since your 73 Comet is a LDO with buckets, did the inboard (buckle) seat belt have a plastic/vinyl sleeve? On my 74 Comet LDO, belt was mounted inline with the rear seat track bolt holes and had sleeve, was approx. 12" long. The 73 must be 18-20" long being the mounting hole further back! If you still have the original belt, would be interested just to see what it looks like, compared to my 74. So from your picture, it seems that Ford did not relocate the hole further forward until 1974.
Has anyone put the in the sill retractors into an early car? I am planning to do it to my 1973 because I like the idea of having the retractors out of the way. I have saved the plates from the sills from my donor car.
Here's a picture of the floor in my 74 Grabber, bench seat car. It is closer to the front, than my 73's.
Thanks for all of the responses! Great pictures. So, it appears the inboard mounting location was changed from 73 to 74. I have an original bench seat car into which I'm installing buckets. I found the dimples to drill on the inboard floor pan. But, obviously, there was no reinforcing type bracket on the inboard floor pan.
Yes, not finished yet. If I were to do it again, I would have also gotten the section of the floor pan too. I had to cut out an area of my floor which large enough to get the assembly in. I then boxed it in. I dont know how the carpet will lay in. The original had more of a slope. You may also need to relocate your upper mount. I had to in my '71. Micah
Rthomas, in the pic you posted it looks like you are using the aftermarket ebay belts you mentioned in a post a few years back, correct? And, your car is a 74. So, I'm thinking those belts would work in a bucket seat conversion on my 74. Also, I'm a bit confused on the inboard bracket shown in Dyent's post. It looks like it would change the seat height. Here is my situation. I have bucket seat tracks from a 71 or 72 with the spacers. This should work on the 74, correct?
Yes, they are ebay seatbelts...and yes, a '74. The ebay belt's plastic sleeve looked like they were for a bucket seat car. Might need to buy a couple lap belts to rob the inside belts and cut and sew to make them shorter. With the left over belts from the 4 kits you will be able to replace the rear seatbelts too if you don't care if they lay on the seat instead of having them retract. The bracket in Dyent's post is more of a brace, it shouldn't change the height. I hope to be getting my bucket seats covered in the next month or two, when I do I will let you know how they swapped in my 74.
Those seat braces did not change the height of the bucket seat when I installed them in my 73 Comet, I figured I would remove them from my 74 before I scrapped it, don't know if they really do anything or not. You can check out my photo gallery, I have a few pics of replacement female (metal buckle) seat belt that you maybe interested in for your conversion, got them from www.seatbeltplanet.com The set I had made up from Steve, has same deluxe metal buckle that came on LDO along with plastic sleeve. Regarding those spacers, so long as you have the "bell" shaped for the inboard front bolt and that larger one for the inboard rear, you should be good to go. Also, thanks to all for the pictures and Craig for info regarding those longer/sleeved female belt for 73 LDO/buckets. David
Rthomas, a few more questions. It looks like the retractor is bolted to the rear bolt hole and the other belt is bolted to the forward bolt hole, leaving the middle bolt hole unused. It looks like the sill plate trims out the carpet and most people probably wouldn't notice it isn't factory. Do you feel the setup is safe? Finally, did your belts come with extensions? Dyent, thanks for the feedback. I have the bell shaped spacers.
The seatbelt bolts are in the middle and last hole. It is strong as factory. I used the factory '74 extension(s).
Rthomas, would it be possible to post the manufacturer and part number for the belts you purchased. I checked ebay and there must be 100s of choices. I looked at your webpage and found the pics of your car with the new belts. It would be nice to order the belts you used and know that they will fit as you show in your pictures. Thanks.
Don't have the receipt from eBay but look the same as http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hfm-sb3prbk/overview/ except they had chrome instead of the red on the release button. The lap belts are http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cer-sjsbblack/overview/ I didn't like this style female receiver http://www.jbugs.com/product/ZVW20-RETRACTABLE.html
