The endless seatbelt update question

[dbower]

Here's my "solution." Far from ideal but it keeps the shoulder belt from falling off. I zip-tied these chrome marine brackets to the headrest bar. Given that my vertical headrest adjustment has defied all manner of persuasion, I hope it would continue its frozen state in a crash. But my life insurance is paid up.

 

[Minivansomeren]

Here's my "solution." Far from ideal but it keeps the shoulder belt from falling off. I zip-tied these chrome marine brackets to the headrest bar. Given that my vertical headrest adjustment has defied all manner of persuasion, I hope it would continue its frozen state in a crash. But my life insurance is paid up.

I actually really like that! You can still slip the belt out to fold the seat. It looks like it is screwed in there - are the cable ties hidden under the belt?

 

[BimRLuvR]

Here is another pic @Minivansomeren. I looked closely and see it is screwed in to a beefy truss bar that runs the length of the headrest. A lot like @dbowers solution, just inverted. Hope this helps!

 

[Dan Wood]

Might be what you are looking for

Amazon.com

 

[e9Leveque]

I emailed Christoph, he is on family vacation and will reply when he returns at the end of September. Will update once I have information

 

[oldcoupe]

Found these two threads-

Post in thread 'Seat belts'

Oct 29, 2009

Previous seat belts thread

There was a thread on this a while ago:

http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4502

• oldcoupe

Thread 'Retractable front seat belts'

Sep 6, 2012

Based on reading some of the old threads the stock front seat belts on a 1974 CS are as shown in the attached pictures.
I wish to perform and install of these seat belts in my 1972 CS.

Question 1: Can someone confirm that the pictures are stock front seat belts from a 1974 CS?
Question 2: What is the most economical way to get two sets of these seatbelts?
Question3:I know they are expensive from BMW. Does anyone know of an aftermarket source for these?
Question4: Does anyone have any other ideas to install a...

• gdub0717
• Replies: 31
• Forum: E9 Discussion

I posted on one of them that I'd put a retractor on the back shelf as far to the side as possible, and brought the belt forward between the headrest posts, directly over the back of the seat, and it's the most comfortable fitting seat belt ever. But if spinal compression is to be avoided, a seat with a higher back is needed.

 

[dbower]

I actually really like that! You can still slip the belt out to fold the seat. It looks like it is screwed in there - are the cable ties hidden under the belt?

Zip ties are under the belt. Screw heads are fake.

 

[Minivansomeren]

Zip ties are under the belt. Screw heads are fake.

That seems like a noninvasive, convenient, and reasonably safe solution! I think I might replicate it.

 

[Ohmess]

So, about ten years ago now I toured VSR (with @Stan and Chris Auty making introductions), and Mario had sitting in the shop a 2002 with Shroth rally harness that he had installed. I talked with Mario about this setup, and looked into it, and decided to install it in my car. Makes the back seat unusable, and the look is not at all factory, but I think its the safest setup I could put into the car (and while I don't dispute Erik's estimate that seat belts are only 20% of your safety in a crash, the question I was addressing is which seat belts would be the most helpful.) Not only are these belts designed to attach in the parcel shelf, they have a set of tensioners that act in a crash (based on yaw sensors) to pull you back into the seat like modern seat belts. These tensioners also are completely free when they have power to them, so they don't restrict your ability to move forward naturally to say, operate the a/c controls.

 

[Drew Gregg]

I have Al's retractable seatbelt system in my '73 coupe. It made perfect sense to install belts similar to the factory belts in my 1972 2002. When I'm driving solo with the windows open,the vertical belts on the passenger side would vibrate from the wind passing into the cabin. This same thing happened with the trailer strap going across my boat. We found that putting a single twist in the strap would prevent the vibration. This also works on the passenger side seatbelt strap.

 

[bimmerboy73]

If you get a chance, post some pictures. Thanks.

May not be 'correct', but I have had them like this for 10 years and I like them

 

[e9Leveque]

Thought I’d provide an update. After much internal debate I decided to go @Dan Wood method with the retractable seatbelt. I don’t have an attachment point in the headliner so Al’s belts wouldn’t work for me. This method involved a bit of work - I got the seatbelts from SeatbeltPlanet along with the metal seatbelt extension, which I then had to bend into this shape to go past the edge of the rear panel. I also put some felt underneath the metal so it wouldn’t mar the leather. I also added the portion to hold the belt onto the shoulder bracket. The seatbelt is a little long but I’ll adjust that this week - that’s a me issue not the method.
Let me know if anyone needs the bend metal part, I could probably rig up a few without too much difficulty.

 

[ScottAndrews]

An answer engraved in my memory from the days I joined e9coupe about safety items:
- Are you sure you want to survive and see the damage?

Does anyone else find this post eerily prescient and a bit creepy?

 

[e9Leveque]

And just to be clear, the belt is still mounted to a factory attachment point, using an extension that I ordered from the seatbelt supplier, so theoretically this is as safe (or not) as the original belts. The piece on the shoulder bolster is not in any ways structural or trying to be, it just keeps the belt from sliding off the side of that bolster.

 

[CSdoc]

Have a new-to-me 1972 E9 CSi with the old style non-retractable seat belts. I see various things people have done to update this but it doesn't seem that there are any recent ideas post-2017. I see a lot of references to @bluedevil, but I don't see any recent posts by him and two emails to the email address I found in the forums have gone unanswered. I'm thinking about ordering a set from QuickPlanet and trying to figure out where to go from there unless anyone who has done this upgrade recently has some better ideas...

I bought a set of reproductions from Jaymic and they did not fit. Returned. Kept looking and in my backyard here in Oklahoma there is a company called Seatbelt Planet that made me a nice set of inertia style belts to fit my 1973 3.0cs . Work fairly decent but still don’t retract completely due the adjustable but stiff cross body buckle That prevents it from retracting past the shoulder position. As such, can still close the belt in the door if your not careful but overall 2 thumbs up.

 

[e9Leveque]

Exactly the place I ordered mine from, and they even have ones that they say fit for a E9. I cut off that one bracket piece that isn’t used in our cars (the piece that one might mount just in place of my “over the shoulder” bracket, but even with that, yes they are a LITTLE long. I have an email out to Seatbelt Planet to see whether they can shorten them.