Retractable two-point seatbelts

Michael Oritt

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• Mar 5, 2019

• #1

I replaced my old lap belts with a new set I purchased from Seatbelt Planet. The female buckle is attached via a cable beteen seat and tunnel and the male buckle retracts into an inertia reel and fits just behind the seat pivot between it and the rocker. The male buckle falls nicely to hand once in the car.

https://www.seatbeltplanet.com/i-30...e-or-bracket-buckle.html?ref=category:1389205

They are a perfect if tight fit, bolting into the floor in the space behind the seat. I'll attach a picture tomorrow.

 

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Michael Oritt

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #2

Here are two shots, one taken from above/behind the seat with it slid forward and the second from above/in front of the seat with it slid back.
When I am seated the male (outboard) belt falls nicely to hand and, unlike the conventional belt it replaced, the metal end no longer falls out of the door when the belts are unbuckled.

I don't know about later cars but on 100's the frame rails place severe limitations on where holes for seat belt mounting bolts can be drilled so as to allow for access from underneath the car and large washers, etc. Whether by design or happenstance the locations I came up with when I first installed conventional belts about 20 years ago luckily also worked for these new belts. Rarely do we catch such breaks....

 

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RestoreThemAll

Jedi Warrior

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #3

Looks good. Does the cable side prevent you from removing the floor covering? I'm just thinking of drying out the floor.

 

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Michael Oritt

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #4

Dale--

The L-mounts to which the belts fasten are through-bolted through the floor and armacord covering. I suppose one could have a cut-out in the armacord with trim around the hole to allow for removal.

 

John Turney

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #5

The “factory” location for the inner belt is on the side of the tunnel. The Bentley manual has a drawing. That will allow removal of the floor covering.

 

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Michael Oritt

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #6

John--

Are you saying this applies to 100's? The 100 has a short section of tunnel which is fixed to the car and I doubt I could get a wrench into it unless I removed the larger front section and thus the entire interior. In any case that would make the tunnel covering non-removable, correct?

 

John Turney

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #7

The mounting point on the tunnel has a circular plate about 2 inch in diameter that is held in place by 6 screws and has a welded in nut. It makes the fixed tunnel covering removable without getting underneath. It’s a bit of trouble getting that plate in the first time.

EDIT: I went to photograph the page in the Bentley manual and discovered that it’s not as I described. It seems that the inner mount that I have was from British Car Specialists. It’s their part BCS153.

The factory mount, actually installed by dealers, is a simple reinforced bolt.

 

maxwedge5281

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #8

Michael, what length ends did you get for the mounting? especially the inboard end affixed to the floor or tunnel. timely for me as I am about to install new belts. thanks for the pictures.

 

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Michael Oritt

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #9

The inboard belt is 14" long and I do not remember specifying a length for the outboard belt.

In addition to the belts you will need to order the "hardware kit" consisting of two L-brackets which "rotate" the belts by 90 degrees so that they are perpendicular to the floor, along with necessary grade 8 nuts, bolts and washers. I will be happy to give you my order number for reference tomorrow when I go to the shop. FWIW the people at Seatbelt Planet were very helpful and accommodating.

 

Last edited: Mar 7, 2019

HealeyRick

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #10

Here's the factory instructions for seat belt installation for the 100-Six and 3000 showing the tunnel mounting location: https://www.healey6.com/bulletins/Seat Belt-ASJ.pdf The outboard mount relies on a removable pin secured to a bracket with a clevis while three-point belts mount to the two welded bolts on the rear inner fender as shown below

 

steveg

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• Mar 6, 2019

• #11

Healey Rick - excellent document at the other end of the link - should answer all questions.

 

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Michael Oritt

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• Mar 7, 2019

• #12

maxwedge5281 said:

Michael, what length ends did you get for the mounting? especially the inboard end affixed to the floor or tunnel. timely for me as I am about to install new belts. thanks for the pictures.

Click to expand...

Looking at the shipping order the retractable (outboard) belt is described as:

851541
A902 R-side ONLY
4" Boot

Pulling out the belt to its stop I show it to be about 48" in length though only 26"-28" is necessary for me to plug the male end into the female receiver buckle when seated.

I have been dealing with several people at Seatbelt Planet and the last person who helped me was Alex. If you like please feel free to give them my name or the order number: 146844.

Good luck.

 

maxwedge5281

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• Mar 10, 2019

• #13

Michael. thanks for the reply. I decided to go ahead and install the later three point belts in my bn6, I already have them in my nasty bn6 in the later factory locations. I ordered the belts and ends from healey surgeons. I know there is considerable disagreement on the use of different belts but I do feel safer with the three point belts. thanks again!