Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 05-Apr-2004, 12:31pm
The phrase "play it safe and install static ones" confuses me slightly - inertial reel belts are safer than static! For static to work they have to be
very tight. Leave enough slack to make them usable (i.e. reach the passenger door) and your face is going to make a VERY firm contact with the steering
wheel in a crash. This will not look pretty.
Personally I'd replace the belts with new inertial ones if they are more than 5-10 years old, and deffinetly if they were on the car before you bought it (if they have been 'used' they should be replaced - the internals are designed to fateague in an accident, to slow you down a little more gracefully.)
It sounds like the real problem if just the interfearence twixed belt and frame. Just sort this out.
They can have a mind of their own, but a bit of fiddling and you can normally rotate the reel on it's mounting both and you will probably find somewhere it works just fine.
Personally I'd replace the belts with new inertial ones if they are more than 5-10 years old, and deffinetly if they were on the car before you bought it (if they have been 'used' they should be replaced - the internals are designed to fateague in an accident, to slow you down a little more gracefully.)
It sounds like the real problem if just the interfearence twixed belt and frame. Just sort this out.
They can have a mind of their own, but a bit of fiddling and you can normally rotate the reel on it's mounting both and you will probably find somewhere it works just fine.
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : William Davies, 05-Apr-2004, 03:37pm
Mark,
I think you're missing the point. With static belts on you shouldn't be able to reach the passenger door, you release the belt to do that - presumably not something you're going to be doing when in motion.
Those Spitfires and Heralds I've experienced with aftermarket inertia belts have been horribly uncomfortable with continual pressure across the shoulder, something you will never experience with correctly adjusted static belts.
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : David Styles, 05-Apr-2004, 04:09pm
I'd agree, my MKIII has static belts, and I'd rather have static belts that inertia belts in a Spit... any day of the week.
If you have static, its important that they work properly though... and I think its jammed static belts that can give static belts a bad name....
I can squeeze the tabs on mine and loosen them easily.. and a quick pull in the end of the belt should tighten it easily too.
I jump in the car... loosen the belt about six inches... pop it on... and then pull tight... for a comfy and tight belt....
and much easier to undo by lifting a flap on the front of the buckle... than those silly red buttons to push...
for me its static everytime....
and also... there's the added bonus that if you have a static belt, you can pretend its a racing harness and pull it really tight when you go on a trackday!
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Chris Herridge, 06-Apr-2004, 00:21am
thanks for all this guys
intresting points of view...
i think i'm going to go for a static one, and make sure i use it properly (do it up nice and tight)
the main problem with the inertia ones (i believe) is that their strap is fouling on hood and frame when it is down... i can see no way that the belt can move freely, and thus it's not reeling the slack back in tightly..
infact, after studying lots of other cars in our household i notice almost all belts 'catch' when you just tug very hard and very fast on the belt (even when the car is completely stopped)....
should all interia belts do this?
my belts only catch when the car changes velocity (i can here a little pendulum inside them when i tilt them)
is there a secondary mechanism in them that's broken?
thank your you help here guys!
i don't want to end up with stiches...-
Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 06-Apr-2004, 10:16am
Humm, me thinks your belts are either incorrectly mounted or fudged.
The belt should lock when you pull it hard, like the others you tried.
I'm not sure how it works, but it does involve a pendilum. As yours work when you are breaking, it's possible that the real is just tilted too far to the rear of the car. It could be that when your car is in a steady state (stationary or at constant velocity) the pendlium is so far to the rear of the car that it's out of it's working range. When you break the forces naturally swing it forward (into it's working range) and, when you yank it, it works.
Usual diclaimers apply, but 'normally' the real should be mounted so that the belt exits the real vertically. If yours is tilted towards the front/rear it may be upsetting it.
OK, also normally if they are out of wack they just lock up, but there you go.-
Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : David Styles, 06-Apr-2004, 11:00am
Mark,... its only inertia belts that do that...
if they are pendulum type you can merrily pull them in and out all day as hard as you like... the idea is that they only lock when the car is slowing....
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Chris Herridge, 06-Apr-2004, 11:36am
...runs out to buy a pair of inertia ones...
i may be young, and think of myself as fairly invincible, but driving around at 80mph with seatbelts that just don't work is dumb...
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : David Styles, 06-Apr-2004, 12:41pm
aha... but will the inertia ones foul on the hood as well ??
do you want a decent pair of static belts ?
