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MG MGB Technical - Seat Belt Mounting

I recently have decided to replace the seat belts on my 72B. The replacements were of good quality from the Roadster Factory , but have 3 mounting points instead of the 2 in my car. There is the inertial reel on the deck, a solid lap belt anchor, and a sliding/pivoting fitting typically found on modern cars. I tried mounting that to the lap belt mounting point in back of the seat, but find that the mechanism binds. On a modern sedan, this is typically mounted on the pillar above the seat. Any advice as to where to drill/mount the 3rd pivoting point so that the belt across the shoulder fits correctly, and the mechanism can easily retract?

Thanks in advance for the advise
Joe

Joe,

The mounting point for the inertial reel is on the side of the wheel wells. You should have two welded nuts there. If not then you will have to have them welded in place. Do an archive search and you can find a couple extended discussions on this issue.

You might also have the older style deck mounted welded nuts on the panel to the front of the trunk lid. As I understand earlier belts mounted there with plastic clips that allowed you to remove the belts for putting the tonneau in place.

The other end of the moving belt goes to a welded nut just behind the seat lean forward tilt release on the outer sides of the seats down by the floor. The fixed clasp end of the belt is directly across from this on the inside side of the seat.

I'm in Thompson, CT just about 20 minutes south of Worcester. I have a 73B roadster. You're welcome to make direct contact if you like.

BH Davis
BH Davis

I concur with BH, the tonneau panel mounting was for the static lap belt, inertia reels (feeding the diagonal) should be mounted on the inner arch using the purpose-made right-angle bracket available from the usual suspects. The lap parts mount to the bosses mounted on the tunnel and sill. All cars should have these three mounting points, and most have the 4th mounting point on the tonneau panel.

FWIW I saw my first quick-release static diagonal belt mounted on the tonneau 'in the wild' just last weekend on a run in the New Forest. Looks like a well engineered all-metal solution for those wanting (near) originality, the plastic variety has been NLA for many years. Photo attached.

Paul Hunt 2

Joe: The safest way to mount inertia reel belts in the earlier MGB is to mimic the later wheel well mounting that BH refers to. The correct BMH mounting bosses are available or something similar rigged up. The original bosses were welded in place, but it's feasible that modern structural adhesives could be used to safely install them since they would have to be pulled through the sheet metal before failing.

The B does not use the "B" post swivel mounting point. It sounds like you were sent TR6 seat belts, which do have an upper mounting.

The '73-'76 B retractor unit mounts to the side of the wheel well and was inertia only. The later 77-80 mounted horizontally on a bracket and combined inertia and pendulum function.

Another problem with the earlier cars is that modern replacement belts with rigid receiver assemblies as used on the 73-80 cars won't fit. The inner mounting point is further back on the early cars. You will have to either use a steel strap to lengthen the rigid receiver or go to a belt set that has an adjustable strap.
KJ Dodd

Joe,

I just replaced the belts on my 1980 MGB and ran into the same problem. The car is a convertible, so there was no place to mount the "sliding, pivoting" fitting as you described. I ended up matching the previous belts that had been installed, by using good old bolt cutters to remove the unused component. There is a small plastic clip / "hook" on my '80 on the side panels just behind the door opening where I am able to hang the "male" end of the belt when not in use. The belts work well and the clip keeps the small amount of slack neatly out of the way.



Jason Aquilar

I ended up drilling a hole in the wheel well, and mounting the belt guide with a bolt through above the rear tire. Ideally, it would be better if it were higher, but it seems to work and retract well. When the rain stops I'll take the car for a ride and see if the belt stays on the shoulder and is comfortable. Should be an improvement over the worn out inertial reels that were in there.
Joe

All, Thanks for your comments. I have the same problem. Looked all over for the third mounting bracket but didn't want to tear up the carpet. MGB77, I did find what might be a useful mounting position on the top of the seat frame. Fells like a mounting whole is there. Any comments before I 1) Use the bolt cutters and remove the bracket, 2) tear apart the seats and see if I can use the hole as a bracket... Based on the position of the hole on the seat frame its location should obstruct function, looks fairly passive and it would hold up the belt?

Thanks in advance for any suggetions.
Martin McFadden

The three mountings should be on the body. There is no way that the belt should be mounted to the seat frame which is certainly not rigid enough to withstand any load as the seat itself would likely collapse on impact. As has already been pointed out the mountings are on the wheel well, on the inside of the sill just adjacent to the seat tipping knob and then opposite this on the inside of the transmission tunnel.
Iain MacKintosh

This thread was discussed between 08/06/2007 and 14/06/2007

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