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supercharged Samba Member
Joined: February 14, 2007 Posts: 132 Location: Texas
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:43 am Post subject: Three-Point Retractable Seat Belts - Help! |
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I have a 1971 Ghia with the stock three-point non-retractable seat belts.
Besides their questionable ability to actually save my life in an accident they are a major pain in the rear end.
I have looked at retractable belts that are either from Beetles and generic retrofit belts and they all have the retraction mechanism mounted at the shoulder point and appear too large to mount in the current KG belts location.
Are there any retractable belts that have the mechanism at the bottom or better yet, something designed to fit in a KG?
_________________ Supercharged Texan
"Texan by birth and the grace of God"
"Texan Until I Die" |
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EPETREA Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007 Posts: 391 Location: DFW TX
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:51 am Post subject: |
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If I understand you correctly, your recoil/retractor is mounted on the post at shoulder level??? if so, then I think a po must have put it there in error. I have a 74 with the retractors mounted where your arm/hand would naturally rest(for lack of a better term) I do seem to think that I have seen in an older KG owerns manual that they are supposed to be mounted at floor level behind seat. This would also explain why my retractor has way too much webbing on it. Hopefully someone else will have some input as well. hope this helps. |
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Airhead Samba Member
Joined: July 14, 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Sheffield, United Kingdom
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supercharged Samba Member
Joined: February 14, 2007 Posts: 132 Location: Texas
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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I must not have been clear. No my current belts look like this:
So it seems I could buy a 1974 type belt and it may work. _________________ Supercharged Texan
"Texan by birth and the grace of God"
"Texan Until I Die" |
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InSaNeBoY Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2004 Posts: 313 Location: Portland, ME
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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Airhead wrote: |
When I replaced the belts on my car the inertia reels (retraction mechanisms) are located at the side of the seats
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that's not the correct location, at least for a '74 retractor is bolted on the carpeted piece by the rear seat. and the inertia reel is parallel to the side of the car, not perpendicular as you have it. _________________ 2015 Jetta S
1998 Chevy AstroAWD
*ghialess* |
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Airhead Samba Member
Joined: July 14, 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Sheffield, United Kingdom
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: Three-Point Retractable Seat Belts - Help! |
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supercharged wrote: |
I have a 1971 Ghia with the stock three-point non-retractable seat belts.
Besides their questionable ability to actually save my life in an accident they are a major pain in the rear end.
I have looked at retractable belts that are either from Beetles and generic retrofit belts and they all have the retraction mechanism mounted at the shoulder point and appear too large to mount in the current KG belts location.
Are there any retractable belts that have the mechanism at the bottom or better yet, something designed to fit in a KG?
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You asked if there was any retractable (inertia reel) seatbelts with the mechanism at the bottom, yes there is they're like mine, the retraction mechanism goes to the bottom, none of them are at shoulder height!, you may find that the 1974 year belts were also static, please dont even contemplate buying secondhand seat belts - they wont save your life |
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Airhead Samba Member
Joined: July 14, 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Sheffield, United Kingdom
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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InSaNeBoY wrote: |
that's not the correct location, at least for a '74 retractor is bolted on the carpeted piece by the rear seat. and the inertia reel is parallel to the side of the car, not perpendicular as you have it. |
I dont care wether its correct or not, all that I know is its safe and will stop me going head first through the windshield in the unfortunate event of an accident |
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70coupyel Samba Member
Joined: September 06, 2006 Posts: 1657 Location: So.Cal
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Kaygee Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2007 Posts: 138 Location: WNC
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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I swapped in aftermarket retract belts that I bought on eBay. They turned out to be from Autoloc.
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/product.lasso?prodinc=seatbelts
My only complaint is that the upper mounting point in the Ghia is so low that it slips off my shoulder and I have to keep pulling it back up like a chick adjusting her bra strap. It was worse with the OG non-retracs. The little tension from the retrac helps to keep it in place. |
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supercharged Samba Member
Joined: February 14, 2007 Posts: 132 Location: Texas
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:10 pm Post subject: Here I go |
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So I received my 3-point retractable seat belts and there are three attachment points and my old non-retractable belts only mounted in two locations (on floor near seat and up near rear window).
So I assume I will have to mount the new belt as shown by Airhead's photo. If this is incorrect - I hope someone steers me right!
_________________ Supercharged Texan
"Texan by birth and the grace of God"
"Texan Until I Die" |
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scottz Samba Member
Joined: April 13, 2008 Posts: 477 Location: Bellingham, WA
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, Airhead has them mounted correctly. But you should need an "L" shaped bracket to mount the retractor reel on floor behind seat near the door opening. Like this:
http://www2.cip1.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=C26%2D857%2D024
Other brackets will work but they need to be strong enough! Hope that helps. |
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wolfgang klinkert Samba Member
Joined: March 04, 2009 Posts: 293 Location: NRW - Germany
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:15 am Post subject: |
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I have retractable belts im my '73 Karmann Ghia, which were directly ordered from factory by the first owner of my Ghia, when he bought the car.
Here you can see the position of the ORIGINAL "mounting point" beside of the rear bench:
Please find another photo here:
http://images3.bilder-speicher.de/show.php?type=image_800&id=09022618790151 _________________ With cordial "Karmann Ghia"-greetings from Germany
(O = i = O) ~~~ Wolfgang Klinkert ~~~ (O = i = O)
»»» [Member of "Karmann Ghia IG Lippe in NRW"] «««
Last edited by wolfgang klinkert on Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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boat_builder Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2007 Posts: 610 Location: Republic of Ireland
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:17 am Post subject: |
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I took out my old lobster claw seat belts and put in new retractable ones from VW Heritage. Imounted the retract unit on the floor pan with the existing bolt. Works fine and I'm pretty sure its safe. |
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ruschejj72 Samba Member
Joined: May 11, 2009 Posts: 38 Location: Greenwood, SC
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:16 am Post subject: |
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I would bet that the '71 and earlier mounting procedure is different than the '72 and later.
My '72 has the mount exactly like wolfgang's. Great pics.
I looked up getting new ones, $199! Wow. I'll be shopping around for sure. |
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vwairheads Samba Member
Joined: March 26, 2007 Posts: 675 Location: chula vista
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:22 am Post subject: |
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please post a picture for 71 and 71 models |
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ruschejj72 Samba Member
Joined: May 11, 2009 Posts: 38 Location: Greenwood, SC
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am Post subject: |
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I know it's not a '71 pic, but 70coupyel has some good pics of his '70 (could be hers?). Prob the same |
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