3 Point Seat Retractable Seat Belts, for '78 Westy.

[Jivermo]

Got the kits in from Seatbeltplanet.com. As I mentioned previously, Both Steve and Ed there are helpful guys...nice to deal with consumer oriented people. A wide range of colors is available for the belt material. I chose a brown that matches pretty well with the dark brown in the seats. Here is what you get. The nuts, bolts and washers are a separate kit. Turns out I did not need any of this kit...bolt threads do match the threads in the bus.

Seatbeltplanet.com kit for 1978 Westy.

[Jivermo]

Driver's side retractor, installed. It took me about 20 minutes to install the belts for one seat.

[Jivermo]

Shoulder point.

[Jivermo]

My son provides a test subject. The earlier comment in this thread about the sensitivity of these belts had me a bit concerned. It appears that they have corrected any problem. The belts seem to function very well, much the same as the ones in my Toyota Sequoia. Of course, I just put them in today, so I'll have to get some miles on them to really give a balanced report. The quality of the product is top notch and made in USA. Per belt, they are about 50.00 cheaper than the GoWesty offering. I'm liking the whole experience so far.
The number of the three point retractable belts I bought is W1413414014C35 (C35 is the color). Price as of this date is 89.95 per seat. Installation kit is HKIT-1 (you may not need it), and the price is 5.95 per seat. Shipping is 5.00.

[Amskeptic]

image.jpg

My son provides a test subject. The earlier comment in this thread about the sensitivity of these belts had me a bit concerned. It appears that they have corrected any problem. The belts seem to function very well,

As mentioned further up, I have reason to believe that the retractor is supposed to be PARALLEL with the shoulder anchor, unless your installation instructions specifically stated otherwise. Every damn factory retractor on every damn Volkswagen I have ever driven has the retractor 90* from the position in your photograph. I had to turn my Very Expensive Independent Shop Installation Of Vanagon Retractors around on the BobD so that the belt is a perfect line from the retractor to the shoulder belt anchor. This allows the damn belt to take a terrible yank in a horrible crash. The (maybe VW-specific) locking pawl is designed to not only lock based on rapidity of release, but inertial forces. Parallel to the longitudinal axis of the car is the only way the inertial locks work correctly. It will even lock the belt on a steep downhill just sitting there:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-drivi ... tbelt3.htm




DICK TRUMBO'S 2008 WRITE-UP WITH CORRECTLY MOUNTED RETRACTORS:
viewtopic.php?t=5480#p92491


AS INSTALLED IN A BAY WINDOW BUS:

CORRECT




TOTALLY INCORRECT




OTHER VEHICLES





AM I YELLING? YOU BET I AM . . . YOU SAID THAT YOU "NOTED" THIS IMPORTANT POINT FURTHER UP IN THE THREAD.
Colin

[Jivermo]

Hmmm. Thanks for yelling. Yes, I "noted" that. Note that I did not say that's what I did. I see the error...I misinterpreted what I was looking at in the CORRECT photograph. The one thing that I counted on did happen, though. I figured that if the installation was incorrect, I would soon be made aware of it. I will mess around with them some more, and see if I can get them parallel. Oy! such a sensitive guy...

[Amskeptic]

Oy! such a sensitive guy...

Yeah? Yeah? Well you're a PRINCE! A generous soul!
So there . . .
Oy, such a mensch,
Colin

[drober23]

Thanks for pics and the part number Jivermo!

[Jivermo]

You're welcome, Drober23. When I position my retractors correctly, I'll post new pics of the installation to calm the Itinerant's keyboard back into lower case usage.