Re: HA's 52 200 Grey Ghost

Posted by Hans Ahlness On 2016/8/6 21:20:55
I planned to install lap belts only for the rear seat, but after sitting in the seat and thinking about where somebody's head would go during an impact decided to figure out a way to install shoulder belts instead. That front seatback structure is just a sharp piece of steel, and a little windlace trim isn't going to soften that blow. I took a picture with my assistant demonstrating this.

After looking at catalogs and many versions of installation instructions, I decided on some roadster-type shoulder belts with the retractor mounting to the rear hatshelf area. I also ordered new red belts to replace my original grey front ones.

When I got my new box of toys, I started mocking up the belt mounts and I didn't think that the hatshelf is really strong enough to take the full load. I experimented with a piece of steel angle as a backup under the shelf, that would cross the entire shelf and pick up both retractor mounts, but I eventually decided that I'd rather mount the retractors to the floor of the trunk and feed the belt up through the hatshelf to a pivot point much like the front belts. I built some doublers for under the shelf to mount the pivots and the geometry worked out well. My doublers are 1/8" aluminum (2024-T3 aircraft alloy) and are each attached with seven aircraft structural screws and nuts. The pivot point is mainly loaded in shear so I am not worried about the strength of the shelf with this doubler taking the load of the nutplate piece. The steel will tear before the aluminum plate will, but there are enough screws to spread that load quite adequately.

I'm real happy with how they turned out, so the front and rear belt assemblies are the same now. I have to return the roadster belts and get another set of the other style in red for the fronts now.

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