I finally found a spare hour and got around to making a couple of seat belt guides last week. I made them from bright-annealed mirror-finish stainless-steel and sort of copied Adam's picture of his Japanese guides. I'm not sure they improve the retraction of the belts but the belts dont slip out of these like they did from the plastic originals. Plus they cost nothing for me to make I refused to pay the silly money for Japanese or German guides. I fixed them with a couple of cap head screws which I thought would give a butch industrial look, but I might countersink the holes and use countersunk screws instead. To try and make the belts retract better I'm going to try some of the ideas on here for retraction improvement. My Copen's MOT is due soon and I don't want to fail because of the belts.
Nice work DAG, don't be surprised if anyone asks you to make another pair. Top MOT tip. Take the best belts out of the guide for the test. They work better when not in them.
I will do that as well as pulling the seat forward a bit from my normal all the back position. The belts retract better with the seat more forward. Kevin Batchelor has mentioned spraying various parts of the belt mechanism wth rubber protect. As well as that I might try fitting a mobile phone screen protector to copy your genuine daihatsu mod. I've never really delved much into this car, I just can't find time. I bought an alarm that I haven't fitted and I've got a to do list as long as war and peace. I might make a start tomorrow. Rain forecast though and no room in my garage. Ah well.
great one DaG. yes Adam I was thinking that as I looked at the photos. How did you bend them? just in a vice?
Could the top sections be bent away from the seat so that the belt doesn't rub on the seat edge both front and rear so that is glides slightly easier? I don't think it needs to rest on the seat as there is no weight/load on it.
really nice work. I think they look a bit better than the Chrom design ones i have. Not sure how good it would look, but if someone made a guide that kept the belt horizontal (so it doesn't twist as it comes out behind the seat) maybe it would retract easier.
A vice!!! They are made from two 20mm wide x2mm thick strips of SS which I guillotined from a 8'x4' sheet. The bending was done in a LVD brake press, a vice would have been almost impossible to bend them in and marked the finish. Keeping them close to the seats was to keep them tidy but what you say about away from the seat might be an an idea. They are just MK1 I'm going to knock some more up and try that.
I thought about copying the chrome design type as they are very simple. I couldn't bend the loop the belts pass through though. I also thought about the type below which as you say will keep the belt horizontal. Again I couldn't bend the shape I would have had to make it in sections and tig weld them together. Apart from being functional they have to look pretty as well so I dropped that idea.
That photo you added DaG, well it may have not twist from its source but would then have to twist as it bends around the seat/shoulder. I'm not keen on the horizontal look or even think it has any better functionality, just looks bulky. I like your own design better. I didn't think it was a vice due to the bends at the top being too close. besides pulled away from the seat slightly, could piece closest to the seat be made wider on the top half to guide it off the seat. I also think I prefer the cheese head bolt look, rather than swapping to some flatter bolts. Its not a bulky construction anyway so the cheese heads give it more feature.
That's a good points there trustafox the horizontal guide would make the belt drag on one edge as you pulled it across your chest. I don't understand what you mean about making the bit wider where it is closest to the seat. Could you elaborate as it sounds interesting?
A suggestion.... It's best to make sure the design of the seat belt guide prevents the belt touching the leather when pulling out or retracting to stop wear. Rex.
I wonder if that is what trustafox meant by the bit against the seat being wider? I wish I'd seen that picture before I made mine Rex, because the gap at the back to feed the belt into the guide is better than my overlapping at the back idea. I could cut the overlap off and bend it flush I suppose. Ah well, here comes MK2.
yes my idea was like the photo rex added, in fact my idea was based on seeing that photo of this guide previously. I read those guides where fitted the other way around, drivers to passenger etc, so the bit the juts out helps the belt miss the seat instead of the intention of it just guiding the belt towards the rear.
DaG, on your mark 2, where the top comes back on itself I saw on your photos that the belt is lower. By the looks of it wit the commercial one the belt rests on the down turn. So you have the squash the belt to get it lower than the opening and then to remove. Would increasing the length of your down turn with the incorporated shortening of the back plate be a good idea? At present I see for your mk1 that the belt will just slide upwards and out. Now i don't expect it to be jumping around and falling out. But as you get out could an upward movement of the belt pull it out the guide?
You're spot on with that infact it has moved into that gap as I feed the belt back although it never came out. That's why I said the flush backplate with a gap for the belt to be fitted into the guide was a better idea. There are constraints in bending the metal and I cant increase the length of that turndown without increasing the width of the top part of the guide which wouldn't look good. Increasing that turndown would be ideal and much harder for the belt to come out but I can't do it. I will look at it again though. Thanks for the input everybody it's much appreciated.
So you could reduce the size of the aperture the belt slides in? even if it is just a mm or 2 more than the belt width. Then the gap/removal slit will be somewhere more central to the belt. That then keeps the top bend the same. Could the top plate carry on past the bolt a little further, then instead of a 90° bend, do a...say 135° bend. Going past the bolt further so the pate doesn't foul the bolt with it coming back. Then carry on as usual. This way the bottom of the belt will sit in the bottom of a wedge and not on a flat. If you look the belt folds on its own weight. Sitting in a wedge should give some added support and not all the weight on the thin edge of the belt. Would it then slide back more efficiently. I imagine the fold at the bottom will use up some of the retraction force
Unfortunately because the bends are close together without a specially made tool I cant bend much past 90 degrees so I'm stuck with 90 or less. I was wrong about not being able to increase the length of the turndown at the back though. I can increase it to about 25mm so I will do that on mk2. I did knock up a quick and rough example with the upper part away from the seat as you suggested. I'm not sure it looks too good away from the seat, plus it looked a little vunerable, so I'll probably keep them tight against the seat. Thanks for your ideas TAF they have been food for thought and always welcome.
Lazy typing. I did snigger when I noticed the welsh connection but decided to leave it. Ba ba, get your wellies on
