Where to mount seat belts on GTS Classic Sport S seats

[bford]

Hi all. I just replaced the original standard folding seats in my 1973.5 T targa with new sport s seats from GTS Classic. I don’t know where to mount the seat belts and my wife won’t let me drive it without seatbelts ;-). The seats themselves can’t accept the standard 90 degree bend brackets that bolt into the bottom of the seat bucket.

The GTS replacement brackets onto which their sliders bolt have a 90 degree upward bend toward the rear with what looks like a mounting hole on each side, so I believe belts could be mounted here? Talking with Stefan Schleissing at GTS, he says “ As far as seat belts- you can use the Porsche brackets and bolt them onto the tunnel as in some later cars- I like to have them separate from the seats. Many customers used the holes in the brackets to mount the seat belts, but just not my recommendation....

I’m not sure what he means by “onto the tunnel”. Perhaps the ones pictured in this thread http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...lt+bolt+tunnel ?

Also, my existing bolted-to-the-bottom-of-the-seat buckles have a wire protruding into the side of the old seat. Presumably for a buzzer sound when you failed to belt up? How do I safely extract these without ripping up the leatherette on my original seats?

If any of you have GTS sport s seats, I’d appreciate it if you could send me a description or picture of your seatbelt mounting configuration. Thanks.

[tcsracing1]

i will be in this same boat as my 69T now has GTS sport S seats going in next month

[JackMan]

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[edmayo]

That bent up tab shown in your last picture is where I mounted my belt.

[VintageExcellen]

Poorly thought out one size fits all reproductions will always have these problems. I love the manufactures recommendations to bolt (weld them if you want to live in an accident) brackets to the tunnel of your car rather than incorporating design features that accept original engineered equipment. Nothing like putting in a reproduction and then modifying half of the car to make it kinda work.

I hate to be the sport seat gestapo but I have yet to see a single sport seat reproduction that is good, let alone great.

Any seat belt mounting point should be installed by a professional. The thread you show with holes in the tunnel are nothing to take notes from, that is dangerous. If you look in most every car with a seatbelt mounting point it has a big metal plate on the other side of the hole so the bolt is not pulled out by the force in an accident. For Porsche the smart people a Recaro engineered a seatbelt tongue that has a couple securing features that are very strong. It makes things complicated for a knock off, so out of sight out of mind is the best way to be for a reproducer. The design of the LWB sport seat requires belts to be mounted to the seat. If I were to design a reproduction LWB sport seat then it would require mounting points for original belts using original hardware.

Of course swb sports seats don’t have seat belt mounts So it depends on what version you think you are knocking off. Have your wife read my post.

[bford]

That bent up tab shown in your last picture is where I mounted my belt.

Thanks as always, Ed. What hardware did you use to mount the belt to the tab? I've got what came with the original seats (pictured below). Also, how do you detach that pesky wire from the buckle?
-B.

[edmayo]

I use shouldered bolts, so the belt can pivot in the hole. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow.

[bford]

Also, how do you detach that pesky wire from the buckle?

Answering my own stupid question about the buckles and their wires...the trick is separate the buckle and remove the two wire contacts from the inner plate of the buckle, then slide the contacts through the hole. Wires remain in the original seats. I was thinking they would need to come out still attached to the buckles.

[bford]

I use shouldered bolts, so the belt can pivot in the hole. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow.

Shouldered bolts... something like this?


Very interested to see what your solution is. Seems to me there isn’t enough clearance to bolt my buckle mounts through the GTS bracket holes.

[edmayo]

I used the shouldered bolt which will go thru the belt buckle, but not the seat bracket hole. Then I can install a nut that pulls the shoulder against the bracket and tighten the nut. Now the seat belt end is free to rotate on the shoulder. It was at least 11 years ago that I got the belts from 'Vintage belts', I may have heard that he is no longer in business. Try 'stretch' on this forum.