TR6 TR6 Aftermarket Seatbelts

[Renoman]

In my continuing quest to do a facelift on the TR I have come to the area of the seatbelts. It doesn't have any. It does have the screw-in eye bolts for a 3-point belt system. It's a '71 so it doesn't have the reel/inertia type system. I have seen all the seat belts the Truimph community is offering but I noticed some aftermarket belts on Ebay. I was curious if these could be made to work with some slight modifications to fastening system and by re-inforcing the wheel well area to attach the reels to. Thanks.

Art

 

[tdskip]

Hi Art - not sure about the ones on eBay but Moss/TRF/VB have pretty inexpensive static replacement belts that are easy to correctly mount.

Are you looking specifically for inertial belts?

 

[Renoman]

Yes and only because they retract which keeps them tidy. Only drawback to some reel-types is that they constantly sit on your shoulder and depending upon the attachments can cause some discomfort while driving since it could be riding on the shoulder/neck area. At least with statics you can adjust them comfortably but they have to be stored on the seat when exiting. I know that safety is of the highest priority, and aesthetics and price follow. But I thought I could utilize the ones on Ebay for about $80-90 a pair and get away with it since they look similar to the stock system. I'll be away for a couple of weeks starting now so I don't know when I'll be able to reply to this post. Thanks.

Art

 

[Adrio]

What i did on my TR4A (which is close) was go to a wrecker and pull a set form a VW Jetta I think. I had to make sure it was not an old car where the sun could have weakened the belt nor an accident such that the belt was weakened. It took some looking but in the end I found a set that fit no problem (they recoil). They hardly wanted anything for them since there is no demand.

I have done this for other (non car) projects where I needed belts and also for the top bows on both my Triumphs.

 

[Dotanukie]

I got a set of the universal type inertia reel ones from ebay a few years ago. They looked kinda cheap, sorta like what you would find in an 80's ear Japanese import, but they seem OK and do the job. There were two issues with them though. One is that the mounting tabs for the receiver stalks are oriented to be mounted vertically, like on the side of a tranny tunnel. Mounting them on the floor, like where the TR6 has threaded holes for this, makes the receivers come up next to the seat 90 degrees off, so you have to twist them a bit to get the buckle in. If you twist them very hard in a vice you can get them to stay where you want for awhile though. Second issue is that they are slightly longer than I would like, meaning they do not retract into the reel completely and there is a fair amount of belt hanging out. I just tuck the upper part of it between the headrest and the seatback whenever I get out of the car, and that way the buckle hangs neatly down the front of the seatback, which makes it easy to get hold of for the next drive. Overall for the price I'm pretty satisfied, they were substantially cheaper than the offerings from the big three.

Scott