3 pt seat belt in a series III SWB?

[CRiordan01]

Has anyone installed the Pro Line 3-point seat belts in a Series III SWB? If so, would you be willing to share photos of your set up? I am trying to figure out how these go in and also if mounting them creates problems down the road if I elect to put on a soft top.

Thanks!

[rwollschlager]

I have installed these seat belts in my series III 88 with great success.
I used pre-existing holes that were in my tub to mount the inertia mechanism. If you do not have pre-exisiting holes it is not hard to drill some, just make sure they pass through the steel support brackets on the underside of the tub (I do not know if your vehicle has the steel brackets, IIRC all NAS series III 88's do). The pivot point up top (for the shoulder harness) mounted directly to a bracket that was already installed on my hard top, if you do not have a bracket, our hosts sell them http://www.roversnorth.com/store/p-1597-bracket-seatbelt-top-lh.aspx and then the new buckle assembly bolts right to the tub in place of the existing buckle. The lap belt then runs down to the corner of the seat box and is fastened in place by this bracket: http://www.roversnorth.com/store/p-1528-bracket-seatbelt-bttm-rh.aspx your truck should have one of those in place.

As far as converting to a soft top, the only spot you would run into any complication is the mount for the shoulder harness that bolts to the roof. It is easy to unbolt it from the roof and then mount it to your hoopset. The hoop set is by no means sturdy, but it is better than mounting it to nothing. My rover is currently being fitted with a roll cage and the shoulder harness will be mounted to that.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of my installation, but the seat belts do come with instructions with pictures making the installation very easy. These seat belts saved my life this summer and I would highly recommend them to anyone.

-Rob

[BackInA88]

As far as converting to a soft top, the only spot you would run into any complication is the mount for the shoulder harness that bolts to the roof. It is easy to unbolt it from the roof and then mount it to your hoopset. The hoop set is by no means sturdy, but it is better than mounting it to nothing. My rover is currently being fitted with a roll cage and the shoulder harness will be mounted to that.-Rob

I'm thinking of getting this when I do my soft top.

http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/index.php/component/virtuemart/detail/79-seat-belts/flypage/4151-soft-top-front-seat-belt-bar.html?sef=hcfp


Steve

[NickDawson]

I've been thinking about safety quite a bit as well... at some point and old rover is, well, an old rover and there's no sense in going for perfect. On the other hand, a roll cage would go a long way to relaxing my knuckles on trails and the highway.

Those ExMoor mounts are pretty slick. Know they dont offer anything in the way of roll over protection, but to go to something better than the non-inertia, over-the-should style I have now would help a lot.

Looks like they install into the gavly caps.... secure?

[rwollschlager]

that bar looks like it would do the job nicely as long as your caps are secure, and it has more than one attachment point.

[CRiordan01]

The Series III I recently purchased does not have any seatbelts in it and it also had a driver side door that liked to, shall we say...pop open? (this has now been corrected). Needless to say, when you are bouncing around in there, the question of seatbelts does tend to come up.

These responses have been very helpful. Rwollschlager, I did not have the brackets pre-installed on my hardtop, so I will order these today. Still not clear where you mounted the inertia mechanism... when you mentioned bolting into your tub, was this in the back of the vehicle behind the seats or in the driver area behind the seats? I am trying to avoid drilling unless necessary.

Thanks again - it is nice to have a forum where folks who are just getting started with Series rovers can post and not feel stupid for all the stupid questions they (I) may pose...

[BackInA88]

This is how mine is currently mounted.
Had to buy and install the upper bracket and cut a hole in the cover panel for the mounting bolt.
I might have had to drill some clearance holes for the upper brackets but I don't remember now.
Regardless minimal alterations required.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/slouzon/DSC02851.jpg



Steve

[jac04]

The exmoor trim brackets are neat, but as mentioned they do not mount back to the chassis.

Here is how Land Rover mounted inertia reel seat belts on the SIII Lightweight. This arrangement allows for the use of a soft top, hard top, and disassembly for air transport. Note that the bracket is tied into the chassis. You could make (or have made) something similar.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/jac04/000_1721.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/jac04/000_1723.jpg
Brackets attaching bar to chassis:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/jac04/000_1701.jpg

[Cutter]

My Swiss 109 lacked the 2 part brackets that are behind the seat and bolt through to under the seatbox and tie to the frame. These are where the reel mounts properly to tie in structurally. Not sure why but these lower brackets didn't fit my 6 cyl frame, so I have a spare set as I fabricated my own. I don't know if they are the same as 88's. If they do fit pm me- the top brackets are cheap, the bottom ones weren't. I might have some photos of the installation as well.