Rear Inertia seat belts early mini

Can anyone please help me with the possibilities of fitting Inertia seat belts in the rear of a Mini circa 1980-90.

Could a pair of front seat belts be fitted in the rear?

Any other suggestions?

Reply to
Guy Smith
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I can think of 2 options.

1/ Get a set of rear belts out of a later MPi model. These can be mounted in the rear pocket, with the bolt through the rear wheel arch (with a spreader plate under the arch). You will have to make a "wedge" to go under the inertia wheel so that it mounts verticle on the angled arch. Appart from the mounting hole through the arch they use the 3 existing mounting points that you'll already have.

2/ Here in Oz, when later Minis are imported they must be fitted with rear inertia belts to comply to the Australian standards. My 94 Cooper has aftermarket units that are available from most big Auto Accessory stores (usually you have to order them though). These mount flat on the rear parcel shelf close to the outter edges - with spreader plates onder the shelf. These use the bottom 2 existing mounts, and the mount on the rear pillar is not used. Problems with fitting these is you'll probably have to remove the fuel tank to allow you to mount the one above the fuel tank, and the spreader plates limit the speaker options if you're into noisy things :-)

A couple of other things to remember is that any belts you fit other than the standard ones should be engineered - not only for legal reasons but also for your own safety.

Also when sourcing the inertia reel units, make sure you get the correct ones for the angle that you are going to mount them on (ie the ones designed to mount vertically in the front of a Mini won't work properly if you mount them flat on the rear parcel shelf.

HTH John

Reply to
John in Oz

Your biggest challenge would be that they'd have to be mounted pretty much vertically (just as they are in the bins) or they won't work properly. You certainly couldn't get away with using the the stock mounting point for the fixed 3 point belts. I would say that your best bet (other than fixed 3 pointers) would be rear inertias from a late model Mini and mount them in the same way (to the inside of the wheel arch). Remember to put a reinforcing plate on the other side of the arch so they don't pull through in an accident.

Reply to
mwalsh

Thank you for your advice gents.

Reply to
Guy Smith

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