I need to do the conversion so that I can carry a car seat. My daughter has almost out grown her rear facing seat, so I gotta have a front facing seat. When I searched it, the only places links to them I in the old threads were for ebay auctions that have ended.

Tuesday I am going to a junkyard and I was wondering if anyone knows what other 3 point belts from older fords will work. Mainly I am after the belts for the rear seat, but I would not mind doing the fronts at the same time. I know I can buy them new, but right now I cant swing 250-300. Thanks!

 

I spoke with a seatbelt safety class teacher recently and she showed me a seatbelt that only needs a lap belt but can hold a kid up to like 80 or 100 pounds. I don't have the information here but I can post it tomorrow. I think it was called Apex safety first though. It has its own 5 point harness. She bought it for her own grand kids for the back of her own classic.

 

Any idea how much?

 

I'd be curious also what seatbelts from the junkyard would work. As you noted the price for the new ones is a bit much in my opinion. I was maybe thinking would ones from a pinto maybe work?

 

You can install front facing car seats with a lap belt only. Using a three-point belt won't add anything over the lap belt WRT installing the child seat. You will need the three point belt once your kid outgrows the toddler seat (with integrated harness) and switches to a booster seat that uses the vehicles seatbelt over the shoulder (4 years/40 pounds).

Unless I'm misreading the question, you should be good to go.

Jeff

 

Really, I didnt know that. I guess I will double check it. I thought that the top of the front facing seat has to be secured.


EDIT:

[sm=oopssign.gif] I guess if you think about it though, the 3 point belt wont hold the top of the seat anyway. Not sure wtf I was thinking.

 

if you go to wescoperformance.com they sell 3-pt seat belts for about $70 each with hardware, and you get to chose your color. you might want to look into those, definately cheaper than the ones from the mustang catalogs thats for sure

 

70 a piece is still about the same as the catalog ones. They were 240-290 for a set of 4. Anyway, I think gothand's post thumped some intelligence into my dumba$$.

 

haha i thought it was like $270 for just the front pair in the catalogs. oops...

 

The top of the seat will not be retained with a three-point belt. To do that, you need a 'tether anchor' which usually comes on new cars in conjunction with the LATCH mechanism at the base of the seat. Properly instal/led, the lap belt will be safe. As an extra measure of safety, you could cut a slot in the package tray and install an anchor in the floor of the trunk (your kid is in the backseat, correct?). It is my understanding that the reason that the LATCH system was mandated was to make child seat installation more 'foolproof'. If you have any doubt, check with your highway patrol to verify that your seat is installed properly. I know that they provide this service here in CA.

I think you just bought yourself another three years before needing 3-point belts for your little one.

Good luck!
Jeff