1971 VW Super Beetle-Seat Belt Installation:

Video Tips:

Tools used in this video:
16mm Socket
Ratchet
17mm Wrench

Video Transcript:

Intro Hi! I'm Sam with JBugs.com Sit down, sit back and watch while we get our seat belts installed. Seat belt notes The interior restoration continues on our 1971 Super Beetle and the next pieces we're installing are often overlooked. They are however, something that you should be using any time you take a drive in your vintage VW, seat belts. We're going to install simple lap belts in the rear of our car and a more 3-point retractable belt in the front. Rear seat belts installation The belts are a universal design, the rear being black 60-inch-long push button belts. We install the fixed latching sides at the inner mounts and the adjustable latch sides of the belts are installed at the outer mounts underneath the backrest hinge mounts. Since these are universal belts, the latches are upside-down once their installed. We slide the belt back, roll the webbing over before the adjuster, and then pull the webbing through to flip the latch on the belt. With both back seat belts installed, we can get to work on the front. Front seat belt installation We start at the tunnel and install the 12-inch cable sleeve latches. Since we installed a premium carpet kit, our belt holes are already trimmed. We would use seat belt collars if we were using a standard carpet kit. The end release buckles on the latches makes removing the belts easy and we line them up with the buttons towards the center of the car. Now to get to work on the retractable portions. We start at the top and pop off the plastic covers and we can see a plastic bushing pop out. We start the installation by inserting the bushing back in place. We follow it with a steel collar, a flat washer, a lock washer, and finally a bolt. All that is then bolted in place in the mount on the B-pillar. Once tight, the steel collar allows the mount to pivot. The cover is snapped into place and we can now work on mounting the retractor down below. Front seat belt retractor installation In regards to the retractor, under most circumstances, the belt will pull out freely if its pulled out slowly. It doesn't matter if the housing is sitting vertically, sideways, or upside-down. Pull the belt quickly though, and it locks up. The standard hardware, that is offered with the belts, comes with an L-bracket that could be used after drilling another hole in the floor. The opposite end of the belt would mount to the factory point and it would divide the load and this would meet current federal motor vehicle safety standards. We opt for a more original installation though, and we use a set of retractable belt brackets that are modeled after factory VW mounts. Because the bracket shares 1 mounting point for 2-points at the belt, it's considered a restoration part not a safety item. The belt retractor housing opens at the bottom so that we can bolt it to the top side of the bracket. The bracket bolts in place to the body along with the opposite end of the belt. Once it's installed, we need to flip the latches like we did in the rear seats. We fold the material over and pull the latch over the webbing so it flips over on the belt. Then, we can clip the belt in to test the alignment. Once the opposite side is installed, we can move on to the next step, finishing up the rear of our interior. Thanks for watching! Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. Click the like button and the subscribe button if you haven't already. And when you need parts for your vintage VW, click on the link to JBugs.com