Rear Belts

[Spitz]

Was there rear seatbelts available from dealers or factory for 1962 Deluxe?
If not....what is a common aftermarket melt and mounting spot?
Thanks

[PatM]

Here's a couple of pictures of a MK1 Cooper S undergoing restoration. I took these pictures as a reference of when I need to install rear belts in my Mini. Have no idea if this was standard or added in at a later date.

[Spitz]

Thanks for the pics.
Those look like they would be factory captive nuts.
This 62 has no such nuts or evidence of ever having them. Something will need to be fabricated for belts however. They are not required by law ( if not originaly fitted ) but infants/toddlers will be riding in the back when completed.

[Tim]

I have the same problem, belts aren't required if not originally fitted, but children have to travel in a safety seat in the back until they are 7 and that has to be fitted by using a seat belt.

My daughter currently rides in her seat in the front of the Moke (allowed because there are no rear seats), but its going to be tricky when I get the Traveller on the road. None of the estates were ever fitted with rear seatbelts.

Tim

[mk1]

Call me a bad parent, but when I was carried round in the back of my Mum's Mini, & all the other cars we had when I was growing up for that matter. We never had seatbelts in any of them. It taught me to hold on tight, and come to think of it not mess around with the door handles too.

I remember one occasion when I was about 5 or 6, I was messing with the afformentioned rear door handle in my old mans 1300. I pulled the latch to "see what would happen" just as he made a right turn, the door flew open & how I managed to avoid spilling out into the road still baffles me

Come to think of it, rear seat belts are probably a good idea

If I remember rightly, Pandora fittted rear belt mounts to his car using the brackets that were supplied for later cars.

I am very pleased to report that Adfam has managed to make it to the ripe old age of 11 so far without ever wearing a seatbelt in a Mini, more by luck than judgement I suspect

[sclemow]

I've been looking into this for a while too.

It's too late to put mountings into the shell, so I have been looking at retro fitting something.

This company will make custom made belts but at a cost of £85 - £100 per belt ( ) www.quickfitsbs.com
To be honest, they look like competition belts to me, so I am thinking of putting in something like these :
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Motorspor ... 1414/15604
Which are short and designed to be fitted into a Westfield/Caterham. I figure these with a booster seat would be ideal for a child.

Simon

[Pandora]

As mark said, I looked into this in a fair bitr of depth, but I never actually got round to fitting them, as My wife found the car "noisey and smelly"..... so when i took my son, he just went in the front (you can fit a modern Kids seat in the front of a Mk1 with a Britax 3 point harness it turned out!)

I looked at building a tubular subframe in the boot to give an upper mounting onto the rear shelf (feeding the loads directly into and down this frame and picking up on the rear subframe mounts o the boot floor), but it was going to be a hassle, so I got hold of a set of 'C' pillar fittings from a later car and was going to modify them and spot weld them in place between the rear side windows and the rear window frame.

As i say, it didn't happen before I sold the car, but appeared to be a fairly easy fix, and if spot welding, there should be minimal imnpact on surrounding paintwork.

I may even still have the C pillar sections in the garage.

[Spitz]

PatM....
I don't think I've ever seen a depression in the rear seat base like that before. I thought all seat bases were almost flat.

[PatM]

PatM....
I don't think I've ever seen a depression in the rear seat base like that before. I thought all seat bases were almost flat.

I have not seem this depression before either. I have a 62' and it's does not have this type of depression.

[mk1]

I am fairly sure the seat bottom in the picture above is for a late pattern injection car that had belts fitted as standard. These are the same as the MK1 in most important details.

[IAIN]

For anyone interested, BMH are now offering a mounting kit to retro fit belts in an early car. It costs about £80.

This kit would obviously require welding around the 1/4 windows and boot floor, and paint work.

[wil_h]

I am fairly sure the seat bottom in the picture above is for a late pattern injection car that had belts fitted as standard. These are the same as the MK1 in most important details.

It's a bit of an odd one. That seat base was fitted to much earlier cars than injection cars, certinally my '86 car had them, which means that they were likely fitted from around '82 when all cars got 12" wheels etc. Although they do look a bit different to mine, maybe for the later inertia reels rather than the fixed type.

However, on these cars there was no 'ski' hole, so it's certinally been modified.

[Spitz]

It's the big battery box looking depression I mean.

Also, what is the smaller hole ( circled ) in the bin for? ( have one on each bin of the 62 also )
Thanks

[PatM]

The more I look at the photo, the more I'm confused (and I took the picture). I obviously don't have a clue what the depressed section is for, let alone the hole in the side bins (I'll have a look at my 62' perhaps this weekend). But it looks as though the flat section in front of the depression is at a slight angle. The only other picture I have of a MK1 shows this as completely flat. Would that mean the bottom of the rear seat is made different also

[Spitz]

No...I think the front part of the seat bottom is turned up on all Mk's.....otherwise the seat would slip out pretty easily. Just an illusion in the white mini pic I think.