Here we go with round 2:

As the passenger side seat belt appears to have locked up, are there any alternative seat belts, particularly the stalks/receivers ?? The Metro ones are a touch long for me, any other shorter ones from other Rovers suitable ??

I assume access to remove the seatbelt reel is a royal PITA ??

Same thing with the Handbrake lever, it's a bit too long and comes up too high in the car, are there any alternatives people have proven / tried ??

I'm looking to re-trim the interior, all the scrim foam on the fabric has disintegrated causing it to go baggy. Has anyone retrimmed or anyone remember how much fabric is required to do the hard trim, the headliner including the removable roof panel, and the rear bulkhead ??

Has anyone made a trim panel for inside the boot lid ?? To cover the framework and inside the rear section over the lock and mechanism ??

The boot latch, is it a Metro item, standard or modified ?? Mine is suffering from being exposed to the elements for nearly 20 years.

Finally for this message, how much of a pita is removing the heater, both blending unit inside and fan blower outside ??

Thanks again in advance.

Phil.

I can't answer most of those but sure somebody will. The one I can, at least based on mine, the seat belt anchor plates are captive so it was a doddle to undo the bolts to remove the belt ends/buckles. I added harnesses to mine for track days using the same bottom mount bolts for the lap straps. Kept the seat belts though for road use. Good luck with the other bits.

The upper seatbelt mount is bonded in to the tub so you can just unscrew the bolt once you've popped the plastic trim off. I think the bottom where the reel is is the same. If not and they are nut/bolt jobs there are big holes in the vertical sill walls - prob have to pull carpet away to get at them.


(you can also see my door light switch extreme right)

Handbrake lever you have to remove the cowling over it.

Hello Phil
I broke my boot catch a while ago trying to take out some of the bend in it to get the number plate closer to boot lid i got a replacement at a show from europa spares both parts are on their web site catch and striker plate hope to meet you at east midland meet at newark when it is safe to resume meetings

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Phil.

Phil I was surprised you find the Metro belt stalks long, mine are 20cm from mounting hole centre to red button top and are tucked down quite low I think. I am going to try attaching a pic and also the bit from the build manual.

Build manual extract, now I have the file small enough

Re the belt mounting plates. The top mount was captive from the factory but the lower ones are what ever the builder made them. Pics to show how mine were at build, taken so SVA inspector could see what was behind the carpet. The small holes in the corner of the plates I did so some P40 glass fibre gloop I bedded them on would grip. The large access holes in the tub were factory cut, the smaller access holes cut by builder as are the mountings drilled holes.

Last bit from me Phil
The boot latch came with the kit and yes that Europa spares Pull Left to Release Side Fix Claw Latch looks right. I found I needed to file/grind a corner off the lever to give better clearance for the number plate.
Again good luck with it all
Regards Howard W

Thanks for the images Howard and others.

Just for clarity, the belts themselves are Metro front or rear belts ??

Mine are bolted directly to the tub as shown in the pictures, I've seen belts on everyone's favourite online auction with a loop at the base, I guess to attach to a hoop bolted to the inner sill, rather than a loop stitched onto the belt as it were.

Phil.

Hi Phil,
Metro Front Belts. Sill side is a bar that the belt loop slides up towards the front when in use and then back towards the rear bulkhead when parked. The bar can be seen in middle pic of the fixings photos. Hence two drilled holes in the side inner sill, rear hole for bent kink in the bar, then bolted up at the front once the belt is slid over obviously. Bar in place shown in Photo from Sidewinder.
Regards
Howard W

So my car doesn't have the slider-bar on either side, the lower belt is stitched into a metal shackle which bolts directly through a single bolt into the captive nut in the sill.

The belt is Kangol branded, no mention of Rover on it at all, not that I was expecting it to. They are also a very dark blue colour rather than black. I'm not sure if this is a standard Metro item, or if some Metro/R100 had a belt which attached directly to the sill rather than using the slider-bar.

Phil.

Probably an aftermarket belt setup then.

5 Door Rover 100 didn't have the slider bar, just a standard shackle with a single bolt. The slider was just on the 3 door model so I suspect your donor was a five door and the builder used what they had.

That is a distinct possibility.

Thanks for the info.

Phil.