I'm new here. I just bought Theron's seafoam green VS.
I need to install rear lap belts for very short trips with my young kids.
Has anyone here installed seat belts on the rear tray? On a Vintage Speedster? How did you secure them to the frame? Which belts did you buy? Where? Pics?
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Any universal lap belt will work.
crhemi (Bill) poboiinhawaii posted:Any universal lap belt will work.
Right, except there are no seatbelt tabs already there. And I suspect any I add will have to be bolted to something more substantial than fiberglass.
You need to get under there and see what you have to work with...personally, I would never let my kids right back there!
crhemi (Bill) poboiinhawaii posted:personally, I would never let my kids right back there!
I agree, but down the street at 15-25mph within a mile or so doesn't feel like a big deal to me. Taking them to get ice cream at the corner brightens their week.
I still think it's a motorcycle with 4 wheels. More like a gokart. And should be treated accordingly.
I suspect the seatbelts will do more to keep my kids seated than anything else. But it gives a little piece of mind as well.
RMAC, I have sent you a PM.
I have tons for family pictures from the 70s of my parents in the front seat, and the three of us kids in the back bench of his 356 Speedster.... No seat belts, awkward bump in the middle no one liked sitting on, and plenty of elbows to go arround.... Different times... It was my fathers commuter car, so there were little choices for us three kids when he took us to school, soccer, or grandparents.
Fond memories!!
I finally got seat belts installed on the rear luggage tray. I didn't take enough photos for a how-to, but here are a few to help the next guy.
I had some very experienced local help who restores old VWs, BMWs and Porsches.
The bolts are spaced around the frame and tranny for easier access underneath. Steal spotted to the frame and bolted through the glass. Not bomb-proof, but good enough for local drives.
Disclaimer: I know my place in the automotive food chain. These seats are only used on neighborhood roads and my youngest ones don't get much further than a couple blocks until they get older. I learned it's pretty much illegal to transport kids like this unless they're 40lbs (or in an emergency).
Good job - before you can blink they'll be asking for the keys! Don't know how many times I've seen FL "Red Necks" with a gaggle of kids in the back of a pickup flying down a red clay road bouncing up and down.
Well, you've learned how to make a lot of sparks in your shop, and also how to wear vast overkill leather welding gloves (and there's nothing wrong with that) and I just KNOW you were wearing proper eye protection, right?.
"Welcome to the Inner-Madness"!!!!
It only gets worse from here.........
But the looks on the kid's faces tells me it's worth it.
Understanding the limitations of your modification is the most important part. I'd compare this with the people in my neighborhood who take their kids around the block in their golf carts.
Just stay off the busy streets, stay out of heavy traffic, , keep the speed low, keep an eye on them and you should be okay.
Robert M posted:Understanding the limitations of your modification is the most important part. I'd compare this with the people in my neighborhood who take their kids around the block in their golf carts.
Just stay off the busy streets, stay out of heavy traffic, , keep the speed low, keep an eye on them and you should be okay.
You can say that again.
Ryan, please be careful. These god damn things are dangerous enough for us morons.
Even going slow in a neighborhood will not prevent some one out of control running into you. Teenage drivers think they are immortal and tend to drive as such. I went to couple of funerals while my son was in HS. I really did not give a **** the idiots killed themselves, but they took a couple of young girls with them.
Agreed @majorkahuna. There's risk in many things we do. I'm very cautious with myself and my kids, but it may not matter. But I'm also not going to skip out of anything remotely risky because I think that's impossible. I grew up going on short trips on the back of a motorcycle. Risky but fun. My kids have grown up going on bike trips. Risky but fun. And now they get to ride locally in my speedster. Priceless.
Your kids will remember their dad driving them around in one of "those" as they point to one at a car show someday with their kids. Well done!
Hell I used to ride on the running boards on my Dad's Model A. I get it. I have jumped into the American River from some really stupid places. Just the Dad in me coming out.
Rusty S posted:Your kids will remember their dad driving them around in one of "those" as they point to one at a car show someday with their kids. Well done!
Yes @Rusty S! That's the first reaction one of my dear friends had after showing him my speedster... he spoke about how vividly he can remember driving around in his dad's old Cadillac when he was a wee boy. And how excited he was for my kids to have that memory.
