seat belts

[trb97]

Need some info on seatbelt options. I did some searching but didn't find much. The car is a 1972, will be a daily driver, auto-cross, some track days. What are options for seat belts for this year car? We would want at least a shoulder strap. I also looked at the Scroth web site and liked their stuff. I have been a passenger in a cobra mustang that used them and they worked very well. The problem is the stock Z seats, they don't have openings or a headrest that the Scroth set use. We are rebiulding the stock seats and doing our own upolstering. I thought about fabbing some holes during the rebiuld. Any info would be a great help.

Thank you,

Thomas

[trb97]

so does everyone keep their stock lap belts?

[MikeW]

Sorry, I meant to reply earlier and forgot. As far as I know all 240Z's came with lap and shoulder belts. The earlier belts were adjustable but not retracting. Around 9/71 pockets were added to the floorboards behind the seats to accept a retracting spool for the lap portion only. These showed up later in the 1972 model year. My car came with the pockets but with rubber plugs in the extra bolt holes. Later models (260 or 280?) came with retracting shoulder belts as well and some people have retrofitted those to earlier cars.

I don't know of anywhere to buy OEM seatbelts. Courtesy Nissan lists these:

http://www.courtesyparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CP&Product_Code=H6830-S30

but they don't look original to me and they appear to be out of stock anyhow.

The only belts that MSA shows are those that you've already mentioned:

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/PIC06

Finally, one option is to get the original belts restored. I've heard that these people do good work but haven't used them:

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

[Pir0San]

my Z, manufactured 8/72, has both retracting lap and shoulder belts, if that helps.

[c david]

this is not much of a picture but i had mine made custom. they have spools at both anchor points and i used the coat hanger thread terminal to attach a machined metal post to affix the "slide thru" ( for lack of the correct word ) get many compliments on it and it works very well as a daily driver. next time i might use only one spool.....

cd

[nwcubsman]

The retractable shoulder belt can be removed from a wrecking yard '75 (maybe other years also) and it will bolt right into your '72. The coupe version only. The 2+2 had the retractor behind the plastic trim. The belt will need to be sewn onto your stock metal clip that snaps into the receiver. Beandip has it completed. I have the parts, but haven't installed it yet.

[trb97]

Thanks for the help guys. Yawl have some really sweet Z's!

I just have to pick one of the options for the belts. I dont think the Scroth belts will work with the stock seats. Has anyone tried them?

[boyblunda]

Found this possibly helpful thread on a seat belt search

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17163&highlight=seat+belts

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16160&page=2&highlight=seat+belts

Also found a couple of other threads I thought might be useful with titles that specifically adressed seat belts but you need a bit of time to browse, read and absorb. Personally, I think that time would be well spent given how we all hope that we never need seat belts but really want them to work well when the moment arrives.

For road use you can get seat belts that appear to be in good condition from newer or low mileage cars. However, I am currently querying the value of older seat belts in my own cars as I am concerned about the unknown history of the belts in my cars - I do not know if they have been involved in any previous incidents and I am unsure about the integrity of the belts with age. How many of us have a little fuzzy edge on our seat belts?

I do some climbing, caving and rope rescue activities in my work and there is a five year limit on any rope, tapes and webbing (similar to seat belts) that we use. Webbing is usually much more prone to damage and is retired earlier. I have no problem with refurbishing some of my equipment with replacement tape and webbing provided that I am happy of the quality of the work provided - the fabric is not the problem as that can be bought anywhere, the quality of the stitching is critical.

My personal choices in what your situation would be to either have the belts refurbished by a reputable provider or to buy new belts - I would lean toward the latter if you are going to compete in autocross.

The above is a personal perspective only.

[boyblunda]

Deleted. Posted twice in error. Sorry.

[trb97]

Boyblunda,

Thanks for the write up. Some interesting points were brought up. It might be something a lot of people need to think about. During the tear down of the 240 we had several LARGE bolt snap with ease. If thick metal can wear down so much over the years... what about the fabric webbing that make up the seat belts? We pour tons of money into these cars and often overlook items such as seat belts. I was in the Army for 8 years and jumped out of planes and helicopters many... many times, also did some repelling. I sometimes wondered about the integrity of the gear and ropes we were using. A lot of the stuff was VERY old including the parachutes!:surprised The seat belts in these old cars may very well look and feel as if they have maintained their strength but in fact they have not. The problem is compounded further by the fact that we are relying on 30+ year old safety engineering. Thats 2 strikes... outdated safety and belts that have weakened over the years. The third strike and catylist to injury is the car accident itself.:dead:

Wow, I haven't really thought about this. I guess what ever we do it will most likely be something newer! I guess I will have to research if the Scroth belts will work with the stock seats.

[c david]

there are over 1300 models of cars for sale in the us and over 90 % of them out weigh us by 1000 lbs. in addition they are excedingly stronger and are designed to resist cars that are as strong and as heavy as themselves.

senario 1. you will walk away concerned about the damage to your car.

senario 2. you are seriously injured and have far more to worrry about than the condition of your car.

i agree with you. i drive in fear and i fear the guy with the "fear this" sticker. the only protection i have is defensive driving, good breaks, fat tires and a strong new seat belt.

i have been employed with federal express as a driver and logged many hundreds of thousands of miles, sometimes driving 250 plus miles a day for weeks on end. i have been trained by career road safety specialist who have millions of miles and 30 years spending 40 plus hours a week working with others who do the same. they give good advice.

the bottom line is we are vulnerable on the road and in a car that cannot stand up against a collision with most any other car just forget the trees, walls and even the ground if you get angeled down a ditch.

so, strap in stay away from all the stationary objects and have a plan for the drivers who get loose in the rain or loose in the head.

i was at my statefarm agent today to put her back on the road as a daily driver. i hope i never have to claim on the policy and hope to never hear a story about a zcar losing an impact battle.....

stay safe, cdavid

[beandip]

I did install the '75 shoulder belts and re tractors and they work vary well . As nucubsman said , I had the '73 metal clips sewn in just as they were by a shoe repair shop and you cannot tell it was done .