Seat belts, air bags, T wreck
- Thread starter blownt
- Start date
bentbaggerlen
Member
I have lap and shoulder belts in my t (3 point) The shoulder belt is attached to the roll bar, the roll bar will be part of a wrecker that I'm building for the bed. The other end of the belt is attached using the body mounting bolts, the latch end is attached to a piece of 1/4"x4" flat stock, with a piece of 3/8"x3" welded 90 degrees to the cross bar to provide a place to tie down the latch end of the belt. I'll take a look and see if I have any photos of the mounting.
Would be greatly appreciated. My T does not have a roll bar, but am seriously thinking about putting one in. It is a 454 with a turbo 350 tranny and a positrack rear end. Not sure, but I believe that this could have enough power to roll her right over. My body style is similar to the one in the pic's of the crashed T at the top of this forum.
Regards,
Pete Olsen
Regards,
Pete Olsen
I have a pair of bucket seats out of a ? Pontiac or ? and I switched them left for right to do what Gerry suggested to put the shoulder belt buckle to the outside.
The other day I bought two pair of passenger seats out of a Bell 222 helicopter at an auction that I think will be just the cat's meow.
Old guys here might recall that phrase - the cat's meow. These seats have high backs with slots for two shoulder belts that are normally on inertia reels. I got way out bid on the inertia reels, but I may come up with something.
From day one, I decided to incorporate a roll bar with braces and have thought that wearing a helmet is not unacceptable because of what has been said here about hitting your head on the roll bar.
One thing I have learned here is to make sure the body is very securly mounted to the frame - something I hadn't given much thought to proir to learning it here, thanks lads.
Another area I wish to comment on is the steering shaft. Ihave mine set up on three u-joints to clear everything, but more importantly to minimze the possibility the staft(s) become harpoons in an accident.
Gerry hits another home run* on the gas tank thing. The spun alinimum tanks hanging off the back of so many T's scare the hell out of me. If you look at the ads for these tanks, they're either saying indirectly, not for street use or they're not actually calling them gas tanks. My plan is to weld together two twenty quart stainless steel cooking pots which should be substaintially stronger than the spun aluminum tanks. I'm also reseaching impact activated fire bottles near the tank and keeping my battery as far away as practical from the gas tank.
My two cents worth on air bags; steering wheel and passenger dash air bags require a ton of engineering to be of utmost value. The key word being utmost value. An improperly designed system can kill you. On the other hand, she had warts.... oops, I mean
an improperly designed system might be better than none.
I see side air bags as being of value when deployed to minimize head movement as they they are mounted above and around doors. A bag in the side of a T bucket would deploy into your side and theoritically could homogenize your liver and kidneys as you are constrained against your belts.
* Home run is a term in baseball as commonly played here in the states........ just kidding Gerry.
The other day I bought two pair of passenger seats out of a Bell 222 helicopter at an auction that I think will be just the cat's meow.
Old guys here might recall that phrase - the cat's meow. These seats have high backs with slots for two shoulder belts that are normally on inertia reels. I got way out bid on the inertia reels, but I may come up with something.
From day one, I decided to incorporate a roll bar with braces and have thought that wearing a helmet is not unacceptable because of what has been said here about hitting your head on the roll bar.
One thing I have learned here is to make sure the body is very securly mounted to the frame - something I hadn't given much thought to proir to learning it here, thanks lads.
Another area I wish to comment on is the steering shaft. Ihave mine set up on three u-joints to clear everything, but more importantly to minimze the possibility the staft(s) become harpoons in an accident.
Gerry hits another home run* on the gas tank thing. The spun alinimum tanks hanging off the back of so many T's scare the hell out of me. If you look at the ads for these tanks, they're either saying indirectly, not for street use or they're not actually calling them gas tanks. My plan is to weld together two twenty quart stainless steel cooking pots which should be substaintially stronger than the spun aluminum tanks. I'm also reseaching impact activated fire bottles near the tank and keeping my battery as far away as practical from the gas tank.
