Interior Stuff

[sierrablue]

Ok, this summer I guess I'm getting some serious interior stuff done. I pulled the original style headliner out, and it's not going back in. I'm putting a newer style Wag, custom one in its place. I see that even the '71 has the mounts for front and rear shoulder belts, which I definitely want to put in at some point. Especially the front, but the rears eventually too.

I just have a few questions about this interior stuff.

Number one: the rear shoulder belts. I can get both the top point and the very bottom installed no problem, but I am unsure on the third one (for the retractor). I know I could just drill a hole in the wheel well and use some angle iron to mount it, which is what we did on the '88, but I don't really want to if I can help it. Has anybody built/welded a bracket inside the wheel well, and drilled a hole in that interior panel? The interior panel is a homemade one so I'm not worried about modifying it...I'm just trying to figure out how to make it good and strong, but also clean. The holes are already there in the headliner, so I should be able to install the headliner and get around to the shoulder belts whenever I have time/ideas.

Number two: the cargo area. Right now it has a poorly cut, 1/2" thick rubber mat in the back, which is WAY overkill, except where it doesn't cover the floor at all. And the wheel wells and everything are still bare. I'd like to cover it all of the way from where the stainless trim goes at the back, all of the way up to where the carpet ends, just before the edge of the rise under the back seat. I want to cover the wheel wells, too...I think I'll leave the tailgate though. What do you guys recommend? I want it to be practical and relatively cheap, and also not smell up the whole Jeep (I know, I'm super picky). I don't want it to be excessively think or heavy (I have the insulation pad thing from the '88 in the back, which should provide some padding where it's critical between the cargo and the floors). Recycled is good, too, but not a requirement. I don't want to use carpet, and vinyl tends to be a little pricey. If I go with carpet, it will be very thin carpet (think a mat for your shoes, just inside the door). Just looking for something good and durable, nothing too fancy.

Thanks guys!

[jon.westfall]

I have a 71 as well (with the 360 though) and I am just finishing up my interior. I put in a full carpet kit with mass backing and I love it. It wasn't cheap or easy, though. For front shoulder belts, I found that the stock mounting point up high was way to far back; rear seat passengers would have to fight through the front seatbelt getting in and out of the door. So I put the anchor point on the door post. For the rear retractor, I have seen pictures where it was mounted with the anchor point on the wheel well were the rear seat locks in when un-folded. I don't know if that is full strength and I just used lap belts in the rear, but I've seen that done.

[devildog80]

When I replace my interior, I want to use wood, and thinking of T&G Pine for the headliner, cargo floor, and flat sides in the back.

There are some that use Wainscoting, for headliner and floor, and looks nice.

[sierrablue]

Thanks guys!

So I think I have the seatbelt part figured out: I'm going to take a piece of angle iron (one per side)(it's like 1/4" or 3/8"; it's not going anywhere), and shape the lower portion to the shape of the wheel well, inside of the interior panel there. Then I'll weld a grade 8 nut onto the back so you can just thread the bolt in w/o a wrench on the back. Then I'll scrape the paint and dust off the inside of that wheel well (the side inside the quarter panel, not the visible part), and weld the iron brackets in. Once that's done I can modify the interior panel as necissary, and it will be a nice, clean, flush look, and it'll be up and out of the way, and on top of that, it'll be nice and strong, not going anywhere.

Still looking for more suggestions on the cargo area. The wood, while it seems like a good idea, it's not the route I want to go. And the carpet stuff looks pretty good; I may do some more digging on it. But does any one else have any other suggestions? Things that definitely do/don't work?

Yes, the upper mount for the front shoulder belts is in kind of a sucky spot on these early ones. It's quite a ways back, which makes some sense considering that the stock shoulder belts (optional) at the time were those two-piece ones you see in late '60s, early '70s muscle and pony cars, with one buckle for the bottom and one for the top. Not a bad setup, just not the route I want to go. I think I'm going to get the belts from Team Grand Wagoneer...I've heard that they're not the best, but I like that they have some color options, and they're pretty much guaranteed to be close to the right lengths. Unless somebody else has some better ideas...if there are equally good (and looking) belts somewhere else, or if somebody by chance has some of those second piece belts, I'm open to suggestions.

