can you take the buckles from old belts and put onto new belts?

got some VW buckles but the belts are no good, can i get some new belts and use the old buckles? anyone done this?
thanks
sam

new?

You mean, new ones from a shop that u bring home for ur model, or you mean mixing with later model buckles?

I got 67 seatbelts and 69 ones, (IE: earlier and later styles), if your refering to mixing, and perhaps beetles, i'm happy to go outside and check for ya?

i dont know, just similar style belts, one has good but i want the buckles from the other

you refering to replacing the material of the belt?

I have had this done before.
You need to make sure that they are stitched back together correctly.
There are places that do this, look in the unique cars mag.

[ Edited on 19-4-2006 by BUGBOY ]

A shoemaker can do it easy

Some of those places that install baby capsules in cars are certified to do it.
Rob...

i've asked at a canvas upholstry place in lismore once cause my seat belts have turned purple from uv damage and they said its not legal

so i'd like to know if someone out there does do it
most of the aftermarket belts out there are crap

Joel

i dont know, but i do know where to get some new belt material on a roll.

Whatever anyone says to you on the street, the only way anyone can cerify them is to make the whole strap assembly new. Its not the 'can they do it' question, it is 'can my public libility insurance cover me from this?'

Check with ADR's I am pretty sure seatbelts are like helmets and baby capsules, once a strap cut it cannot be resurected. Even if it has just been Easter and you feeling good! 😎

kkk

just do a super neat job, copying the sewn pattern from the originals. no one would ever know

just do a super neat job, copying the sewn pattern from the originals. no one would ever know

ummm except the rest of your family and friends who weren't in the car when you crashed it and the stiching failed on the seat belts and you are dead. :cry

I can understand its tempting to save a few $$ and it could be done and look good and strong, but how confident would you be?


Its not worth the risk


Jeremy

yeah, forgot about the whole legality thing, there is a seat belt manufacturer that I think is near Geelong that advertises in Restored Cars & Unique cars, & they are not cheap, they may be able to make new belts fitting your buckles, but I somehow doubt it, there are an awful lot of different types of Buckles, some of the female buckles can be easily assembled /disassemble with slight prying from a screwdriver, generally the older the design, they easier they are to get apart, but you are not supposed to do it

Correct..

I've used the follwing people before to buy new Klippan stuff.. This guy is obsessed with restraints etc and he would give the right advice.. Don't ever turn up late though.. I once said to him I would be there at 1200,, I didn't get there till 1215 or so and he made me wait around will he had his cooked lunch!!

http://www.arfa.com.au/productlist.html#

koolkarmakombi wrote:Whatever anyone says to you on the street, the only way anyone can cerify them is to make the whole strap assembly new. Its not the 'can they do it' question, it is 'can my public libility insurance cover me from this?'

Check with ADR's I am pretty sure seatbelts are like helmets and baby capsules, once a strap cut it cannot be resurected. Even if it has just been Easter and you feeling good! 😎

kkk

I recently had Klippan make me a set of belts for my Manx SR, with the attachments facing the way I wanted them to so that I would get the fit that I wanted.

Maybe they would fit new belts to your old attachments, but I doubt it as it is likely that the old attachments don't comply with the latest ADRs.

It's a legal minefield to play with such things.

I have a 74 Beetle with old frayed non-adjustable belts. I'm not allowed to fit a good set of retractor belts from a VN Commodore because they are non standard.

I'm keeping the old belts to stay legal. I don't want to have an accident, cause injury to someone else or myself and have some lawyer make my life a nightmare because I bodged something up to save a few dollars.

You cannot reuse seat belts.

If you fit new 'standard' ones no problem.

If you fit new belts that change the mounts or anchor points they need engineering.

They are the only thing stopping you from launching through the screen in a crash....

Insurance companies love seat belt inspections post crash, gets them out of claims and puts liability with the owner.

shaihulud wrote:I recently had Klippan make me a set of belts for my Manx SR, with the attachments facing the way I wanted them to so that I would get the fit that I wanted.

Maybe they would fit new belts to your old attachments, but I doubt it as it is likely that the old attachments don't comply with the latest ADRs.

It's a legal minefield to play with such things.

I have a 74 Beetle with old frayed non-adjustable belts. I'm not allowed to fit a good set of retractor belts from a VN Commodore because they are non standard.

I'm keeping the old belts to stay legal. I don't want to have an accident, cause injury to someone else or myself and have some lawyer make my life a nightmare because I bodged something up to save a few dollars.

Just do it properly, and if anyone tests them after a crash and finds out they're not original, say they were like that when you got the car. And then demand that they prove that the thing they're picking on didn't meet the requirements of the original. I'm not suggesting doing anything illegal here, but you can do all sorts of stuff you're "not supposed to do" whilst keeping within the confines of the local law.

