Yet another seatbelt question!

DGeoff

DGeoff

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good Morning or Afternoon!

My E9 is a 1972 model- European delivery. It has a seatbelt fixing point up where a B pillar might ordinarily be. However, I currently only have lap belts and would like to go to a three-point inertia system. I’m considering the Lakewell belts and wonder if anybody has used them, attaching from the high B pillar point as I am contemplating.

Here's a link to the part page...

Front Seat Belts (Pair) BMW E9 ('68-'75) and 02 series ('66-'77) - Lakewell

Pair of automatic 3-point seat belts for all BMW E9 models ('68-'75) and 02 Sedan, Coupe and Touring models ('66-'77). These seat belts are functional replacements of the original compliant with current EU safety standards. Available in Black and Red.
www.lakewell.com www.lakewell.com

Thanks for any comments or alternative recommendations if this is not the ideal seatbelt type for my set up.
 
The attachment is up at the roofline. See attached...
E9 seatbelt attachment.jpg
E9 seatbelt attachment.jpg
 
Look through the thread which I started attempting to summarize the various options available with input from many members
e9Leveque

Thread 'The endless seatbelt update question'

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...

Two issues I see -
1. you want to make sure that that point is actually reinforced with something solid. That car didn't come from the factory with that point exposed as is. As @sfdon and others note in that thread, later cars have a point there which can be accessed to create something like what you have. I have a 1972 Euro car and I do NOT have that attachment option, but I'm not sure anyone knows exactly when in the timeline of the Euro models that was added. (edited to add that of cours @HB Chris has that info and has added it!) If that is indeed a solid point, you probably want some of the belts described in that thread that have a "dropdown" portion in which there's an attachment up to that but then the belt actually goes through a bracket closer down to your shoulder. Those belts can be bought from a member BlueDevil whose handle I can't remember now.
2. I'm assuming your car as an early Euro also doesn't have retractable belts. If you do already have them, then easy, if not, see the options in that thread if you want to add retractable belts. I have gone for the offset option, happy to send pictures if you'd like.
 
I'll also just add that the guys at Seatbeltplanet have been amazing and after they sent me their version of E9 belts (like the ones you linked), I sent them pictures of the car with the belts attached and where I felt that they were too long, too short, etc. Cody there has all of the info and can help make something that fits perfectly. A moot point if you end up getting the dropdown belts from Bluedevil
 
You will need 130” of length if mounted to the roof. I recommend a sash bracket to lower that mount by about 8” or the belt will rub on your neck. It is a recipe to sever your aorta in a crash, my wife worked in the auto industry in the legal area, I think Erik will confirm.
 
HB Chris said:
You will need 130” of length if mounted to the roof. I recommend a sash bracket to lower that mount by about 8” or the belt will rub on your neck. It is a recipe to sever your aorta in a crash, my wife worked in the auto industry in the legal area, I think Erik will confirm.
Click to expand...
Yikes! sounds like a very scary mistake.
I see the sash bracket mentioned in the thread and noted "Al" as a potential source, but no contact details or alternative source.... that I read?
 
e9Leveque said:
I'll also just add that the guys at Seatbeltplanet have been amazing and after they sent me their version of E9 belts (like the ones you linked), I sent them pictures of the car with the belts attached and where I felt that they were too long, too short, etc. Cody there has all of the info and can help make something that fits perfectly. A moot point if you end up getting the dropdown belts from Bluedevil
Click to expand...
I had a look at their website, and though it will list BMW E9 as a model option if you choose a year later in the production range than my 1970 E9, it offers no products to choose. It sounds like they have made you a custom set of seatbelts and haven't added that configuration to the website. Hopefully calling them will provide answers about the available options from them.
 
Yes, call them and ask for Kolby Burtner. He should remember me (JC Leveque). We had a lot of texts and photos back and forth. I directed him to that thread and as he said, part of the problem is that there are so many different configurations of the seat belts that a standard set might fit but not reliably so. My issue was that even with the retractor, the seatbelt length overall was too long so it wouldn't wind all of the way in. So a phone call and some photos exchanged by text would ensure you get the product you need.
Regarding Al mentioned above, I did reach out to him via email but never heard back. I think that Don can get hold of him, but it may just be easiest to work with Kolby - they can make that dropdown bracket. He even had me send him the seatbelt metal extender with exactly the bend I had put into it (based on photos here) to see whether they wanted to make this as an option for the E9 belts. In the end they didn't feel that they could legally do that since theoretically the bend could weaken the metal and they hadn't tested it with that, but cool that they were at least willing to consider it.
 
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