MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Seat Belt Mounting Points - Roadster

My wife has 'suggested' that she would feel safer in the MGA with seatbelts (once it is formally on the road) - to this end I have read all the posts/threads on the web regarding the installation of seatbelt mounting's.

I like the idea of fabricating a bar that bolts to the two existing rear wing nuts at the back of the cockpit for the top mounting.

Couple of questions

1. One of the other mounting points is attached to the rear of the tunnel - I'm a bit sceptical of this as the tunnel is essentially made from v thin steel - surely this can't be right..??

2. I'm disregarding the lap-belts - what type of belts do most people use and find comfortable/practical

3. Suppliers ..?

Hope everyone has a great new year !

Aleks
A Stojanovic

Did you see how I did it in my Antipodean Resto thread on MGA Experience? This has worked well.
A Bowie

Aleks

Indeed, one end of the seat belt picks up under the rear panel behind the seat. There is a stiffening bar and captive nuts for this purpose.

THe other issue to be aware of is that the hood gets in the way of the seat belt and to raise and lower the hood one end of each seat belt has to be uncoupled and threaded through the hood frame! THis is achieved with a bracket on the sill with a removable pin. Hard to find but Todd Clarke in the States keeps them.

I looked at trying to fit inertia-style belts but decided this would be a biggish job so settled for statics.
Graeme Williams

Start on page 7. I welded in some square plates to the tunnel and reinforced the rear of the floors.
A Bowie

Get in touch with Quick fit in north london, brilliant service and vast choice http://www.quickfitsbs.com/gallery_mg.php

Our A has their inertias fitted let me know if you want photos.
David k Brenchley

Aleks, the rear inside mounting on my car is an eyebolt which is bolted through the steel frame at the side of the tunnel. It does not mount to the tunnel itself, for the reasons you give.
Art Pearse

I fitted Todd Clarke's kit which is excellent, however some welding is required. It replicates the setup the factory started using on the Mark II, which is both good and bad... Good in that it gives a more factory appearance, but bad in that it was an afterthought in the first place, and the inboard attachment is in the fairly thin metal (which is usually weakened by decades of corrosion) of the transmission tunnel with no direct frame tie-in.

If you use Todd's kit, I recommend reinforcing the tunnel and adding a tie-in to the frame, perhaps similar to this:

http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/mga/images/sbmnt1.jpg

-Del
D Rawlins

Del's comments reminds me - I think the "factory" top mounting points were only fitted to the Mk2.

David: your like is causing chaos with my A/virus; one of those "Woa.. dont go there!" messages. Would be interested to see your inertia set-up pics.
Graeme Williams

Graeme, google quick fit, link is fine on my mac. Will take some photos later, we have had several cars fitted with their belts and all worked fine and fitted very well, they will fit for you ( A took about 6 hours in their workshop) or you can fit your own, usual disclaimer just a happy customer.
David k Brenchley

I'm with Del R (above) as I have used Todd Clarke's kit, on one of my own cars and one on Mike Ellesmore's car.
Highly recommended.

Barry.
Barry Gannon

An interesting topic and a test for limited ingenuity... Four pics attached to this and 3 further emails...I designed this and had it installed about 14 years ago during a respray job. I am 6ft 2in and a tight fit in cockpit but it is easy to use and very very strong ( I am a mechanical engineer and a cautious one).
Pic one below shows the mounting point for the reconnect just inside the door behind seat . I used a very heavy hinged operable shackle as the disconnect to the floor point . Next post describe other parts


Neil Ferguson

pic 2 ..this is the retracting mechanism touting behind left shoulder onto the thin flimsy bulkhead..as high as possible ( lousy paint under thereat well ). The belt passes cleanly over the seat top and onto the shoulder .


