Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi All,

Now, am I the only one being driven mad by those Dam modern Seat-belts in their +2?

Like most people I guess, my +2 has the Modern Style Seat Belts, you know the ones,
conventional Webbing on one side and those ugly plastic Boxes with the big Red Button on a Stalk
on the other side bolted to the Tunnel.

Trouble is, because there is no Gap between the Seat Squab and the Tunnel, whenever you have to
lift up the Seat to get somebody in the back (Yes, I do have people in the Back occasionally), the Seat
always jams half way up as that Plastic Seat Belt receptacle wedges itself and anchors the Seat solidly,
meaning nobody can get in Front or Back until that receptacle is shown who's Boss!

According to the Parts List, the Elan seams to have had the Aircraft Style Belts originally, which would make
sense as there is webbing both sides of the Seat so nothing to Jam.

Trouble is, you don't seem to be able to get the Aircraft Style Belts with Inertia Reels, only Static ones,
and I really would like to get Inertia Reels.

Was curious if the Seat Belts drive anybody else round the Bend and what anybody else may have done
to alleviate this problem.


Ian

Hi Ian, my 72 +2s130 has the inertia belts with webbing buckles and magnetic (I think) locking mechanism ,they still get caught up in the seat/tunnel with the added benefit of getting tangled up as well,put it down to dare I say it a design fault.
Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the quick reply.
That's my second Post tonight with an immediate reply. Excellent.

I will speak to one of Sellers On-line who deals with Seat Belts now I know
what I want was at least available at sometime in the past.
Will have to wait until after Easter now I guess.

If I can track them down, I will practice untangling them before fitting.
Thanks for the Warning.

Ian

Unfortunately a design fault. Once Lotus updated to inertia reel seatbelts they tried to get round the problem of the seat catching the stalk by creating a space in the transmission tunnel for the stalk to rest but it never really worked. So it's a real fiddle if you don't want to tear the ambla when you raise and lower the seat.

I have just gone through the retractable seat belt issue. On my Plus2, the retractors are bolted to the chassis behind the interior panels over the inner fender panels. I had a retractor spring break, and after looking for quite a while, found a new old stock set in Canada. The rear seats are the magnetic latch style, and do not retract. You can find a picture in the parts manual, which is available on line from RD Enterprise in the US, if you do not have one. It does take some time to scroll through to find though. If you have the original Kangol belts, it is critical that their mounting position is exact. The swinging pendulum that locks up the belt must be positioned so as not to lock the belt, or you will not be able to un-reel the belt when fastening. And yes, when lifting the seat to access the rear seat area, the stalk and the latching mechanism, does foul the inner edge of the seat, which is a bit of a pain. I wish the seats had an adjustable back, which could be unlatched and moved forward out of the way, when access to the rear seat area was necessary. I have given some thought to replacing the front seats with ones from an MX5/Miata.

Mine had Irvin belts in front with intertia reels, and Kangols in back. The Irvin belts were clearly past it, so they got binned. What I did was a little creative. I figure the rear 'seat' is too small for any real human use so I took the Kangol belts and discarded the old webbing, had the metal bits re-chromed, and had the buckles sewn onto new webbing with intertia reels, and will install them in front when the interiour goes back together.