Pic request of seat belt mounting

apatchee · Jun 12, 2018

Hi,

I’m trying to figure out how to fit a three point harness in the back of my early California as currently it only has a lap belt.

Has anyone with a later California post some pics where the seatbelt mounts?
I know it disappears through the top cupboard but want the see how it’s connected to the bodywork.

Also the lower mount where is that connected?

Thanks

sidepod · Jun 12, 2018

I have this if it helps. Only the bench seat mounts.

apatchee · Jun 18, 2018

Thanks,

So the top park fastens near the tail gate hinges?
Where do the other two parts secure? Onto body work or seat itself?

There seems to be loads of post talking about doing this but non where someone has actually fitted a 3 point harness on the fridge side in a early Westy.

sidepod · Jun 18, 2018

I’m not sure what you mean by “three point harness”.

The top mounts are inside the bodywork on the outer extremities of the cupboard across the rear. It’s impossible to see exactly without removing the cupboard.

The lower parts are bolted to the seat base.

sidepod · Jun 18, 2018

Ps. I’m awaiting a CD-ROM from Bentley Publishers of the official VW workshop manual for the Westy camper so when it arrives I can post some diagrams hopefully.

Any day now......

Chriswoody · Jun 20, 2018

Just to add in to what Sidepod has already said. The belt comes out from the top cupboard, unfortunately it is covered in a small box and completely inaccessible without dismantling the top cupboard. Hopefully Sidepod's Bentley manual will have drawings of this area. I took this photo, but it doesn't show much:

Then at the other end, the belt has two buckles:

The lower buckle clips into the clip you can see between the seat cushions and forms the second of the three mounting points.

Then the higher of the two buckles reaches across and clips into the central clip as per normal.

As you can see in Sidepod's picture the two seat mounted clips are directly bolted to the seat frame.

Hope that helps.

apatchee · Jun 20, 2018

Thanks for the pics chaps.
There is a seat belt mount in the top of the wardrobe above the side window which I may try to use.

Chriswoody · Jun 24, 2018

So today I was sorting out the van ready for an upcoming trip when I made a bit of a discovery. Despite common perception being that the top reel for the Seatbelt was mounted on the bulkhead running across the back of the van, something didn't ring right. Looking at the small gap at the back of the grey box, I couldn't see any evidence of the seat belt reel being mounted to the back bulkhead. That left the roof as the only place that it could be mounted to. Scrabbling around in the back I discovered this plate:

So it does look like that my seatbelt at least is mounted to the roof of the van. It would be in interesting if someone else could also have a look and see if they too have a similar plate at the back of their roof. Here's another shot from further away to provide some context.

So there we go, without removing the box in the cupboard, I cant say for certain, but I'm pretty certain that this is the top mount for the back seatbelt.

sidepod · Jun 24, 2018

Blimey. I was thinking about this also. I just assumed it would pick up a similar mount as the right hand side once it passed through the box.

I’ll check my roof after England finish thumping Panama!

mrcheesbrough · Jun 24, 2018

Chriswoody said:
So today I was sorting out the van ready for an upcoming trip when I made a bit of a discovery. Despite common perception being that the top reel for the Seatbelt was mounted on the bulkhead running across the back of the van, something didn't ring right. Looking at the small gap at the back of the grey box, I couldn't see any evidence of the seat belt reel being mounted to the back bulkhead. That left the roof as the only place that it could be mounted to. Scrabbling around in the back I discovered this plate:

View attachment 34712

So it does look like that my seatbelt at least is mounted to the roof of the van. It would be in interesting if someone else could also have a look and see if they too have a similar plate at the back of their roof. Here's another shot from further away to provide some context.

View attachment 34713

So there we go, without removing the box in the cupboard, I cant say for certain, but I'm pretty certain that this is the top mount for the back seatbelt.

Yup. That’s the can see it on the diagram here.

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mrcheesbrough · Jun 24, 2018

mrcheesbrough said:
Yup. That’s the can see it on the diagram here.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Bloody Autocorrect. * That’s it, you can…

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sidepod · Jun 25, 2018

Confirm.

diyhell · Jun 26, 2018

I can lay claim to having actually fitted one in the style of the later T4s to my 1993 California (or the US badged Eurovan CV). It's a bit of a pain, and I felt it was a bit under-specced by VW, although I guess they must have crash tested it?

Just fyi, it's been discussed before: https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/replace-lapbelt-with-3-point-seat-belt-south-west.5145/

Here are pics from an original:

My kit came from https://www.quickfitsbs.com and looks like the VW diagram above. I made my own strengthening plate as seen below (ignore the superglue, I didn't stick it on!) but mine extended further down (hence the lip towards the bottom of the pic) and tied into the rear top crossmember where I've circled. In the second pic you can see where I drilled rather than riveted in the rear rail, again circled, (the bolts went through and into the silver nuts on the strengthening plate)

I also fitted Isofix to the seat base (when my kids were young, they're now 9 & 11...) - detailed 'how to' on here https://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=198702