Seatbelts

[John S]

I've just rang Ledbury and the guy there told me they had a few sets left. Are all Maestro/Montego front seatbelts interchangeable? (i.e. can they be slotted into any buckle?) I'm after a set of front belts for my Turbo as they have gone white in the sun...

[SimonR]

Hi there,

I think that you're going to be dissappointed: The rears are fine and will fit straight into the Turbo but the fronts are different.

Your Turbo's front belts have a semicircular turf-spade type buckle that plugs into the latch, whereas the ledders cars had the Monty square type with a hole in the middle.

"Ah yes, but I can also replace the latch," I hear you cry, but it isn't as simple as that because to do that you'll also need to replace the centre console with the later Monty/Ledders version which is very different to the original Maestro one.

Certainly for me it was a case of waiting for a decent set of Maestro front belt to appear on electronicBay....

[John S]

Hi,

I'll have to try MM parts and see if they've got any decent belts. I did however get this one a while back. I'm just after the passenger side one now...http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4506547938&ed=1104362073000&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOT:UK:3

Thanks again...

[Maria]

The club has some seatbelts in stock. I'll dig them out tomorrow and take some pics to check they're the right ones. Drop me a PM.

[skipweasel]

I'm after a set of front belts for my Turbo as they have gone white in the sun...There are only three common sorts of seat-belt tongue shape. Mushroom, arrowhead and K12. The first two are self explanatory, K12 are the ones with the rectangular holes in 'em.

If you want seatbelts made up,QuickFit (http://www.quickfitsbs.co.uk/home.htm) (NOT KwikFit) in North London are excellent.
They are proper specialists who manufacture their own stuff on site. They're a family business run by people who actually work there and get involved in day to day work. They'll make just about anything for you.

[e692wtt]

You can indeed fit the latches, along with the seat belts themselves, from Ledbury - but they look very odd. This is of course assuming that the centre console isn't the long one that reaches back past the stalks. If it is, then ignore me :laugh: .

But on the earlier, lower range models of Maestro and Montego (all but the late cars with the 'Mk III' dash/centre console), this titbit of information will get you an MoT if a front seatbelt fails the test and you're not too fussed about the cosmetics of the job ;) . On a 'MkIII' of course you are replacing like for like.

[John S]

Some good advice going here. The belt that I've bought on Ebay has the 'turf spade' shape connector - the same incidentally as the very faded one that I've got at the moment, so that's good news. The 'socket' however isn't identical because the stalk is designed for Montegos with the long centre console before 1989. The new belt can be used with the socket I've got already though thankfully. I wonder how many sets of seatbelts are being hoarded over at the Etsong factory? The vans don't have centre consoles...

[e692wtt]

From what I have seen breaking various pre-89 Montegos, the stalk is the same whether the car has the long centre console (a la Turbo and Vanden Plas) or the shorter centre console, or none at all (only difference, I seem to recall, is that the stalk 'looks' different with the long centre console in place as it passes through a rubber grommet [which you can just pull off if you need to] that seats in the long centre console).

I would also guess that the stalks are the same as those in the Maestros before the 'MkIII' dash/centre console was fitted (I think this was later than 1989 model year though?), but my Maestro is parked about 4 miles away from here so cannot positively confirm this.

[Simon]

Rich is right-the long VDP/Turbo console uses the same buckles although the stalks are fitted with the rubber rectangular grommet that closes off the oblong hole on this long console. Pull the grommet off. I think I'm right in saying the arrow head belt engaged into the horrible bulky "Britax" buckle fitted to some 1984-6 models?