This has been covered a bit before but Im looking for some general answers.

First off, will recaro style bucket seats fit in a mini.

Are the rear side pockets structural at all?

When upgrading to 3 point seat-belts and new seats is engineering required?

Specifically for a 1963 round nose in vic, I'm trying to decide whether to repair my standard seats (from bare frames) or upgrade to something pre made.

Ive also seen a lot of brand-less steel frame bucket seats on ebay, anyone know if these are worth getting?

I have seen Recaro Seats in Minis and they seem to fit OK.

Most of the rear pocket is not structual but the lower part of it is around the rear seat support.

If the seats are not factory or a factory option, then engineering approval would be required. If the car has not been factory fitted with seat belt anchor points, then any anchor points retro fitted will also need engineering approval.

If the seat does not have some type of recognised standards approval, steer clear of it. It is un-likely that you'd be able to get engineering approval without it. Personally, if it was unbranded, it might be OK for a Home Office chair, but I wouldn't fit it to a car.

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Having owned a `67 Mini which the PO had attached retractable front belts to the pockets, I would say DO NOT do this.
You will tear them off the floor in an accident...
You can mount retractables to the original bottom mounts on the inner sill, but the reel's bracket may need another mounting hole drilled in it, closer to the reel.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

What if the seats use the existing Mini floor mounts? I always thought we could get away without Engineers Certs because of the Pre ADR thing?

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

This is most likely one of those state by state things. I would say yes, you still should get an engineers certificate. At the very least what would happen in an accident? Not only do you need to know how the seat / car combination behaves, but also your insurance company. Still not sure, give Shannons a call and have an informal chat and see what they have to say.

As Morris 1100 has said elsewhere, in every state and teritory in Australia, it is the owner responsibily to ensure that the vehicle is roadworthy.

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In Victoria you can fit non-standard seats in a pre Jan 1969 vehicle without an engineers certificate:



http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/684FA315-E6D9-4D3E-B715-CEF151AC3647/0/VSI19web.pdf

For the front belts, follow DR Mini's advice and use the Klippan front retractables. Do not mount them to the rear side pockets.

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

That'd hardly take a great feat of engineering.

Hmmmmm........that would be a hard arguement. How would you remove the doubt?

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Check out this thread too , unfortunatley the other states info was lost in one of the big ausmini chrashes and I was only able to repost what I still had in my email .

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26403

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