Neil Ferguson

pic 3 ..here is the load spread structure connect the back of the retracting reel through the bulkhead to two meaty points on the car


Neil Ferguson

pic 3 ..final pic of the central belt connector . It is easy to use ( no stalk) and is connected to the floor next to the tunnel . It is kept in position and reasonably upright ) by a lightweight grey cord ( can be seen ) connecting it to the same on passengers belt arrangement . A stalk could be used but I found it unnecessary.
I connect the belt with one hand .
The two floor points are the same as used by the lap belt
No welding anywhere on the car ..but a few holes on internal panels.
Sorry about the 4 posts ..have not conquered the montage yet..


Neil Ferguson

Thanks Neil,
Could you please post a picture/description of the tunnel mount for the buckle end of the belt?

Regards,
Mark
M Wellard

For those in Melbourne, Barry Gannon is an ace welder. He did my 3-point welding attachments when he was over visiting me a few years back. Great job. He also identified why I was having so much trouble using my MiG welder. I had the wrong diameter nozzle for the wire I was using. Up til then I was having endless tangles of wire on the feeder wheels. It's been brilliant ever since.

Might post the fixings later if I have time.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Protip for those contemplating an auto-retract setup... The vast majority of potential donor vehicles have the mechanism buried under trim, so to close it out you would need to fabricate a cover of some sort. A Jeep Wrangler doesn't have much in the way of interior trim, so its inertia reels come pre-equipped with a handy little plastic cover like what is shown in one of Neil's photos.

This thread brings back a lot of memories for me. When I was about 5 or 6 I complained about riding in the MGA with my dad until he put in seat belts because I didn't like the way I slid around in the seat without them. I think they may have been installed at some time prior to that, but he just didn't use them. Removing those belts and their brackets during teardown made me glad they were never really tested.

-Del
D Rawlins

Retractors in boot


David k Brenchley

Original gearbox tunnel mounts + plate


David k Brenchley

Outer mount - unclips to raise hood. Colour chosen to merge with seats rather than stand out. Aircraft type buckles fitted.


David k Brenchley

I used High tensile eye bolts for the lower fixings (fastened to chassis; inner & outer, not the tunnel) and for the top I made a hefty bracket that connected across two rear wing bolts along with an MGB quick release fastener for the top strap. I didn't have any faith in fastening anything to the rear bulkhead thin metal - it will fold and buckle under a full demand load.

Regards
Colin
Colin Manley

I must admit that I don't have the same faith in belts in old cars as I do with modern cars, mainly gives some security to me and my passenger (seem to remember that there was a school of thought that if an open car turned over you were better off without a belt). When I had our Fiat Dino resprayed we found the belts were just bolted through thin metal that would have torn in any impact, had mounts from a Ford welded in but still aware...
David k Brenchley

David: last bit of the puzzle - how do you manage the belt after it passes over the panel from the boot and into the rear behind the seat?
Graeme Williams

Graeme, comes through the boot panel then runs over the hood frame and over my right shoulder - will get better photos tomorrow .


David k Brenchley

Mark....here is a pic of the inboard belt connection point. It is the same as for the previous lap belt . I agree with other comments re strength of this point . I recollect putting in a load spreading plate underneath but will be checking on my next undercar dive .


Neil Ferguson

Thanks Neil,
I'm interested to see how people approach the strengthening of this mounting point - I'm due to deal with this in the near future.

Mark
M Wellard

I also thought that the transmission tunnel was a bit flimsy for a seat belt mounting. My solution was to weld steel plates to the chassis members directly beneath the transmission tunnel. To these plates, I welded nuts of the appropriate size, and drilled holes in the transmission tunnel for the bolts to access the plates/nuts. Just make sure that the bolts are not too long to interfere with the prop shaft. Dave


D Jacobs

That's a good solution Dave. Similarly, Todd Clarke's kit uses a circular reinforcing steel plate, with a captive nut, which is welded (or screwed or riveted) to the underside of the transmission tunnel in much the same place. It can be retro fitted without even removing the tunnel, just move the carpet back a little to allow welding from underneath. The extra thickness is said to be strong enough in an accident.
You have gone one step further as part of your rebuild.

Barry
Barry Gannon

This thread was discussed between 01/01/2017 and 06/01/2017

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.