Look at it this way, you're simply repairing the belts and restoring them to their original standard. If you have a rusted section in your "ADR approved compliant original chassis" and you cut it and weld a new section in, it doesn't cease to be compliant, does it... It doesn't have to be done by the manufacturer either. Anyone can do it, as long as it's done to the original standard and design that was approved. If after a crash someone finds that it's been fixed or altered, they also have to prove that it wasn't as good as the original, and that it contributed to the accident or injuries.

The only thing that's actually illegal is repairing or altering things in a way that makes them less safe than they were when they were originally approved. If you do the job right, you are simply properly maintaining the safety level of your car...

keep ur receipts
and check if they also are legal paper not dodgey

akean1 wrote:just do a super neat job, copying the sewn pattern from the originals. no one would ever know

until you die in a minor accident

[ Edited on 21-4-2006 by VWCOOL ]

wat happens if the car i want to put them in has never had seatbelts fitted?

then they are still subject to ADRS & if the car is pre about 1964 & therefore does not have built in mounting points for the belts then the belts & mounting points have to be fitted by an authorised fitting station
I have belts in the front of my beetle, but not the rear, they look to be professionally fitted, I will have a closer look at how, if you like

I should say that most of this is my understanding,
you probably really need to call the RTA, because no point in doing it wrong, especially the mounting points if holes are needed

[ Edited on 21-4-2006 by kombikim ]

VWCOOL wrote:

akean1 wrote:just do a super neat job, copying the sewn pattern from the originals. no one would ever know

until you die in a minor accident

[ Edited on 21-4-2006 by VWCOOL ]

man, id rather have super neatly sewn home jobs than the shitty old things that are supposed to hold me in the holden. im pretty sure if i hit anything hard id be tearing straight through the belts i sit behind. im not worried about insurance claims because i dont have any:P how much differance can there be in the sewing methods of "professional restraint manufacturers" and a good heavy duty machine following the same pattern using the same materials?

shaihulud wrote:I recently had Klippan make me a set of belts for my Manx SR, with the attachments facing the way I wanted them to so that I would get the fit that I wanted.

Maybe they would fit new belts to your old attachments, but I doubt it as it is likely that the old attachments don't comply with the latest ADRs.

It's a legal minefield to play with such things.

I have a 74 Beetle with old frayed non-adjustable belts. I'm not allowed to fit a good set of retractor belts from a VN Commodore because they are non standard.

I'm keeping the old belts to stay legal. I don't want to have an accident, cause injury to someone else or myself and have some lawyer make my life a nightmare because I bodged something up to save a few dollars.

I had this problem when I put retractable belts into my 74 kombi using the retractable brackets from a 1979. Despite the fact I had all the original stuff, the compliance plate said it should have non retractable so there was no argument. The only way I could get it passed was to make new brackets out of 1/4 inch thick steel angle and have it bolted not only to the original mounting point, but also through the bulk head which also had to be reinforced by welding a 100mm square plate to it. No arguments that for the original 3mm thick steel bracket failing before the belt would be absurd, and even if I just bolt the 1/4 thick bracket there would have to be a tremendous impact (even if the belt survived) to do so much as bend the bracket or break the bolt, and if that accident happened I would die from the impact of my innards smashing into my rib cage and the dashboard severing my head.

Its something I had to do to get the car registered, although I naughtily changed it back to original brackets afterwards.

The people I have heard that make new seatbelts only make them if they supply their own buckles as well.

My 56 has never had seat belts and dose not have factory mounting points. I was told by the RTA that it is exempt unless it has been previously registered WITH belts installed.
Rob...

akean1 wrote:

VWCOOL wrote:

akean1 wrote:just do a super neat job, copying the sewn pattern from the originals. no one would ever know

until you die in a minor accident

[ Edited on 21-4-2006 by VWCOOL ]

man, id rather have super neatly sewn home jobs than the shitty old things that are supposed to hold me in the holden. im pretty sure if i hit anything hard id be tearing straight through the belts i sit behind. im not worried about insurance claims because i dont have any:P how much differance can there be in the sewing methods of "professional restraint manufacturers" and a good heavy duty machine following the same pattern using the same materials?

It's your life, buddy... at least your shitty seatbelts won't affect ME in a crash

Please don't think that I am hectoring you here. This is important stuff.

I believe that the engineering specification for the strength of seat belts and their mountings, is that they should be able to support 16 times the weight of the person being restrained.

A 100 kilo person needs 1600 kilo strength in the belts and mountings as a shock load. That's the weight of a Beetle with a BANG!!!!

Also, the nuts and bolts MUST be high tensile 7/16 UNF ONLY. Their metric equivalent is not acceptable. The one place in a metric vehicle where there are non-metric nuts and bolts is in the seat belt attachments. (That's a good trivia question.)

I repeat. Don't mess with this as home made fittings must be passed by an engineer and must comply with the ADRs. What you are faced with is, do it right or don't do it.