In Central Oklahoma there aren't alot of these things.  There is an import used parts dealer (wrecking yard) that is noted as a VW specialist (Bethany Imports), but he has no vanagons.  Need to get away from this part of the country to find many of 'em.

DMc

---- Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@gmail.com> wrote:
> dear bolter
> you know one could always go to a wreck westie and pull the seat belt bolts
> form the machine and there you go ... right size every time ...
> there is one in colorado at the copart ...it used to be mine ...
> sigh
>
> On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 1:30 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > ---- John Reynolds <transporterjr@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> > > Seat belt bolts are, for the most part, size 7/16-20 the world over -
> > even on non-USA cars.  GM switched to M12 a number of years ago, now they
> > have a global standard and Europe insisted it on being 7/16-20, so new GM
> > designs will (again) be 7/16-20!
> > >
> > > The US MVSS  209(motor Vechicle Safety Spec) originally specified 1/2-20
> > and 7/16-20 (some early cars used 1/2-20), it now has added "or metric
> > equivalent".  Funny thing is, US made cars had seat belt bolt standards to
> > pass, imported cars only had to have the entire system pass, so some imports
> > had M10 size bolts, but even cars that were never going to be made here
> > generally used the 7/16-20 size.
> > >
> > > So what Dave says below is true - the bolts are actually 7/16-20.
> > >
> > > John -
> > > Who has has been involved in testing and design of "few" seat belt bolts
> > for a few decades now.
> >
> > No, the seat belt bolts are actually 11x1.25.  They ARE metric bolts, with
> > the head marked 8.8 and some other things.  David Beierl knew this, and
> > chastised me mildly for not knowing it, since I had the bolts right in front
> > of me.  But, the 7/16-20 bolts fit and work -- the difference being trivial,
> > as David Beierl stated in his last post quoted below.
> >
> > Eleven mm bolts seem impossible to find locally.  I tried a large number of
> > vendors, including the best stocked hardware store around here.  Metric
> > bolts in even mm sizes are readily available, so both 10 and 12 mm bolts are
> > there for the buying.  Not elevens.
> >
> > > >Just so happens that 7/16-20 UNF is practically identical to
> > > >M11x1.25; 1% on diameter and 2% on pitch.  For a short thread
> > > >engagement this doesn't matter.  The UNF and ISO thread forms are
> > > >slightly different, but not enough to matter here.
> > >
> > > >Yours,
> > > >David
> >
> > --
> > David McNeely
> >
>
>
>
> --
> roger w
> From Proverbs:
> Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
> servant who becomes king ...
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Explore printed work at: http://www.prliving.ca/
> View the growing list of video work at:
> http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners

--
David McNeely