[6 Pots...stuff your bhp, torque is king]

Let's be honest here.

If you are getting into the territory where you are turning a buggy over, you are heading for a world of pain /general deadness.....

In a buggy, with a single stainless roll hoop, mine included in this, you are done if you turn it over. It's bolted to the floorpan, rather than secured to welded in plates ad a full roll cage is, the front screen has zero strength in it in terms if being able to support any kind of accident weight/impact. Turn one over, at even relatively low speeds, it's game over.

The only true way would be to install a full cage, which would need to encompass a rear hoop, a front hoop around the screen at a guess, cross members where required, plus beefed up floor mount points. Even then, a roll over is gonna be some scary shizzle....

Having said all.of that, a buggy is for wafting about, in the sun, generally being daddy cool on the school run (as I do...!!) and not hooning about at breakneck speeds etc........all this from.the man about to install a Corvair engine...

As Ben says a buggy isn't about being safe.

If you crash it's going to hurt unless you have a full cage.  You're in a fibreglass body and are riding on a large skateboard, many of us have the fuel tank up front too.  Any crash and bits of body are going to fly everywhere, maybe fuel too, and roll it over and you're likely to be face planting the tarmac.

But hey they are so much fun, whether you are being daddy cool, or honing around, you only live once, enjoy it.

Hi

I've decided I don't want a roll bar at the moment for many reasons.

I'm definitely going for seats with integrated belts, only issue is how to mount and reinforce them.

I was thinking of a crosspiece from side to side off the central tunnel and strengthen it a bit that way.

Ideas welcome on this guys

[6 Pots...stuff your bhp, torque is king]

I'd be binning off the floorpans and building the chassis back up using the appropriate size box section and sheet steel to be honest if you are going with those seats....

There are plenty of build threads on here that have done it, just dont have one to hand to link to

Basically, the box section forms the edge of the chassis and then the steel plate fills in the rest. You can weld in cross members for the seats and I'd be looking at reinforcing them with gussets, plus drilling the holes in the correct place for the seat mounts and then welding in the nuts. The welding is gonna need to be good too. Some serious forces going through the mounts...

What I don't understand is why if I built a reinforced box section with supports, then that would not be good enough.

It would be anchored on the central tunnel also which seems pretty sturdy. The buggy won't be used for racing and will not be abused or anything.

I may look to get a roll cage at some point but not at present, this is why I'm looking to work within current curcumstances.

[6 Pots...stuff your bhp, torque is king]

The spine end is fine. The other end would just attach to the floor pan. Not strong enough

If the spine end is fine, then if i make a point of anchoring it on that side, and building box section with supports on the other side, surely from a common sense point of view, doing this makes no difference to fitting normal seats with bolts.

I'm just struggling to get into perspective some of the comments regarding safety and such.

[should]

As I said build a box section on top of the floor and weld it down. Bolt your seat to it. Let's be honest here any accident that you get in that can rip your seat out of the floor ....you wasn't going to walk away from it in the first place. What I have suggested should satisfy any legalities regarding mot testers. Be secure under heavy braking and general road use.

All I have in mine is a roll hoop bolted to my 44 year old floor pan with inertia reel aftermarket seat belts affixed to it. If I ever get into a head on or side on impact at speeds of 40+ I know I'm dead as it's a fibreglass  tub with the strength of custard. I accept that as I built it.

Your seat belt will be part of your seats, this will put extra strain on your seat anchors. Using the box section welded to the floor will help spread the load in the event of an accident. The seat belts will work fine and will keep you in your seat.

That's what I was thinking/hoping.

I will stick with what's planned and hopefully it will work.