308GT4 Seatbelt upgrade

Morning,

My 1975 came with no retractable seatbelts for the front seats. I want to replace them with belts that have a spool and retract. Looks straightforward but the person doing the interior says the spool won't fit where it would naturally go near the rear seat cushion.

Has anyone done this or found a good supplier? I know it won't be original but as long as the belts look vintage enough and function well, that's fine by me.

Thank you!
Larry

 

If i am correct the originals are retractable but it is possible for springs to wear out - not arguing with what you have as many parts of cars are changed over the years and there are were differences made in every car. The original belt / buckle was made by a company called Klippan. The buckle notoriously cracked and broke. Their retraction springs grow very weak and I would not consider them to be very safe. Your springs may just be worn out or you have a replaced or different dealer installed non-retractable version.

it is worth searching Klippan to see old threads in the 308 section.
I see you are newer so some good searching skills are key here:

Click the magnifying glass to search, ALWAYS hit "more" which takes you to "advanced search".
Enter your search words. in this case enter both GT4 Klippan in the field.
scroll down and make sure you only select "308/328" in the search section.
I also sometimes select if I want most recent or relevant and sometimes select all posts or titles only - submit for your search.​

I have not used them but there is a company in the usa that does seatbelt restoration - I cannot vouch but they always show first in my results: https://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

perhaps they can fix or upgrade your existing system.

Also, many GT4's have been given the regular GTB/GTS system - depends on how original you want to be and if you care about concourse points.

Good luck!
Spencer

 

Thank you Spencer! I will give it a look.

 

I have heard that DeLorean seat belts are a match, and are still available from DeLorean Motor Company in Humble, Texas... at classicdmc.com. I can't confirm the exact match but they appear identical to the Klippan belts. https://store.delorean.com/100702-rh-seat-belt-assy.html.

 

They the same or similar to the GTB/GTS but not the same as the many of on the GT4. If you cannot fix your GT4 this is a good replacement system.

 

I recently had new seat belts fitted (all round) by a local company in UK. Retractable reels in front and fixed in back as per original UK spec. I had them use the original catches. No big deal and all works fine and looks as original as the original.