After seeing the picture of the guide on the tan leather seat and reading comments on this thread I decided to make new guides. I've been using them about five weeks now and they are very slightly better than the first guides for belt retraction. I think they look better than my first attempt but I'm not sure about the cap head bolts on these. the bottom bolt looks wrong because of the angle. I think countersunk bolts might be better on these. ]
Looks good DaG. I still like the 3D aspect to the bolts. The top piece, could you not flatten the bottom of it so the bolt sits on a flat surface not curved?
Yes the belt sits in the top section which is why there is a gap at the back to get the belt in and out. The extra bit that wraps around the front edge of the seat is to stop the belt wearing the leather as I pull the belt across. The spacer which divides the two sections is a a small piece of round tube, I thought the belt would glide better with less friction resistance. In hindsight I could have made the spacer turn like a roller to give even less resistance. The problem with the bottom bolt is the tapped hole in the seat is horizontal. I really need it at an angle so the bolt head sits flat on the guide. That's something I need to look at.
can brute strength not move it the hole! yes good idea if the spacer did rotate about the bolt. Got ideas for that? A large piece of tube around the present one out say a mm shorter. It would spin around the present spacer yet keep the rigidity. But, the belt might then slip between the spinner and the guide body
could you put a spacer on the bottom bolt to match the other so the top plate is then parallel to the bottom plate and make its surface close to perpendicular to the bolt hole? It would be a more open, framework style. Not so much a wedge shape as other are. But then yours would be different. unique? still clinical, neat, tidy and not too fussy. can you do engraving?
They look really good. If the bolts are to sit proud, then maybe dome headed bolts would look better. To finesse the design further, how about moving the join between the 2 layers up about 10 - 15 mm (i.e. make the top part shorter) so the lower bolt only goes through 1 layer of metal (which is perpendicular to bolt hole) and the top part joins just above that bolt. Would happily buy them in preference to my Chrom Design ones.
Binz, if that was done, the top piece would then be anchored by only one bolt and just spin around that bolt as an axis. Even if tighten well it would gradually work loose and thats if you could get it tight in the first place.
I can't be sure, I'm not privy to the top secret stamped engineering diagrams in DaG's underground dungeon. It was my assumption from the public information pack photos that it was made from 2 separate pieces. He's too lazy to get the welder out!
Cheeky git. The two pieces are welded at the very bottom there is also two tiny welds securing the spacer tube. So I wasnt too lazy, I even polished it afterwards. What you said about having the two pieces parallel to get around the angled bolt problem. I don't think that would look too good, not very streamlined. Actually I never thought of that, it was a bit of a make it up as you go along job. Regardless of what they look like whatever I do won't make the belts retract much better. All these metal guides do is stop the belt jumping out of the guide which is what happened with my original plastic things.
I thought about drilling a clearance hole for the head of the bottom bolt, so the head would pass through the top part and sit on the inner part. I thought that might look odd though with the whole of the top bolt head showing and the bottom head buried. I like your move it up 15mm idea, the only problem there would be having a weld showing which would have to be ground and polished. I might have a look at that idea if I keep my Copen. I've had a bit of a prang and the front end doesn't look very pretty. I'm waiting to hear from my insurers as to whether it's a write off or cost effective to repair. One accident in thirty years driving and it would be in a car that's difficult to get parts for. As they say life's a bitch and then you die.
really sorry to hear about the prang, I hope nobody was hurt and your Copen can be saved. My Copen got rear ended last year. Good news is it got repaired, although it took 8 weeks due to getting parts shipped over.
It was nothing more than a tap but the bonnet is creased, the bumper needs at least painting, the front wing is damaged, the front grill is marked, the headlight has separated from its glass and a fog light is broken. I'm waiting to hear from my insurers it's two weeks since it was assessed, I'll have to get onto them.
My Copen keeps getting pranged when parked in my road, someone somehow managed to bash into my the back of my roadside wheel arch a couple years ago and do £510 of damage, and just a few months back some numpty reversed into my bonnet/grill/bumper... both times my poor baby was parked neatly in my street minding her own business.... I suppose this is the downside to owning such a narrow and low car which monsters can't see in their wing mirrors if they park in front of me. Boo Hey Ho.... I love the seatbelt gliders.... fancy making any for me? get in touch
Where's the 'order now' button? I've found these ones but they're £100 delivered and they look rather basic https://www.ssl-id.de/kiessetz-und-schmidt.de/onlineshop/english/detail.php?item=3366&d=d_73187_97881_Belt_guidance.php&v=n512
