Seatbelt Bolts

[jims-terrano]

Does anyone know if the seatbelt bolts are special?

Doing the seatbelt mounts on the old project truck and one side has completely rusted into the captive nut. I know it’ll have the silly fine thread nissan so loves but wondering if I can just go to my local bolt supplier and buy a pair of bolts and nuts to fabricate my own mountings in the wheel arches.

Cheers

 

[solarman216]

Seat belt bolts MUST BE REPLACED WITH LIKE FOR LIKE BOLTS, if one broke in an accident and was investigated, it would not go down well, they are special in at least two ways, one they have a shoulder that when tight leaves the anchor plate able to rotate and two they will be high tensile, I would cut off the exposed thread on the wheel arch side and centre punch the bolt prior to drilling start with a 3 or 4 mm drill then gradually enlarge till you are near to full size, only drill to depth of nut, then try and undo it from inside, this usually works as one the hole causes reduced side pressure and two the heat from drilling helps, if I still have your details I will send you a bolt, Rick

 

[jims-terrano]

Hi Rick, thanks for the advice. Long story but a previous repair by someone else I hasten to add was botched. They wlded a nice plate into the wheel arch, it looked like the oval plate with the captive nut was welded to that. Sadly no, they cut a square hole in the new plate and slid the oval plate complete with seized bolt and nut through the hole and get this siliconed it all together, why not weld it you muppets. So I come along and the oval plate just ripped off the plate and pulled through the nicely cut square hole:nenau

So I actually need a bolt and the oval plate with the captive nut. More than happy to pay you Rick. No real hurry as I’ve got a couple of weeks.

Cheers

 

[Mav96]

I had to do the offside rear arch one, had plate welded on, but I used S/S bolt with half nut inside for seat belt movement & a self locking nut externally, was spotted by mot guy last year & passed inspection no problem.

So from inside it would be bolt head, washer, seat belt, washer, half nut.

 

[solarman216]

Jim ignore my PM question, what side do you require? Mav96 I know SS sounds good but it is not high tensile and is much weaker than even mild steel, could well snap in an accident, Rick

 

[jims-terrano]

O/S please Rick

 

[solarman216]

OK will look tomorrow, Rick

 

[Mav96]

Jim ignore my PM question, what side do you require? Mav96 I know SS sounds good but it is not high tensile and is much weaker than even mild steel, could well snap in an accident, Rick

I will swap it out, was all I had at the time

 

[solarman216]

Sorry Jim, I thought I had a good one on my old off road motor but it has been stood too long and is not in a fit state, probably find you a bolt though and maybe the nut which you can then weld onto a decent plate, Rick

 

[jims-terrano]

Yes please Rick, anything to get me going.

Cheers

 

[macabethiel]

Seat Belt Bolts

If you have a local breakers nearby you should be able to get suitable bolts as most manufacturers seem to have the same thread just differing lengths so bolt will meet safety standards. Some vehicles seem to avoid the nuts and captive plates from rotting out by better captive bolt design.

Many manufacturers put extra captive bolts in the rear bulkheads behind the rear passenger seats for alternative restraint systems and child seats. Also upper door pillars (The B post is it?) on more modern cars have an adjustable plate that slides up and down inside the centre pillar to raise and lower the seat belt mount. Cut one of those out and you will have brand new metal as water rarely gets into this pillar.

I had a box of brand new seat belt bolts from the 1970's when we used to change from static to inertia reel at work. Went in the skip about 8 years ago sorry!

 

[jims-terrano]

Well I managed to rescue the bolt and captive nut. Needed a vice, plus gas and plenty of patience. All went back together fine.

What I did discover is all the seatbelt bolts seem to be identical so if I needed another bolt then an internally mounted bolt would be fine.