I'm thinking about installing some.

Did you remove the factory retractors? What's underneath that big plastic housing? Does it leave a big *** hole or something? And what about the shoulder belt? Does removing it leave the headliner area messed up?

Thanks

 

bttt^^^^^^^^

 

I've been thinking about this myself. I think the factory seat belts suck beyond belief. You could remove the OEM seat belts. Then cut the actual belt to remove the piece that covers the slit in the headliner. You would have to keep the large plastic housing down below because it exposes part of the floorboard and would look ugly. Just cut out the actual belt mechanism and replace the plastic piece to keep it looking nice.

I'm just not sure where you'd attach the five-point belts. I thought maybe you could run the two shoulder belts to behind the rear seat back - of course then you have to have the seat back down in order to use them. You couldn't have them up in the ceiling because they would just hang there during non-use and would look like @ss.

What would be the ultimate is to have them retract into the seat itself, like the new Dodge trucks do. That would be completely sweet. I may have to look into that.

Steve

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Steve's Trans Am Temple

 

Bummer. I was hoping that by using comp belts i could remove that big plastic housing on the floor, as it inteferes with my FloFit seats. Hmmmm......

As for attaching, I would get the "Y" type harness. It has a single attachment for the shoulder straps, and it attaches at the floor behind the front seat. The lap belts would have to be attached basically in the OEM location on the floor. I wouldn't mind cutting the OEM belt out and leaving the housing in the headliner. The floor housing has me in a quandry, however. I need to take a trip to the auto scrap yard and look at some junkers and get some ideas. Thanks Steve.

[This message has been edited by Tom Keliher (edited January 10, 2001).]

 

I am redoing the interior in my car and Im useing 5 point harrnesses Iam having the headliner redone and this will take care of those holes the meterial only cost me $40 from the local fabric store and I put the lap belt in the origanal location but if you are trying to do away with that big black box I would find a extra sill plate and cut a part off and use it to make the hole smaller to ware it just fits the new harnes.I am using carabu seats so the sholder straps run threw them and I havent made up my mind yet if im going to bolt them to the floor or hook them on my roll cage I dont know if I want to leave the bar a cross the cent or not if I use the rear seats it gets in the way.

 

Thanks for the info Earl. I see now I need to investigate much more about using those 5 point harnesses. I am glad I didn't order them before now and then discover there were so many issues after having paid the money.

I still am going to use them at some point, but I will be better prepared for the mod's necessary to use them.

 

I've used the setup that you're talking about. I attached the Y shoulder belts to where the rear seats are bolted down. As for the lap belts,this will get rid of the retractor housing that is causing you trouble with your seats but you will see the mount point where the belts attach. Fabbing a cover shouldn't be too hard. I also removed the retractors from behind the headliner as well. You should be able to get them out without damaging the headliner. If all else fails just cut the belts before you remove the retractor. You will still see the slit where the belt passed through. Hope this helps.

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Mongoose-NCTGA-1990 Pontiac Formula/305 TBI-700R4 with Edelbrock Performer TBI intake,TES headers,and STB,K&N,MSD-6AL,Holley laser shot coil,Accel Extreme 9000 wires,Jet Stage 2 chip,TCI shift kit with corvette servo,Richmond 3.73 gear with Auburn 3 series posi,no cat,SLP 3" cat back,Eibach sportline springs,Energy Suspension poly throughout,Lakewood LCA and adjustable panhard bar package,SSM subframe connectors,IROC wonder bar,Tokico 5 way adjustable struts and shocks,Autometer electric fuel pressure gauge,Alpine,JL Audio,MB Quart,92 GTA taillights,92 GTA aero wing and hatch,Steve Spohn LCA relocater kit,MacEwen White face gauges,84 T/A cold air induction air cleaner,Grant Formula GT wheel.

 

As to underneath the floor housing; the black plastic piece is attached to the retractor. (I bet it could be separated though) One Torx holds the assembly down. With it removed, there's a chunk cut out of the plastic door sill. The mounting hole doesn't extend thru the floor if I recall correctly. The Torx screw goes into a lip by the doorsill.

The front seat belt latches, however, have their Torx bolts going thru to the outside of the car.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Thanks Mongoose and TomP!

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FORMULA 350 TK
Southern California 3rd Generation F-Body Organization©

 

You can legally (in 99% of the racing classes) bolt the lap belt in the stock location using the original torx bolts, the anti sub (crotch) belt can be bolted to the floor using one of the front seat studs (just add a washer).

As for using the rear seat mounting bolt for the shoulder harness, It's not such a good idea, you want the harness to be as close to horizontal as possible, if you mount it to the rear seat bolt then it's actually past vertical and back towards the seat, if you were to get into an accident and the seatback flipped forward (or worse, broke) you'd loose your shoulder harness from the slack in the belt, and smack your face into the steering wheel (and probably break your spine).

The best place for the shoulder harness is on the cross bar of a roll cage, or at least through the body where the rear setback is.

It may look cool to just throw one in, but DO IT RIGHT! It's not worth the risk to do it any other way.

Also, if you've got racing seat and a cage make sure you bolt the top of the seat to the cross bar on the cage! I heard about a "stock" class road racer who crashed and his seat broke in half and cut his spine!

 

if you don't use the back seats, you could do what I saw this guy did with his Porche.

He had a special mounting bar for the belts that went from one sail panel to the other right behind the seat at about the part of the seat where it meets the headrest.

He doesn't use it for racing, so I don't know how it would be for racing. His back seats were turned into about 12 10" subs =)=). Now THAT hit hard!

Later,
Jesse

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85 Z28, 305 TPI A4
pretty stock with MSD and a few other toys
15.2@91mph
http://photos.yahoo.com/j_hougnon