Hi

I'm looking to fit front seats into LWB buggy which have seatbelts built in.

This is because at present I'm not looking to fit a roll bar, but may do in future so won't have seatbelt mountings.

I need black leather front seats preferably not electric adjustment

I'm having trouble finding anything, the few I can find are electric and this can be tricky to properly install so I'm told.

I've also been told by a breaker that if I installed any seats with built in belts I would need to mount them to box section not just bolt to floor!

I'm not sure of the technicalities but this is a way I really want to go and would appreciate advice

Thanks in advance

Chris

Any harness that goes over the shoulders, needs something higher up to anchor to, or in the case or an accident it will crush down on you.

You can of course take the risk, or go for a lap belt - check the legalities for the age of your chassis.

I understand the point but on a bmw cabriolet they don't have any anchorage point other than at the shoulder height of the seat.

Of course they do have the bottom mounting for chassis.

Wouldn't want lap belts at all!

I would assume that the seat on the BMW is re-enforced to handle the compression forces exerted in the case of a crash, also as Dave mentioned in the other post, does it have pre-tensioners which would also help with the forces.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roll-Over-Bar-Porsche-Boxster-986-/380277052150?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item588a4752f6

adopt , adapt, improve?

I wouldnt bolt a seat with integrated belts/buckles to a VW flloorpan.

The forces involved in an accident can be immense. With all the fixings on the seat only, it's going to put a massive strain on the seat mounts. It will rip through a beetle floorpan with no issue at all. The barker who advised you was right.

If you are set on black leather, non electric seats, try and find some Porsche Tombstones. They will fit to some proper mounts very well, cause you no issues and generally look pretty good

Thanks for the suggestion, as regards the roll bar would the Porsche roll over hoop mentioned earlier fit without too much hassle?

Cheers

I believe it  would still require some modification to fit as mountings wouldn't be in the right place I think.
Someone on here did it I think to a sidewinder or a prowler. Can't rightly recall now.

If I were to fit seats with integrated belts, would it suffice to strengthen the whole thing with box section/similar?

I would do a full perimeter box section with cross bracing for the seats. As said the beetle floor is no where strong enough to hold with the forces placed on it even under heavy braking. You will eventually have stress fractures and suffer metal fatigue in a very short time.

So you'd say box section on edges and an x across the inner?

Or would you mean bracing outside of the box?

I know that the seat belt mountings on a production car are tested to 13.5kN for certification. So I did some quick calculations based on a seat-mounted belt, and in a frontal impact from 30mph, I reckon the rear seat mounts will see almost a ton of load each if the seatbelt upper anchorage point is fixed to the seat shoulder!  The average buggy weighs in at around 0.6-0.7 ton.  Could you brace the floorpan so the whole buggy can be lifted on one seat mount point?

Having said that, rather than a frontal impact I think a more likely scenario for a buggy involves coming off the road, possible rollover and - if the belt doesn't fit properly - potential occupant ejection, a situation which has a very high 'poor outcome' statistic. 

Crikey, seems like I'm opening an awfully big can of worms!

Back to drawing board!

Quote from: Luddite on June 06, 2014, 10:19:48 AM
Having said that, rather than a frontal impact I think a more likely scenario for a buggy involves coming off the road, possible rollover and - if the belt doesn't fit properly - potential occupant ejection, a situation which has a very high 'poor outcome' statistic.

And if running no roll bar, I think occupant ejection may be the better scenario.

Ok as that's the case I'm going to have to get a roll bar/cage of some kind, however, I really need to avoid having to do this before the car has an mot.

If I was to use lap belts in the front mounted to the chassis, just to get it through an not, then install a roll bar shortly afterwards and then 3 point seatbelts, would that be legal?

Otherwise I need to find someone who has a used rollbar or similar suitable for my buggy, or someone who can make and fit one cost effectively. It would need to be fit for purpose and presentable and have seatbelt mounts but nothing fancy.

Any ideas?