Seat belts for an Early Vitesse (never had belts fitted before)

[Clive]

I have just got Vicky. a 1964 Vitesse CV, home. The car has never had seat belts fitted, and is one of the first things I need to do. 

There are no cutouts in the rear trim panels, no hles in the prop tunnel that I can find. Hopwever, the top of teh B posts have 2 tapped metal "bars" fitted with blanking setscrews. These look as if they were the factory fitting points? Anybody know?

If so, was there a triangle plate of something that bolted to these and then the seatbelt mounted to the extra plate? There is a hole in the trim backing that suggests this may be the case. 

[JohnD]

Clive,

I think that the two screws you show in your pic are to hold the base of the hood support.   Just looking into the well will confirm or deny that.  Anyway that panel is thin metal and not at all stiff, thanks to the open top edge.  You would not be well advised to position your seat belt anchor there.

As you may know, I race my Vitesse, and must follow regulations about seat belts, which are ultimately safe, an d who knows how hard the other guy will hit you, so good advice.    Those regs say that the seat belts must be anchored thusly:

I'm sure you can interpret this diagram for a lap-and-diagonal!    The problem with a Vitesse, or Herald, is that the rear bulkhead is similarly thin and unstiffened, and it's worse in a convertible as you have that thin panel in front of the well for the folded hood.   

I have installed a steel bar across and behind the rear bulkhead of my saloon Vitesse, that forms the anchor for my shoulder straps and transfers any load into the stronger sides.  But you can't  do that in a converter!

 

Others may have done that before, and may be able to advise you.    My best bet is to first, reinforce the top of the curved part of your B-post with a steel plate behind, welded in.  Then drill that for one of these behind that plate  681/4 Reinforcement Plate - Seat Belt Anchor Point - 621112 (rimmerbros.com) into which you can screw an eye bolt:

 

The same, backing plate and M12 bolt, can be installed on the transmission tunnel which is thicker, and curved for stiffness!  Then you can install a belt buckle on a stalk for convenience.

Good luck!

John 

Edited May 15, 2023 by JohnD

[Clive]

A wider search (ie not just for seatbelts) revealed a variety of pics of early herald/vitesse.

And those 2 fixings are indeed for a plate that bridges across the setscrews. So factory fittings by the looks of it. I could add a length of steel bar behind the trim to put the load down to the wheelarch which would make it all very strong. (within the cars design if that makes sense)

[Craig]

To save cutting the original trim, I would consider replacing the original rear quarter trim panels with new ones that come with the slot for the belt to go down to the wheel arch. Canleys have a reference for them here:

https://www.canleyclassics.com/?diagram=triumph-vitesse-vitesse-6-interior-trim&ptno=TR130H2M