Seat Belt mounting - 72 Spider

[FiatJim]

The seat belts are mounted to the floor pan behind each seat, with the opening pointing towards the side. This renders them nearly impossible to pull out when seated. Once pulled out they won't retract. So the belt is always too loose. Is there a better spot for them to be located?

Jim

[rja]

on my '74 there is a bracket mounted to the inner sill w/a slot that the belt runs thru (a 'feeder' bracket, if you will), to help the change in direction of the belts routing. don't know if the '72 is the same, but if it's not there, i can see where it would be a pita

[baltobernie]

It looks like this:



Early cars also have a screw with a black plastic spacer attached to the floor, about halfway up the sill. You hook the belt buckle on it when you unbuckle, so it's right there for your next trip.

If the retractor is broken you might want to consider new belts. Spiders (or any other roadsters of the era) aren't very crash-worthy, but a working lap belt is better than nothing.

[njoconnor]

I have/had the same brackets on my 72. The original belts were lap only, and when I bought the car, were a sloppy, rusted mess under the seats. They were among the first things to go (I saved the brackets).

I wanted 3 point belts, but found that all the aftermarket sets required the retractor to be vertically mounted on the door post. While possible, it meant the seat slider travel was severely limited. I ended up talking live to Seatbelt Planet, and they quoted me $90/set with customized retractors I could mount horizontally in the rear mounts located on the interior wheel wheel bulges. Haven't ordered them yet (other things first), but that's the plan. For now, I'm using inexpensive lap belts from O'Reillys for use when I need to ferry the car to various places. The O'Reilly belts will be reassigned as "load straps" in the back seat to secure golf clubs, guitars, etc.... .

I also have a set of shoulder belt guides which mount on the headrest pillars; I suspect those would be a must have when converting a 72 to 3 point systems.

Good luck....the original belts were a PITA, at least in my case....

[baltobernie]

The solution they're proposing sounds intriguing. Please post photos if you go this route.

[njoconnor]

Will do. It may be sooner than expected. While moving the car this AM to the back garage, spouse was admiring the new interior paint, and commented that "you might as well order all the rest of those parts now and work on it this fall....":.

Yowza. Guess I'd better get busy with the charge card....

[njoconnor]

Updating this to ask a question:

What are most of you using for the inboard front seatbelt buckles: loose belts, plastic sheaths, or the cables? Also...recommended lengths?

Got the BIG parts purchase greenlighted last night and I plan to order the customized 3 point belts with horizontal retractors from seatbeltplanet later today. Mr FEDEX will know my name before the end of the month......

More updates soon. The kitchen is done and I can "play with cars" for a while....