Seat belts

[1900sr]

I decided to get a set of inertia reel belts to go in my 74 HC Estate. Securon recommended their 500/30 belts, and having used their belts in a couple of Mantas I ordered a set. What I've found is that the stalks are far too long for the mountings that are in use for the static belts. These are on the top of the transmission tunnel.

My question is, are there any other mounting points lower down the tunnel hidden under the carpet at all?

[droopsnoot]

Not to my knowledge. The only captive nuts I can recall are the central one for the front seat belt clips, and the one under the rear seat on the big spreader plate that also has the central bump stop underneath it.

[chrismc]

I think the 500/15 belts are the ones to go for. I am going to try them for our Firenza restoration. I'm guessing the 15 is the length of the stalk in cm.

[1900sr]

I think the 500/15 belts are the ones to go for. I am going to try them for our Firenza restoration. I'm guessing the 15 is the length of the stalk in cm.

Yes, they will have a 15cm stalk length, although I think they may be too long as well, considering that the static belts clip has no stalk on it. I will try and get in touch with Securon to see what they say, although they're not keen on talking direct to end users.

The other thing to watch out for is the mounting hole in the Securon stalk is a bit too small to go over the bush that the original belts use, and the supplied bush isn't suitable either.

[chrismc]

If you need a couple of bushes turning up let me know. I'll need dimensions. No charge .

Keep us informed of any further info from Securon.

[1900sr]

I had another look at the belts tonight. The original mounting brackets have a smaller thread in them than standard. The original bolt has a shoulder that goes through the hole in the stalk and acts as a bush. This shoulder is too big to go through the hole in the Securon stalk. I guess you could enlarge the hole in the Securon stalk to suit, or maybe change the mounting brackets. I've also found that the Securon buckle fits the original stalk so that may be another option.

Another question which could affect what I've said there, do all Vivas that have static belts use the same ones, my car has Dynasafe branded ones?

[droopsnoot]

Depending on how much metal is around the hole on the new belts, it might be better to reduce the diameter of the shoulder on the bolts rather than expand the hole in the new stalk. Enlarging the hole might leave the remaining metal weaker than intended, where the bolt already has a much smaller diameter for the threaded part, so that's the weakest bit - I can't see how reducing the shoulder would make the bolt weaker.

I am always a bit wary of talking about ways of modifying seat belts, just in case anything ever went wrong. So get proper advice on strength and so on. That's why I didn't suggest removing the mounting and moving to wherever is convenient - on the face of it, that's not difficult as there's a big meaty plate on the underside of the transmission tunnel that the captive nuts are in, so it would be just drilling out the spot welds, relocating it and welding it in the new location. But there's a lot of force generated in an accident condition and you'd have to be very sure of the weld quality and so on.

ETA - I recall an article in an old copy of Practical Classics 'staff car sagas' where someone was about to use their classic for a school run, so needed rear seat belts. He took them to a seat belt specialist who supplied and fitted the correct ones for the car. Is that an option? I noticed it because he used the people I used to refurbish mine - Quickfit SBS - but I don't know how that compares to where you are in the country.

[1900sr]

I certainly don't intend to modify anything myself, the idea of going for new inertia reels is partially comfort, but mainly the fact that the existing webbing is presumably 40 years old so I'm not sure I'd trust it. Another option would be to remove the carpets and see if the existing stalk mount could be removed and replaced by one from Securon, I think suitable brackets are supplied with the belts, and it feels like the existing mounts are held in place by a single bolt so it should be do-able. I need to get out to the car in daylight again to go further with it.

[Kraken]

If anybody is wanting some inertia reel belts I've got a full set out of a Polo 6n2 that I'm breaking just now, including a rear middle lap belt.

[1900sr]

Securon are sending me a 10cm buckle/stalk, I'll report back on how I get on with it.

When were inertia reel belts fitted as standard into the HC, and what sort of length were the stalks?