Rear Seat Belt Fitting - 2 Door

[yeldarbwehttam]

I'm getting *major* earache about fitting seat belts so the family can travel in my car. I've purchased front and rear kits from Minor Developments (he did say "don't ask me how to fit them!"), done a search of this forum and read the recent article in Minor Matters about installing rear seat belts. I'm trying to find out the best place to install the actual interia reel though. Do people bolt them to the little shelf behind the seat? It seems like it wouldn't really fit there. Thanks in advance for any fitting tips!

[ASL642]

Yes bolt the reel to the rear parcel shelf. Don't be tempted to mount them side by side in the middle of the shelf - bolt them right and left corners. This is where the metal is double thickness and welded to the actual car body, and is much stronger. The stalk is mounted to the car floor (where it joins the boot floor) and comes up where the two parts of the rear seat meet (like in modern cars).

[Fingolfin]

I've seen some folks on here put them behind the seat and under the parcel shelf (as http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... +seat+belt and http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... lt#p267448), but of course that requires drilling more holes. If you're just looking for mounting, then the parcel shelf would suffice -- it's all a question of taste, really, so long as you put the reels on solid structure.
I'll soon be doing the same thing as you, so please keep us advised of how you do it and how it goes.

[Dean]

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31311

Some pictures of my effort.

[Nuffles]

I could be wrong about this but I thought that any seat belts fitted to a car originally manufactured without them needed to have the mounts SVA tested? Obviously the MOT man will only check to see that the mounts aren't rusty and that they operate properly, but they need to be load tested by the SVA people. I looked into fitting lap belts into the back of my Defender 110 as I often carry friends in the back but the testing and the like put me off. It turned out that it was safer having no lap belts (supposedly) in sideways facing seats than having one, as in the event of a front end collision a lap belt holds your hips to the seat while your upper body moves forward doing serious damage to your spine.

I could be wrong. It'd be embarrassing to be so wrong in my first post

[LouiseM]

Welcome to the messageboard Nuffles

The seat belt installation check that you are referring to only applies to vehicles with 8 passenger seats or more so although it would apply to your Defender it won't apply to a Minor.

[yeldarbwehttam]

Some pictures that will hopefully be useful to someone else fitting the belts.[frame][/frame]

[yeldarbwehttam]

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[yeldarbwehttam]

[frame][/frame]

[yeldarbwehttam]

If I had to do the job again I think I would fit static belts for the following reasons:
1. The inertia reel doesn't fit right in the corner of the rear shelf so the fit isn't great. Static belts would have no reel and fit nicely in the corner.
2. The belt itself will eventually start wearing the vinyl on the rear seat as it rubs on the seat as you put the belt on.
3. Static belts would probably be cheaper too.[frame][/frame]

[Fingolfin]

Very helpful indeed, Yeldarb. (Love the name. Stanley Yelnats, anyone? )

It is certainly possible to cut the slot in the parcel shelf and bolt the reel to the inside of the boot, which is quite strong (as in one of the topics I mentioned) That would save you the problem of positioning the reels on the parcel shelf, but not the problem of rubbing the vinyl down. Expense shouldn't be spared when looking at safety -- but static are maybe as good as reels.

I think I would prefer ones with reels, but that seems to just be personal preference. Static belts are a little less forgiving in an accident, so you may suffer more internal damage, but they stop you just as well as reels.