body and interior I'm I missing something? Seat belts

[MildSeven]

Last night I was re-installing the front 3-point (repa) seat belts  in the '76... They were installed with both the re-tractor and lap belt on the same bolt, connected on the rocker right below the B-Pillar (Note: They have that extra detractor alignment pin).

 

Reference: photo from disassembly, so I would remember how they were installed

 

So after finding the hole through the carpet for both the bolt and alignment pin. I started installing the belt as pictured above. It threads easy for like the first 3-4 turns (maybe a bit more), then becomes very difficult, I can't remember how it was before the disassembly, if the re-tractor was all loosey goosey and moved or not.

 

After testing out the passenger side and arriving at the same issue, I decided to force it a couple of turns, The bolt comes out with the threads lightly damaged.

 

I think the bolt might be bottoming out in the hole, the re-tractor is loose in the hold and could move, too much. It was 11:30pm, so maybe I was tired but I couldn't figure it out.

 

Could it be that my bolts are simply too long and I didn't notice before? I remember (from when I removed the outer rocker), there is a sheet of metal passing on the outside of the B-pillar (where the seat belt would bolt), which I think doesn't give much clearance for the belt bolt.

 

I asked a friend to borrow his tap set, to clean out the threads and will see what happens.... but do you guys have any thoughts or advice?

 

Sometimes I miss the most obvious things...

 

thanks,

Anthony

 

[harold]

Beware, it is an SAE (english) thread size and pitch, because of US seat belt standards.

 

H

[MildSeven]

10 minutes ago, harold said:

Beware, it is an SAE (english) thread size and pitch, because of US seat belt standards.

 

H

 

I'm not sure but it seems to fit the 17mm socket well, will double check. They're the same bolts as what were there before.

[harold]

OK, Here is some more helpful info, I hope:

 

Hole on rocker is 22mm deep (from inner surface until you hit bottom).   The one on the tunnel is about 15mm deep.

 

If you clean up the threads, you will need an SAE tap.  Even though the head is metric, the threads are not.   I haven't verified,  but a search revealed them to be 7/16-20, which is a fine pitch thread.

 

Harold 

 

 

[MildSeven]

11 minutes ago, harold said:

OK, Here is some more helpful info, I hope:

 

Hole on rocker is 22mm deep (from inner surface until you hit bottom).   The one on the tunnel is about 15mm deep.

 

If you clean up the threads, you will need an SAE tap.  Even though the head is metric, the threads are not.   I haven't verified,  but a search revealed them to be 7/16-20, which is a fine pitch thread.

 

Harold 

 

 

 

thanks for the info...

 

where did you find out that the thread is 7/16? i couldn't find that info

['76mintgrün'02]

17mm also fits an 11/16" socket

as a 19mm fits 3/4"

and 13m fits 1/2"

 

"fits" is a relative term.

I wanted a tight fitting 13mm and tried about six wrenches.

The best fit by far was one of my older 1/2" wrenches.

The rest of them, metric and standard, were all loose fitting.

 

Anyway, I keep an 11/16" wrench or two in my metric box and they seem to work just fine for 17mm applications.

FWIW, I believe VW used similar bolts for their seat belts.

Tom

 

[MildSeven]

thanks pees

 

Found this posted by a Guest/Anonymous:

Quote

The BMW uses a metric hex, but definitely has non-metric bolt threads that are 7/16-20 inch size (not a locking thread.)

If you have a parts CD (HTK) then you can see for yourself, BMW describes some of the bolts as 7/16"

72 11 1 822 963 Collar Screw 7/16" x 22 mm

Note that the 22 is the length, the pitch is not indicated (but I know it is 7/16-20 tpi)

Not just the 2002 but all the HTK models use the size 745i thru E30 M3.

 

and this by the expert:

On 2/24/2013 at 9:46 PM, bluedevils said:

7/16-20 SAE fine thread. Min Grade 5 or Class 8.8. Available at Lowes and HD. Use 16mm or 5/8" socket head. ALL seat belts bolts are universal SAE, except the hex heads may be different. BMW uses 17mm (11/16") head hex bolts with 7/16-20 SAE fine threads, as do Porsche or MB, except perhaps very early cars prior to safety standards became effective.

glad to help.

I was using the bolts that were previously installed... so they must have a metric head with a sae thread. I just don't get why they didn't hold the retractors snug, unless they're are too long and bottoming out. I'll try to find some shorter ones.

 

As suggested by Harold, I'll try with the sae tap and report back for closure.

 

Good thing I posted

[Simeon]

Slightly off topic but when I used the previously hidden seatbelt points on the 'C' pillar in rear, I found that these are very shallow and if you are not careful the bolt bottoms out by pushing a dimple in the exterior of the panel. 

 

No chance you couldn't have swapped the tunnel and sill bolts when you stored them?

[jgerock]

Anyone removing seat belts from these cars should tape all the hardware together.  It's too easy to mix up all the bolts, spacers and washers.

[MildSeven]

thanks everyone...

 

I had the hardware all separated in different bags, not sure what happened but I was pretty meticulous with the part baging 'n' tagging. It might remain a mystery forever.

 

Solution...

Had a friend re-tap the hole, to clean the threads.

I bought a 7/16 - 20 bolt... the hardware stores only had bolts which were longer than what I needed, being the impatient individual that I am. I bought the longer bolts and cut them to size.

 

Seat belts are installed and I can move on to other things.

 

 

[Simeon]

Did you get the right grade of bolt (not that I can remember exactly what that is). As you can imagine they are high tensile.