(useless if not decent though)
I've kept to my statics on a MKIII - but as with most things in this life... the decision has to be yours.-
Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Chris Herridge, 11-Apr-2004, 03:12pm
so, in conclusion, a quick trip to Camberly Autofactors got me a pair of static 3-point belts,
"300/30 "
is their number...
but, alas i have one very annoying problemo...
i (being 6'too-much) have my seats all the way back... and thus the stalk's box thingy is quite uncomfortabley jabbing into me...
(it's over my hip rather than down below me)
can i buy shorter stalks? if so, where?
or can i shorten the stalks myself?
or even go as far as making a new hole further back? - i suppose i'd need to get somebody to weld a reinforcing plate or something
also the actual stalk itself is angled differently from my last belts, and thus the stalk has to be bent round to be pointing in the right direction...
is this okay?
it seems to 'hold' the shape i bend it into...
(hopes he's not breaking them by doing so)
thanks guys,
C.-
Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : David Styles, 13-Apr-2004, 09:57am
erm...
I really don't know much about after market static belts...
but my original ones don't have a stalk...
they have a belt each side going down to an eyelet... and a release buckle that sits on my hip that joins the two belts.......
(I hope this makes sense... its basically all belt, with a buckle to join them)
are you sure yours are suitable for a spitfire ??
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Chris Herridge, 13-Apr-2004, 01:20pm
yeah,
thats what securion (i think thats their name) say is right for a mk1-3 spitfire....
i don't think it's unsafe, more just uncomfortable...
i want the buckle to be close to the floor rather than jabbing into my hip...
but hey, maybe i'm just being picky
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 06-Apr-2004, 12:04pm
Geez, never even knew of that type - and quite glad not to have!
At less than &163;50 for a pair from a Triumph specialist (and you should be able to pick them up cheaper than that from a motor factors) it's money well spent in my book.
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : David Styles, 06-Apr-2004, 10:56am
erm... you're ones aren't inertia belts then.
They are the early... "actuated by a pendulum" ones.
I have no idea what the name for them is !
But I had them on an old mini once, and an MOT tester failed them because he said they didn't work... I explained to him HOW they worked, and that was normal in an OLD car, and he passed it.
You can jack the back of the car up to test em.
They should be locked if the back is jacked up.
I think the problem with them is that the pendulums get stiff and so they stop actuating for little knocks... or they just aren't that safe...
Its probably why inertia belts are fitted instead these days.
Knowing what I know now... I'd have changed em... but I was young and invincible then,... and things like safety didn't matter !
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 05-Apr-2004, 04:29pm
The problem with static belts is, I've never been in a car with them where they were used correctly (correctly being the way you describe).
Most have had them since the car was put together, and it's not just the belt that is static - the mechanisum is too!
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Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : William Davies, 05-Apr-2004, 03:38pm
Mark,
I think you're missing the point. With static belts on you shouldn't be able to reach the passenger door, you release the belt to do that - presumably not something you're going to be doing when in motion.
Those Spitfires and Heralds I've experienced with aftermarket inertia belts have been horribly uncomfortable with continual pressure across the shoulder, something you will never experience with correctly adjusted static belts.
Cheers,
Bill.
Mk3 with intertia belts - am i risking my life?
Posted By : James Carruthers, 05-Apr-2004, 04:43pm
AHhhhhhhhh...
Just under a year ago I had a bit of a rear end on the M25... collision speed of about 30mph whilst I was doing about 20-30 (ie he was doing 50-60ish)
My seat belt didn't catch me - the inertia worked when I tested it normally - but that that sort of impact it didnt work...
Let's just say you really dont want to know what it feels like when your upper lip hits a steering wheel...
Nor do you want to know what it feels like to have stitches in your gum... going from the front of your gum - through to the back... surprisingly dense, is the flesh in that part of your mouth...
Inertia belts are even worse... I was in another car crash before (a passenger I should add) - where a girl severly hurt herself on a static belt...
Moral of all this is make sure your belts are safe - personally I wouldnt want to open one up - just buy some new ones and hope that those work properly...
James
Just under a year ago I had a bit of a rear end on the M25... collision speed of about 30mph whilst I was doing about 20-30 (ie he was doing 50-60ish)
My seat belt didn't catch me - the inertia worked when I tested it normally - but that that sort of impact it didnt work...
Let's just say you really dont want to know what it feels like when your upper lip hits a steering wheel...
Nor do you want to know what it feels like to have stitches in your gum... going from the front of your gum - through to the back... surprisingly dense, is the flesh in that part of your mouth...
Inertia belts are even worse... I was in another car crash before (a passenger I should add) - where a girl severly hurt herself on a static belt...
Moral of all this is make sure your belts are safe - personally I wouldnt want to open one up - just buy some new ones and hope that those work properly...
James