Welcome from Supernatural British Columbia, Canada. I have a 73 Maverick as well. Although it has a factory 3 point system, I would not bother just obtaining the stock factory belts. They are a Pita. The problem is, the shoulder belt has to be connected up the end of the lap belt prior to inserting into the lap buckle. It's almost like you need 3 hands to do it. Your wife would hate it. Also, it almost always disconnects when you take the belt off. The best answer is like the others say: A replacement 3 point retractable system. Having said that , has anyone done a true "bolt-in" installation with details on exactly which system to use? "Bought it on ebay" is not quite enough info. Also, the websites have several options to chose one. Nailing this down and making it easy might save someone's life. By the way, using lap belts only are a terrific way of getting a free nose job, or worse. Anyway, welcome to the forum Batking. MD
I have the three point retractables from Julianos installed on my 73. Big improvement over the stock setup. Seatbelts plus retractables are very similar but quite a bit cheaper. The only problem that I have had is sometimes the belt "catches" before it is fully extended. Easy to install. Remove three bolts with a star bit and reinstall the new belts.
Hi Hadagrabberonce. I checked the seatbelts plus website. There are 7 versions of the 3 point system. Any tips on which you think would be best? Also, it looks like the shoulder belt retractor and the lap belt anchoring point share the same mounting point. Is that how the one from Julianos was mounted? Thanks Edit: Looks like the retractor must be mounted on the floor below the roller assembly which is in the stock position above the rear window near the roof. The stock retractor which was mounted between the door and the seat is removed. MD
The 3 point retractable model# WSCH201P from seatbeltsplus is similar to the one I used from Julianos. It is priced at $64.95 while the one from Julianos is $99.95. Both appear to be of good quality and made in the USA. I have a bench seat so my buckle side does not have the hard plastic sleeve. I reused my stock mounting bolts as I preferred the star heads. Julianos web site has a how-to article on installing these belts in a 1970 Mustang which is similar to an install on our cars.
Just wanted to discuss my findings on the seatbelt issue and I admit I haven't spoken with any of the vendors yet. I have a 73 two door with the LDO option. It has bucket seats. It has a factory issue retracting lap belt and a factory issue non-retracting shoulder belt. To make the system work, you clip the stud of the shoulder belt into a slot in the male end of the lab belt clip. You then make it up into the female buckle. You cannot make up the lap belt into the buckle and then clip the shoulder belt on. The shoulder belt has to be clipped on first. The hole near the roofline where the shoulder belt bolts is above the rear window, several inches to the rear of the bucket seat. I was hoping to replace the system with a three point fully retracting system and secondly, find one that is totally a bolt-on, with no drilling. What I found was even though I already had the hole above the rear window the only way to install a fully retracting system would be to do the same thing described by Gregmaverick above and drill a hole near the floor and install the retracting device. There was an option for a totally non-retracting 3 point belt system that was a complete bolt on but it appeared even the lap belt would be non-retracting. This seems like going backwards in a way. However I need to talk to a sales rep to confirm that. For people who are just looking to replace a lap belt, there are complete bolt in retracting lap belts. For my bucket seats I can't see how a person can install a fully retracting 3 point system without drilling a hole for the retracting device. It's because the retracting device is supposed to be directly below the the roller near the roofline for the inertia device in the retractor to work properly in the event of an accident. It may be different for bench seats. Anyone have some insite on this? Thanks. MD
On my car the I bolted the new retracting device as well as the lap belt to the factory mounting hole where the old device was. While it is not directly below the roof mounted roller, it seems to work fine with my bench seat. Not sure how it would work in an accident and hope I never find out, but I like it much better than the factory system.
Thanks very much for the info. Not sure how you could test that other than slamming on the brakes I guess. I noticed the websites don't commit to the installation technique. Thanks again. MD
Thanks everyone and I'm sorry for the lat reply I've been underway but I ended up going with a basic 3 point it's not retractable but it's working for now and it was pretty easy to install
