Cortez rear seat belts

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Cortez rear seat belts

Postby Jin » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:50 pm

hi all
I’ve not ventured down the back of the car yet, but I’m aware that the build manual says rear seatbelts can be fitted, but it doesn’t give too much info

can 3 point retractable belts be fitted to the rear?

cheers
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Re: Cortez rear seat belts

Postby ACourtney » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:14 pm

It is possible to fit seat belts in the back and to make a perfectly usable rear seat for young children as can be seen from this photo of my Excelsior taken from my website:

3+2 Midas.jpg
http://midascars.co.uk/page12.html
3+2 Midas.jpg (119.36 KiB) Viewed 4442 times


As you will have noticed, I only fitted lap-belts in my Excelsior, but the rear shelf of the Cortez would give you somewhere to fit the top mounts for three point belts. The question is then whether the shelf panel is strong enough as it is, or will it need extra reinforcement? Unfortunately I can't answer that without seeing the car.
When Harold Dermott crash tested the Gold Coupe he also had the seat belt mountings tested and he documented the reinforcements required, in the laminate, to provide suitable seatbelt anchorage. The advantage of working with GRP is that you can always add extra reinforcement if you require it.
Every Midas has reinforced areas for mounting the driver and passenger seat belts to the B-posts or the side walls behind the doors, but not every 2+2 has the reinforcement in place behind the rear seats.
The floor will already be strong enough to anchor the lower ends of the seat belts. You just need to fit a suitable backing plate to go on the other side. The Midas backing plate that was used in the tests has the same dimensions as FIA approved harness mounting plates and these are readily available.

Another comment is that the in the original 2+2 design, the rear seat base was taken straight from the Metro and bolted to the floor of the Midas. This gives you no rear leg room whatsoever and leaves the kids sat down low with no view out. I experimented by taking the seat base out and sitting my boys on boxes to find the best seating position. I ended up removing around a third of the depth of the seat base to create a sensible squab size and mounting it on a wooden structure that was approximately six inches high at the front and four inches high at the back. This provided them with a comfortable seating position with adequate leg room and a good view out.
A word of caution though. This photo was taken around ten years ago, just after I had modified the back seat. James, on the right side is now 18, over six foot tall and started at Derby University today. Nathan on the left is now 15 and already five foot eight. (Matthew in the middle was James' best friend - still is- but therefore someone else's problem). Whilst we had several years of enjoying open top motoring as a family, the boys did not show their gratitude by staying small.
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Re: Cortez rear seat belts

Postby Jin » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:10 pm

Thank you very much for the detailed reply
I'm glad it's do-able, I would like to put 3 points in if I can sine both my nippers are in car seats at the mo so it would be nice to take them out In it once it's a bit more tidied up,
I will probably wait till I can pick your brains in person and take some detailed notes on how best to proceed

It's good to hear you shortened the rear seat base since I literally have to have the back of my seat touching the rear seat to get in, a couple of inches off should see some small boy leg room for my 2 as they grow up

Cheers mate
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