The 'E' Type Forum

Hi
in a dilema I have a series 1 ,2+2
and fitted standard belts front and rear
practically not brilliant as they keep falling off the shoulder
also just seems to belts everywhere !!
so thought inertia reel but just not period and also ugly
any suggestions please
Paul

Try these people: http://www.quickfitsbs.com/ They do period style belts with coloured webbing and you can even get leaper's on the belt buckles.

If you have an original set of belts that need restoring try: http://www.fdts-seatbelts.co.uk/

Finally this is what the original factory belts looked like: http://moutons.org/Jaguar/Seatbelts/

Service Bulletin Jan 1962:


All these links are in The Knowledge Base

If you don't like loose belts flopping everywhere and you don't like non-original inertia reels, then your only choice is lap belts. I got a set of these for my first E-type although technically the required seatbelt became lap and diagonal around 1965 I think ,so a 2+2 might not get through its MOT.

Is there any point in wearing a lap belt?

Hi,

My choice depended on who was going to be in the car with me. I don't care much about my own face but I care a lot about my kid's faces. Therefore I removed the lab belts that the car came with.

I originally had inertial belts and then went with regular ones because of looks. I found that non-inertial belts are fine for short trips. However on long trips you frequently need to reach something or other and the belt gets in the way. Since I'd put the belts in specifically to keep heads off the dash in a crash the bests need to be tight across the chest. After a while it got really irritating.

I also found that when I got in and out of the car, sometimes the buckle would get flung forward and damage my steering wheel (chipped the finish). That was also irritating.

So I put the inertial belts back in. It was the right choice for me.

So ask yourself:
1. anybody whose face you want to save? Then decide lap vs. shoulder.
if you went with shoulder belts then ask question
2. just short, local drives or long drives? If short go non-inertial as they look cooler. If long I strongly recommend inertial belts.

Cheers,
Larry

You would not be able to buy lap belts in UK or Europe and their use has not been legal for decades. Only lap and diagonal, or full harness, complies with the regulations

Really?

In the US you can do whatever was legal when the car was sold.

Since my car is a 62 I don't need to have any belt at all (it was an option at the time.....I'm pretty sure that my dad's 61 didn't have any and we owned that car well into the 70's).

Are their any other requirements to bring a vintage car up to modern standards in the UK?

Larry

Not sure there is anything more you have to worry about. For example, if your car was not fitted with seat belts as standard, you don't have to retro fit them. From what Chris is saying, if you do fit them, they have to meet current legislation. I'm not too sure about construction and use regulations though (ie it might have been legal to have open wheels back in the 20's but I am not sure it would be allowed now).

Thanks for all the input :D
I am more in favour of safety and comfort, over period looks,rightly or wrongly.
so I think the best is to try, 1 inertia reel for a week or two,
I can then make a final decision depending on it's performance,and looks.
if all is well then order a set (?40 each with period buckles)
Paul

For the avoidance of doubt:


Static lap and diagonals can be fitted to all cars regardless of age. The period buckles can only be fitted to pre 1972 cars though. More info: http://www.quickfitsbs.com/

paulj wrote:Thanks for all the input :D
I am more in favour of safety and comfort, over period looks,rightly or wrongly.
so I think the best is to try, 1 inertia reel for a week or two,
I can then make a final decision depending on it's performance,and looks.
if all is well then order a set (?40 each with period buckles)
Paul

Paul,

don't know if this helps but.... I have driven with the static belts and they are a real pain. Every time you try and move you have to undo it. When someone else gets into the passenger seat they spend ages fumbling to get it adjusted. I fitted inertias to my 65 OTS and absolutely wouldn't go back. (I even fitted modern stalks for the belt to plug into). Easily removed if the car is sold on to a purist as well. For the period look, I would go for grey webbing (but that is a personal thing). The other thing to take into account is that if you have a set of static belts re-webbed, the chances are they will use webbing from an inertia belt. This is thinner and I found I was adjusting the tightness of the belt more often than I would like!

christopher storey wrote: You would not be able to buy lap belts in UK or Europe and their use has not been legal for decades. Only lap and diagonal, or full harness, complies with the regulations

Sure you can. I bought a set from Barratts in about 2005-ish?

Great way to ensure you pivot neatly at the waist to get the maximum perpendicular impact of nose bridge against wheel boss, but there you go.

It remains the only 'third way' if neither static shoulder belts nor inertia reels are acceptable - though its downsides may help to revise a person's view of those other two options...

I refer the Right Honourable gentleman to my earlier post: "Lap belts are not legal fit for front seats in Europe for post 1963 cars .............."

Heuer wrote:I refer the Right Honourable gentleman to my earlier post: "Lap belts are not legal fit for front seats in Europe for post 1963 cars .............."

Point of Order Mr Speaker! I made no mention of time constraints in my recent speech to this chamber. An examination of the record will show that my preliminary estimate of the relevant dating information for the legislation in question, was laid before the house on the 19th inst.

I am, of course, indebted to the Honourable member for Nottinghamshire East, for providing documentary evidence clarifying the date of inception of such legislation as being in the tenth year of the present Queen's reign.

"Yah...Hear hear!"

"Order, order!"

Chris, photo shows the brackets the factory used on the S1 and S2 cars when they started using inertias
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/an ... CN1050.jpg

Angus - thanks for the photo. The brackets look, to say the least, a bit flimsy! It's where to put them on my FHC that is my worry. The site that David suggested has some pics but show the reels mounted two-thirds of the way up the wheel arch

I am going to the CMC seminar on Saturday so I shall raise the subject then

Chris, yes, they are a bit flimsy but they were factory fit so I am assuming they will be ok (don't want to test them anyway!).

Cant make the CMC seminar - Chris C is going I understand - should be a good day.

the job. They tucked the retractors out of the way nicely. Had mine been a '54 Sunbeam Alpine, they could have hid the retractors in the boot. The difficulty on our E-types is finding a good place for a shoulder pivot. There isn't one on the Sunbeam, so I had it mounted on the bottom side of the rear cowl. Because they are retractor-style, the slight tension seems to keep them from sliding off my shoulder.

Anyway, I highly recommend them. Take your E-type down and see what they suggest.

http://www.quickfitsbs.com/gallery_sunbeam.asp

(the light blue one with tan leather)

I've already contacted them about doing a 3-point setup for my XK120 (where you sit much closer to the instrument panel and steering than in an E-type).

John