Seat Belts

[colynmac]

Need help

I want to fit Lap belts to my Camper. I have read the WIKI and I know it is a panel van conversion so I do not have the holes to fit them.

Question is where do I put the holes, what size are the holes and how do the belts "dissapear" when the rock n roll bed comes out?

Any help much appreciated.

[Kool-Kamper]

Need help

I want to fit Lap belts to my Camper. I have read the WIKI and I know it is a panel van conversion so I do not have the holes to fit them.

Question is where do I put the holes, what size are the holes and how do the belts "dissapear" when the rock n roll bed comes out?

Any help much appreciated.

my belts go under the r n r bed through the seat and back rest gap.

[garyd]

I am just fitting belts in my van at the moment. As it has been a panel van it also has no fixings for the belts. However, if you remove the trim panel and look at the side frames (inner panel of the original body) just where the engine cover dives down to the centre floor (ie by the passengers hip) you should find a flat area in the otherwise moulded panel containing two holes about 1/2" or 12mm diameter and about 4" apart. The upper one on mine also had two small indents about 20mm above & below it. This is the belt mounting point. (The lower one is for the Caravelle or Multivan seat mounting.)

If you look along the top edge of the sloping face of the engine cover you will find two more flat areas (about 4" wide & 2" deep) about 1/3rd & 2/3rds of the way across the van) but with no holes. These are the other points for the central belt mounts.

I went to visit Quickfit Safety Belt Services (0208 206 0101) in north London last week to get my three, three-point rear belts. Their recommendation for anchorages is to use the threaded plates that they supply. These are about 50x25mm and 6mm thick with a tapped hole through the centre. All you need to do is to have the hole in the body panel for the anchor bolt (7/16ths UNF thread - even in a 'metric' vehicle) say 1/2" diameter, and put the plate behind the panel to act as both nut and spreader plate. In order to keep them in place until the bolt and belt are fitted (or after they are removed) I have drilled and pop-riveted each one to the panel.

If yours is 2wd, then drilling for the two centre mounts is not a problem but do check the other side of the panel first just to be sure. On the syncro the plastic fuel tank is behind here so you must prevent the drill shooting forward as it breaks through. I used a handy 1/2" water compression fitting over the drill bit so that it only projected by 10mm. Even on the syncro it is fairly simple to get the plates in behind the panel by taping them to the end of a strip of metal or stiff plastic and sliding them in behind the OE insulation material.

As to the belts 'disappearing' - make sure that the buckles are on webbing straps about 250mm long. They then slip through the gap between the seat and back rest as the seat is RnR'd.

I happen to have the three VW lap belts from a Multivan if they are of any use to you.

Hope this helps
Garyd

[Ray]

just put 3 seat belts in the rear of my syncro. (full width bed) the plates were welded the places already mentioned but as the petrol tank in a syncro is behind the sloping panel I made a metal bar that had the fixing plates welded on in the appropriate places and then this was bolted across the back panel, the bolts fixing under the wheel arch.Works well and no heroic welding near the tank required.

[colynmac]

Thanks for your replies and help. I now have some idea what I am doing.

Thanks Garyd re offer of belts but I have alrady bought some from JK's