Yes, I already have a "want to buy" thread going on this, but with no responses I need other options... Is there any...ANY...other Ford / Mercury car that I can look for that has the same recessed seat belts as the '74-up Maverick??? My wife absolutely refuses to let our son drive his car with only the 2-pt belts, and I reluctantly agree - but I can't find replacements!!! Can anyone shed light on this mystery?!?!?!?!?
Have you thought about going after-market?: http://www.seatbeltplanet.com/seatbelts-and-accessories/3-pt-retractable-lap-shoulder/ Not a direct replacement, but if original belts are hard to find, could be an option for you. I think you could tuck the new retractor under your sill cover, would have to check the dimensions.
I could fit them into the recesses - but securely mounting them to existing points is the entire issue. The recessed belts have their own special setup - or so it seems...???
There are brackets available, maybe one will work? Can you post a picture of the factory retractor and mounting point?
I don't know about other car models, but I can tell you these suckers are next to impossible to get out of a parts car. At least up here in the north. It seems the combination of salt and time fuse the entire assembly into the rocker panel. I have never been able to get one out in one piece. Maybe the parts guys in the south will have better luck getting these out.
Do you trust a 40 year old seatbelt? NHRA don't trust a seatbelt that is only a few years old. Take it from someone who had lead base paint on his baby bed. Buy a new seatbelt
It can be a trick sometimes. I have gone as far as cutting the rocker panel on the outside of the car in order to get to the threads of the bolts.
Snake oly will take your old belts and redo them with new material, buts its not cheap, but then again your head isn't cheap either
At this point I'm inclined to just bolt on some new generic replacements. I'm just not sure how to anchor them effectively with the recessed mounting points. Any ideas???
Received a PM about this so I'm posting some follow-up info for anyone interested... I bought a set from Amazon but they were un-matched and the color was really weird. So I returned them and went with this set from ebay... http://www.ebay.com/itm/400274229653?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 They bolted right in and work great but I used my original receivers (the new set came with new receivers, but I didn't like the way they fit in the car.) Our '75 has the recessed seat belts which has three bolt holes and two large cutouts in the metal. Since I replaced my carpet I simply did not cut out the holes, and did not use the original plastic covers, so everything underneath is still hidden. I bolted the retractor to the rearmost bolt hole and the other to the front bolt hole using the original torx bolts. The upper third point (in the roof) screwed right in using the new bolt that was already in the new upper unit. One key point is getting the retractor unit pointing as straight up as possible. It has a tilt-switch lock (as well as a velocity lock) so if it is angled too much it may not release very well. This worked out fine on our car using the rearmost bolt hole, with the retractor basically pointing straight up. I realize bolting the lower mounts to the outside of the metal is not the way the seatbelt system was designed to work. Technically, I have to admit this is probably not as safe as correctly installed recessed units. But it was my only option, and with three mounting points hopefully enough to remain secure in most conditions. Hope this helps you out.
I installed the same eBay seatbelts today on my '74. My original receiver has been MIA since day one. The receiver that came with the eBay seatbelts was too short to reach from the floor through the seat. To render this I bought a 60” lap belt from Summit, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CER-SJSBBLACK/ thinking I could use the material to make another receiving belt a few inches longer. When I got inspecting the lap belt I notice it used the exact same latching hardware as the eBay seatbelts and they will lock together. I will be able to use the Summit receiver from the lap belt to replace the “too short” eBay receiver belt. I now have enough extra new seatbelt parts for new lap belts in the back. Edit: This is with a bench seat...
