Calling Mike Self!

[PaulM]

Hi Mike. Nice meeting you last weekend at the Lime Rock vintage race and concours. How was your drive in the MT tii? I forgot to ask you if your 69 has the late style shoulder and lap seatbeat, or the early lap seat as in my 69 1600. Do you know if it's a pita to convert to the later style belt? Thanks.

Paul Mah

69 1600/2002 "Reno"

87 325 "Cirrius"

90 325is "Alpina"

[robspeed]

Hi Mike. Nice meeting you last weekend at the Lime Rock vintage race and concours. How was your drive in the MT tii? I forgot to ask you if your 69 has the late style shoulder and lap seatbeat, or the early lap seat as in my 69 1600. Do you know if it's a pita to convert to the later style belt? Thanks.

Paul Mah

69 1600/2002 "Reno"

87 325 "Cirrius"

90 325is "Alpina"

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/content/view/27/32/

[Mike Self]

seatbelt question--the writeup Steve so kindly provided doesn't take into consideration the different shoulder harness mounting that's found on the 68-69 (and possibly early 70) cars with the infamous "spaghetti" seat belts. They have a mounting point under the rear quarter window; later cars have that mounting point on the C pillar.

Here's how I mounted later model inertia reel belts on my '69.

Drill a mounting hole for the inertia reel on the rear seat riser as close to the side of the car as you can without having the reel touch the car's side. Reinforce the hole with some big fender washers, and make sure the reel is mounted firmly upright, not tilted to one side or the other.

the steel loop bracket is bolted to the existing mount that's under the quarter window so that it's free to pivot. I glued a small leather square on the edge of the rear seat cushion so the seat belt doesn't wear the vinyl seat upholstery.

The other end of the belt is bolted to the existing mount that's located at the base of the C pillar.

The buckle is installed in the existing mount on the tranny tunnel.

This setup has been working fine for me, the only drawback being the inertia reel doesn't rewind quickly due to the drag on the belt as it slides over the edge of the seat cushion. but it functions as it should, locking up in a quick stop (and presumably an accident--so far I've avoided that)

Hope that helps.

I'm working on the MT tii drive story for an upcoming Roundel--it was a fun drive--just like driving a brand new 2002 (which it is!)

cheers

mike

[PaulM]

Thanks Mike and Steve for the suggestions.