Series 3 Seatbelt brackets (again - sorry!)

I know there have been threads on seatbelt brackets in the past, but I don't think these particular brackets have been discussed before.

I would prefer to fit inertia reel seatbelts in the front of my SWB S3, and I saw the following page in the parts catalogue. But these are for the 'Country', and I have a van back.

Any idea where the lower bracket MRC8524 would fit? Would this be a chassis bracket that I wouldn't have on a SWB? It would be a lot neater if I could find a suitable structural place to fit these somewhere down in the rear tub, than to attach the reels up above the cappings.



Cheers.

Those 2 bottom holes look like they match the tub mounting plate in front of the rear wheels behind the bulkhead. If so that would put the angle under the floor, just ahaed of the bulhead.

rob1miles said:

Those 2 bottom holes look like they match the tub mounting plate in front of the rear wheels behind the bulkhead. If so that would put the angle under the floor, just ahaed of the bulhead.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I think the vertical part of the bracket is too long such that it would go through the bulkhead on a SWB. I was wondering whether it's supposed to be mounted on the rear side of the bulkhead, but I can't see how that's going to work, either.

Am I correct in assuming the 'Country' is only a LWB variant? If so, I suspect the chassis bracket on the LWB is sufficiently differently positioned that the bracket will put the seatbelt fixing somewhere more useful.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the brackets aren't going to work on a SWB. I can't see how the bracket is going to get the reel mounted anywhere useful.

You can adapt the brackets to fit the reel below the fuel hose on drivers side but reel ends up between bracket and outer wing .much easier on LWB as fuel hose not in the same location.
Have my reels on hard top fixing point not perfect as not really strengthened but passed a few MOT's like that.

The bracket as provided is going to put the horizontal element in the middle of the bulkhead.



(Inside the rear wheel arch)

I could cut the tail off the bracket and drill new holes, but then the other bracket is too wide to fit in the foot on the bulkhead.




On the driver side, aligning the upper bracket with where the lower bracket's fixing holes would be, it looks like it'll actually be right where the fuel hoses are.



Bottom line, I don't think these brackets are going to work at all on a SWB, particularly on the driver side. I think I'll abandon this idea, and look at sorting something out myself once the seats are back in place. Might actually refit the original old static belts for now, and look at this again once it's back on the road. I've got extra hefty brackets welded to the chassis for an internal roll bar, so I can probably make up a bracket (or reuse MTC4090) to attach the reels to those.

Agreed, put the seats in, then once lockdown is over go to a few Series meets and see what other people have done.