Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Probably too late, but I just recalled a frequent poster here, PackardV8 I believe, posted some photos of a 3-point belt system he installed for the front seat of his Packard. Maybe he can remind us of what he did and how he did it. Re-posting the photos would be nice too.

(o{}o)

The body mounting pads do go very hard after many years and some might split. However IMO they can be a bit hardened yet still do the job (f taking vibration out and securing the body to the frame reasonably well if a bit hardened.

I renewed mine as they were very hard, some distorted and some splitting. Steel has them, see Body Mounting Pads and they are quite expensive but do have the metal insert and lip etc. I think I needed 14 of them, not 10 like Steel say . . .

I made new ones by cutting sections off rubber boat rollers, which are tough rubber. You can buy these rollers readily.

The diameter was spot on and they had a hole through the centre that was correct also. Saved a lot of money and am pleased with the result, although it was quite a lot of work, cutting the correct metal tube to make the inserts for them. Using a hacksaw you need to constantly lubricate it to cut rubber. Anyway, these do the job well at a fraction of the cost of the Steel ones.

If yours are reasonable I wouldn't bother replacing them.

Seat belt installation accomplished. Bouth the belts from Seatbeltsplus.com. They were by far the least expensive I found on-line. About half! So shop around.

I like the color, a neutral blue. The Chrome Lift Latch type has a subtle look that I like. No buttons or gee-gaws. They were $83.60 for four belts and mounting hardware and only $5 shipping.

Installation was done by Car Creations here in town. They were not exactly cheap to install, 4.5 hours at $55/hour $247.50. I thought this was fair-- about an hour per belt.

They fit and line up perfectly. When they're laying parallel to the blue striped seat material the almost look "factory."

I'm glad I took the time and spent the money. I'll feel more comfortable giving rides.

Don't have the car here right now for pics, but will send later.