My two cents worth on air bags; steering wheel and passenger dash air bags require a ton of engineering to be of utmost value. The key word being utmost value. An improperly designed system can kill you. On the other hand, she had warts.... oops, I mean
an improperly designed system might be better than none.
I see side air bags as being of value when deployed to minimize head movement as they they are mounted above and around doors. A bag in the side of a T bucket would deploy into your side and theoritically could homogenize your liver and kidneys as you are constrained against your belts.
* Home run is a term in baseball as commonly played here in the states........ just kidding Gerry.
Hot Rod Todd
Member
A few thoughts on all of this:
I have a 6 point cage in my bucket and a pair of 5 point harnesses. But I also have a blown big block and zoomies. My car looks like (and is) a street driven drag car. Even has vanity plate AA/FA. The two front bars come forward of me and offer some hope if I ever got T-boned.
The roll cage is fully padded anywhere my head might possibly touch it in an accident. Because a steel pipe will split your head open like a watermelon when you hit it.
I see a lot of buckets with chrome rollbars mounted behind (above or below) the drivers head. I figure if you get rear ended, your head goes back & you may get your own blood on the chrome bar. The really low ones that offer no actual rollover protection may be more bad than good
I have tried driving on the street with a crash helmet and its actually a dumb idea. Tho its great protection from bees and bugs, you just cant hear stuff thats happening around you. I would rather be able to see and hear whats going on around me and take the necessary action, than be helmeted up sand miss the chance to avoid an accident.
Sure, I wear the helmet at the dragstrip, but you dont have the periphery stuff going on out there. (No traffic lights, no small kids, no side roads etc)
To get street legal down here, we need to have our chassis welds fishplated and we must have a driveshaft loop on any modified RWD vehicle.
When we built my bucket, I planned to take the cage out when I wasnt racing, as it looks better without it. I have done about 50000 road miles now and the cage has NEVER been removed. And I cant see the day when it ever will be, as long as Im driving the car. Caged in, I feel very safe.
I have a 6 point cage in my bucket and a pair of 5 point harnesses. But I also have a blown big block and zoomies. My car looks like (and is) a street driven drag car. Even has vanity plate AA/FA. The two front bars come forward of me and offer some hope if I ever got T-boned.
The roll cage is fully padded anywhere my head might possibly touch it in an accident. Because a steel pipe will split your head open like a watermelon when you hit it.
I see a lot of buckets with chrome rollbars mounted behind (above or below) the drivers head. I figure if you get rear ended, your head goes back & you may get your own blood on the chrome bar. The really low ones that offer no actual rollover protection may be more bad than good
I have tried driving on the street with a crash helmet and its actually a dumb idea. Tho its great protection from bees and bugs, you just cant hear stuff thats happening around you. I would rather be able to see and hear whats going on around me and take the necessary action, than be helmeted up sand miss the chance to avoid an accident.
Sure, I wear the helmet at the dragstrip, but you dont have the periphery stuff going on out there. (No traffic lights, no small kids, no side roads etc)
To get street legal down here, we need to have our chassis welds fishplated and we must have a driveshaft loop on any modified RWD vehicle.
When we built my bucket, I planned to take the cage out when I wasnt racing, as it looks better without it. I have done about 50000 road miles now and the cage has NEVER been removed. And I cant see the day when it ever will be, as long as Im driving the car. Caged in, I feel very safe.
Hot Rod Todd
Member
yes, cricket is a game invented by the English and mastered by the Australians. On average the English cricket team beat the Aussies about once every ten years, but they enjoy that brief moment.
the indians discovered how to make money from the game and the Pakistanis figured how to bribe everyone.
Sadly, everyone can beat New Zealand at cricket. We are perenial under achievers and the few victories our team achieve, may well be as a result of match fixing.
LarryH
Member
I love the bare bones look of nothing but a nice spun aluminum tank siting on the back of the rails. But i have to admit the thought of getting smacked by some yahoo while sitting at a light has crossed my mind. So since my T-Bucket is torn down for paint and new interior i decided to make a pickup bed and mount a fuel cell inside the bed. I extended the rear of the frame about a foot to offer a little protection.
