Anyone able to recommend a welder in Perth? The seatbelt mount point and a fair chunk of door somehow ripped out, so I've got a new door skin to replace it. I was going to paint the second door and swap all the trim over, but I'd prefer to just get someone to cut the missing piece out of the new door and weld it into the old one. I have no clue how the failure happened, but there's no rust on either door anywhere. Given that, welding should be more than sufficient to hold a replacement seatbelt mount point there. Good welds are as strong or stronger than the parent material, as long as it's done properly. I just want to make sure whoever I get to do it knows their stuff.
seen this on a few zeds now, not entirely sure what causes the metal fatigue, but id say just age and use over 20 odd years could do it. maybe if the car in question has had a accident that wouldnt help matters, dont know wether yours ever has or not though vaughan? when you have it repaired, make sure that its welded as close to the original position as possible, because the retracting mechanisms of the seatbelt reel are quite sensitive to what angle they set on, and theres nothing more annoying than a seatbelt that doesnt retract properly.
To the best of my knowledge it hasn't been in a crash. It just freaked me out when all of a sudden my seat belt came loose from where it normally retracts to. I opened it up to see it had torn away. You can see on edges of the metal where I tried to temporarily repair it with liquid-steel weld. Obviously that stuff didn't hold. And yeah, I remember when one of seatbelt internals died a while ago how much of a bitch adjusting the angle on replacements was. That's the other reason I want someone who knows what they're doing
I didn't see a welder last time I was at his garage. And nothing against him, but given the importance of that part, I'd prefer someone who specializes in welding if possible.
chris is a pretty good welder......id trust him lets put it that way. alternately, take it to a welder, panel shop or boilermaker or similar and they should be able to get it happening for you for only a few bucks
Happened to me aswell. Not crash related. I just took 3 minutes and made a new bolt hole 3 inches away in a strong part with a new bolt. Job was done in 5 minutes, no messing around with welding.
That appears to be a classic example of metal fatigue, caused by flexing. The bolt remaining in the door above the opening should eliminate any flexing if was installed properly. Perhaps incorrect seatbelts have been installed.
No, that was me. There was a valid reason for needing the belt to work for a day, but I won't go into that here
