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Safety Third! Shoulder-belts all around!


theNomad

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The front belts (shoulder belts on the '74) had seen better days. The driver belt was frayed and didn't retract and the clip was "sensitive" in that it may come unclipped... just because.

The rear seats only came with lap belts and while this was good enough for me as a kid in the back of a buick I decided (as did my wife) that shoulder belts were a priority if our kids were to ride with me to the store.

I went searching for some replacements in the junkyard. While that may seem counterintuitive... to look for safety items in old cars, my logic is as follows: If you bought a 'VW Fox or an '88 VW Cabriolet, would you immediately replace the seatbelts? Probably not... unless they were worn and "suspect". That's essentially all I've done.

I found a nice set of REPA brand shoulder belts for the rear out of a VW Fox and front shoulder belts from a VW Cabriolet.

I mounted the front seat retractors using the unused retractor bolt holes under the rear seat for a more flush look.

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I drilled and mounted the rear shoulder retractors to the seat bulkhead and dremeled a slot for the belt to pass through. Make sure you get all the mounting bolts and spacers from the donor and you'll be good to go. I used the small angle mounts on the bottom bolt to adjust the angle of the retractors so they retract correctly.

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The rears don't retract perfectly due to the routing of the belt into the upper c-pillar hanger.However, I like that better than just routing the belts straight over the seat. I think it adds another strong point of contact for the belt in the case of an actual emergency.

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There is a factory shoulder belt hanger location under the c-pillar that you can find and use.

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