[80Limited]

I put in a set of rear 3 point belts in my 87. I ordered them from seatbelt planet. They custom build them to your specs. The rear set was a little over 200 bucks.

[jon.westfall]

I got my seatbelts from "seatbeltsplus". I like them alright. Only complaint is the lock on the retractor is a little sensitive, so I need to buckle up slowly. But who is in a big rush driving a fsj anyway?

[devildog80]

Headliner note

Make sure you check the seals on your rooftop rack, if you have one, so they are not leaking and ruin all your hard interior work.

[80Limited]

I got my seatbelts from "seatbeltsplus". I like them alright. Only complaint is the lock on the retractor is a little sensitive, so I need to buckle up slowly. But who is in a big rush driving a fsj anyway?

Same problem I have. Must be the same style retractors.

[sierrablue]

Again, thanks for all of the help, guys!

Already checked the roof seal, and it looks good. Nice thing about the Kaiser-era roof rack is that the strips don't screw into the roof, so it's one less thing to have leak. Still the 6 bolts per side, though.

As for seatbelts, I'm either going to get some '92+ YJ front+rear shoulder belts, and '80something-'91 lap belts (which come in light blue!) from Quadratech, or I'm maybe some SafetyBoy belts...I want the Wrangler ones (the anchor is set up so that I don't have to drill any holes in the floor), but they're kind of on the pricey side.

C'mon, what have you guys done for the cargo area that works really well? Oh, I'm hoping for black...that shouldn't limit things too much I wouldn't think.

[chubbinius]

So perhaps a quick, fairly inexpensive, and customizable plan for the rear cargo floor covering is to get some thin plywood (quarter/half inch thick) and a bundle of firring strips to fit between the floor lines for the base. Then you can get some vinyl or linoleum from the flooring department and glue that to the plywood decking or just cut to size and lay it over the padding you already have. Fairly simple, affordable, and then gives you a nice flat floor that you can replace or update color on as desired. Some of the vinyl/linoleum can be shaped to fit the wheel wells as well using a heat gun and a warm sunny day to massage them into shape. Good luck!

[sierrablue]

Thanks guys. I what I was thinking is a bit lighter duty than what a lot of people are putting in their rigs. Since I have the padding in the cargo area out of the '88, I don't think I want more than 1/8", maybe 1/4" absolute tops for thickness. I've also been wondering about maybe getting one or two of those matts you can get at hardware stores, for just inside the front door or wherever, with really really shallow, in some cases glued down/plastic costed, carpet. Not sure what I'll do just yet, I'll have to do some more research. And anyway I should probably finish getting the headliner installed right before I make any more messes (I say after a couple of weeks of having the headliner in a spot where it's in and I can drive it as is, but it's not done yet, and I've had the oil pump apart 5 or 6 times and the front suspension completely apart and put back together )

[devildog80]

Try the mats, and let us know how it works out.

Nice to have workable options, so give it a whirl

[sierrablue]

Thanks devildog!

Found another thread on it, again though they seem to be going for heavier duty than I really need, and I don't plan on doing the tailgate: http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=163605

Next time I'm at the hardware store (or I may go on amazon) I'll see what's there and get some idea of a price and whatnot for this. I've also wondered about getting the "extra vinyl by the yard" from BJ's, maybe even one piece at a time. Not sure, we'll see.

[SJTD]

I don't see any mounts for shoulder belts on my '84. Where are they? The interior is removed so nothing's covered up.

[devildog80]

Here is a shot across to passenger side inside my '84 GW

Can get better pics and measurements if nobody else has them.

20220515_161110 by Scott Weckerly, on Flickr