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seatbelt conversion


chris240

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fellas

Im considering removing my lapsash belts and trying to install retractable belts from a 260...has anyone done this before ?

Im thinking Id have to mig weld a plate to the rear shock towers to enable me to attach the retractor housing..

any thoughts or pics would be appreciated.

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Best option would be to use the standard plate that came with the 260z, on this modle they use four bolt holes to mount to the top of the strut tower and have a seatbelt guide (to stop seatbelt cutting you neck off) bolted to the side of the car straddled over the quarter window.

 

The ahrdest part of the conversion would be located the retractable mounting plates, the 260z have boldy welded bolts to locate the bracket

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I'll take some photos of my setup.... I just use the standard bottom on the sill and the mount above the window. Be very careful about using non-factory mounts as you would need to have it engineered... THat being said, I think welding a plate to the top would be fine...

 

 

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yeah but it's just your spine it's going to save. no biggy. you've got plenty more bones in your body. we're talking about comfort here.

 

just last year i was over in macedonia and when i entered a car i'd go for the seatbelt and they'd laugh at me :( no one wears them there. but then again none of their cars make more than 15hp.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think your plan to UPGRADE to a better set up is excellent, do it!!!

 

Lapsash versus inertia, there is no comparison!!!!

 

I agree with George and Mr240 , ever seen the face of an occupant of an old school car rear ended by a big 4X4, or a head on with a Cow on the road, that only had lapsash belts in it ???

 

Ive refurbed many early model cars in the day and this is ONE of the FIRST things I change

 

Nuclear _z's scenario of mounting will work just fine, you CANNOT use second hand belts from another car by law, but you can buy many and varied Aus Design compliant replacement kits in all sorts of colours ( if you want to colour code) from any good major Auto Spares outlet

 

Cheers

 

:)

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  • 1 month later...

I have a very early 260 2-seat with the same fixed lap/sash belts as the 240, & have been told by a vehicle inspector that they are well below par safety-wise by today's standards. And one of his concerns is the steel buckle which sits against the user's guts just above the hip. Personally I'd like to upgrade to retractables. Do the later 260's with factory retractables have the same set-up for both 2+2s and 2-seaters, or are they different due to the longer body & rear seat access? If someone such as nuclear-z could post a photo of their bolt-in upgrade, or their set-up which works, that would be appreciated.

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I said a couple of years ago that i'd make some drawings of the brakets in my later 260z and send them out for quote...i'd still be more than happy to, and have some free time atm i could do it in.

 

However i'm not sure if the retracting belt mechanism is availible from nissan.

 

also it would be helpful if someone could measure the angle of a 240z strut top bit and size of it to make sure it fits - this ofcourse is redundant is someone has put the 260z bracket into a 240z before without any issues?!? The bracket sits between the strut top and the side of the car, and i assume is held on by welded on nuts underneath which might be a pain to get to for installing in a 240z

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  • 5 months later...

Something to consider when fitting retractable belts. The trigger mechanism is a pendulum (like the dice hanging from your rearview mirror!), when the 'g' force exceeds the retractor settings the pendulum moves and triggers the lock. That is why you often cannot pull the belt from the retractor when the car is parked on a slope.

 

If you intend to buy belts make sure the retractor has the correct mounting orientation, i.e. vertical or horizontal. Those designed for 'B' pillar mounting will not work on the strut tower.

 

Note: I'm recalling 1970s design here, so if anyone knows that the trigger design has changes please chime in.

 

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Hey lads,

I did this conversion about 2 years ago to my 1970 240z.  I thought the thread that gave me the help was actually on this site, but maybe I've confused it with Zcar.com

 

The pics posted below are not of my car, but are the original thread pics I saved as my reference bible when doing the job.  Not that the shot of the reel has the belt twisted.  This is either a 360° twist by accident that could have been removed before the pic was taken, or the bloke has mistakenly installed the RHS on the LHS (I have vague memories that there is a Left and Right, due to the way the reel rolls across the wearer's body.  Can't recall exactly ???)

 

Given a bit of time I'm sure I could source the part numbers etc. from the supplier, Hemco industries in Ballarat Victoria.

 

The installation was pretty straight forward, with the pillar and floor mount points from the original system re-used, and a hole drilled into the wheel arch for the inertial reel.  The kit comes with a nice big load spreading plate that plants across the arch metal, bolted outside the car.  The only 'hard' part is to ensure you drill the wheel arch mount hole far enough to the rear of the car that the belt doesn't rub against the plastic reel cover, which it does when released and gravity lets it drop back against the slot.  My driver's unit is probably about 10mm too far forwards and there is already signs of rubbing.  Easy fix would be to widen the slot.

 

I recall I debated a bit over whether to buy 90° or 45° stalks.  Can't recall which I did (I'll find it...), but do know I needed to do a bit of light bending of the stalk to get it to sit where I wanted it - on my hip, not in my kidneys.

 

Another thing to consider is where do you put your belt when you take it off?  The inertia reel wants to drag it into the No-Man's Land next to the seat, as the pillar hang strap drops down and lets it happen.  I have plans to mount some sort of hook on the side of the seat (MX-5 type thing?  Dunno) to guide and hold the belt.  For now I loop it over the head of the chair, which is great for me because I know it's there, but offers me much entertainment watching passengers contort their arms to fish around for it.

 

Now, where were those part numbers...

 

[edit on Friday 2nd Oct -

 

As per Lynton's post below, my reel bought from Hemco came with a molded plastic cover, looks nice and neat.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh Joy, I found the original thread and pics, and they were on this site ;D.  The info, part numbers and pics below were all originally posted in 2005 by WarrenZ.

 

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=100.0

 

What's got me confused is that a 'normal' search for Hemco didn't find it, but if I used advanced search parameter 'older posts first', there it was ???  It seems there's a 10 post limit...  Can someone PM me with an answer please?  I thought I knew teknologee...]

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As I recall on my 260Z 1975 2 seater coupe, from when I purchased it new they were all fitted with that type of inertia reel seat belt but in that picture there is a horizontal guide pin at the top of the belt and your picture shows the fabric belt leading from below instead of from the top? As I recall they also used to rattle a bit mounted on the strut?

In the later 260z coupes they provided a plastic cover so you could not see the belt winding mechanism I think that was about 1977/78 but there would be few about today I think? Lynton 8)

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As I recall on my 260Z 1975 2 seater coupe, from when I purchased it new they were all fitted with that type of inertia reel seat belt but in that picture there is a horizontal guide pin at the top of the belt and your picture shows the fabric belt leading from below instead of from the top? As I recall they also used to rattle a bit mounted on the strut?

In the later 260z coupes they provided a plastic cover so you could not see the belt winding mechanism I think that was about 1977/78 but there would be few about today I think? Lynton 8)

 

My 1975 2 seater has the bracket shown above on top of the strut tower, and I can confirm it rattles.

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