6 replies to this topic

[Sammy D]

I don't have rear belt mounts in my '76, my roll cage has a harness bar but I can't really fit the 3 point on there.

Where are people mounting them?

I know the 45deg rule, the only place I can see as being suitable would be the parcel shelve with nice fat plates under the nuts to stop the bolt ripping through.

Hmmn?

[Jammy]

You should have a couple of holes in the vertical part of the rear seat, near the bottom. Get some eyelets and mounting plates from either DSN Classics or Minispares.

[Sammy D]

Yeah I did find that in the FAQ, but the ends of my harnesses don't have the clips, they just have a plate with a hole in so there's no way of attatching an eyelet.

I was thinking of getting some of these mouting plates and using unf bolts to bolt through the lower horrizontal part of the rear seat.

Edited by Sammy D, 10 January 2008 - 01:53 PM.

[Dan]

The parcel shelf is not remotely suitable, you have to do a lot more than put a plate under the bolts to be able to fit a harness there. I've seen a photo in a book or a mag somewhere of a Mini race car that went end over end with the harness mounted to the parcel shelf, the whole rear end of the car has been turned inside out by the impact against the belt from the initial crash which released the harness letting the driver flail about inside during the roll. The bolts tearing through are the least of your problems, in that car they were still fixed to the shelf but the entire shelf had move a foot or so further forward. If you can find a photo of the huge brackets Rover had to fit inside the boot to hold the rear belts of the Cabrio Minis to their parcel shelves and be able to pass the safety testing I think you'll understand.

The lower part of the rear seat is the right area. Have you actually checked that you don't have rear belt mountings? They were fitted to the shell for many years before the actual belts became a standard fit in Britain, the Mini was sold in many countries where rear belts were used earlier than here. If you don't then fitting reinforcing to this area that is suitable isn't hard, I can get a you photo of how the genuine mountings are reinforced if you want. It'll just need a couple of bits of thick plate bending up and welding in the right places.

[Sammy D]

There's def no mounts there already

If you could get a picture, that would be much aprechiated!

[Dan]

Ok, it'll have to be tomorrow now as the Mini isn't here!

[Sammy D]

I'm thinking like this;