[VeeDubMan]

Yeah pretty much where the storage box is/was. Rebuilding the whole interior anyway.

 

[kevinhall]

Interested to see this as been pondering about rear belts myself.

I think I'm right in saying that it's the petrol fumes that are most inflammable, so perversely a full tank is safer, but I'd agree with GOM and think about taking the tank out for piece of mind.

 

[VeeDubMan]

Last week, I had to remove the engine to get the problematic gearbox out, so while I was at it I removed the 'tank too so I could weld in the mounts for the seatbelts. Got one side finished today (well, it was father's day after all )

As I said earlier, I'm rebuilding the storage area behind the seats, so these seat-belts will be hidden away when the bed is up. They're normally roof mounted but work just as well rotated the other way. The beauty is they completely un-clip so will coil up nicely under the bed.

Here's what I got. About £25 each from eBay and a local scrap yard:




Step 1: Mock up position and mark where the captive nut on the mounting plate need a recess in the bodywork:




Step 2: Cleaned up the area and drilled a hole large enough for the nut to sink in to and to take the thread from the bolt. Had to cut the plate down a bit so it didn't rest on the rib:




Step 3: Welded the plate in place (wire feed was playing up on the MIG so excuse the inconsistent weld):




Step 4: Do the same for other hole:




Step 5: Apply some primer to prevent the rust coming through:




Step 6: Stand back and admire your handy-work:







I need to get some extension pieces so the buckles are long enough, but they don't need any welding as I can use the original mounts under the seats. Pretty pleased with the outcome though. Kids should be safe now. Plenty of length on the belt for their car-seats.

Steve