Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 19:24:25 -0600 (CST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu (Sami Dakhlia)
Subject: installing self-retracting seat belts in older busses
Hi everyone!
I remember at least one person inquiring about the installation of
self-retracting seat belts in older buses. Mine is a 75. Well, I did just
that this week and --as usual-- it turned out to be more work than
expected.
The problem is to find seat belts where 1) the belt is long enough and 2)
where the spooling device can be bolted down horizontally. I also
recommend that you take your belts from metric cars which use the same
17mm bolts.
First I took the 2 seat belts from the front of an 88 Volvo 240. But it
turned out that they only work when they are bolted onto a vertical
surface such as the beam between the front and the back door. Once tilted,
they lock.
So I took the belts from the rear of the Volvo; their spooling devices lie
flat on the back shelf. Unfortunately, the actual belts were too short by
about 3 feet (1 meter). :-(
The solution was to remove the belts from the front mechanisms and attach
them to the rear spooling devices. This can be done by completely
unrolling the belt and revealing the cylinder in the middle. Use a small
screwdriver and put it through the slot of the cylinder so it doesn't
spool back. Then push the belt through the slot, remove the large pin at
the end of the belt and then pull the belt out of the slot. Installation
is the reverse of removal. TADAAA!
I realize that this description may probably not be clear enough. So feel
free ask for clarifications if you want to go ahead and do the same.
Also: I replaced the ridiculous front seats with those of that Volvo and
those are really comfy. Heated, too! They fit nicely and are not too high.
Only needed to drill 4 holes for each seat and bolted them right in.
No other alterations and if I want i can easily put the stock seats back
in (that's for the purists among you:)). Thanks to you, John Ritchie, for
sharing your own experience with this sort of project. I was lucky,
though, because the distance between the 2 tracks of the Volvo seat was
(almost) the same as that from the bus and so I didn't have to build any
interface.
Sami and his Fun-Mobile
--
Sami Dakhlia
Dept. of Economics
Washington-University-in-St.Louis In theory, communism works. In THEORY.
dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu -Homer Simpson
