Hi,

 

I searched for info on what to do about the fact that I didn't notice the fact that my newly aquired 85 GL wagon has only lap belts in the rear. There seemed to be only one relevant thread, but it didn't help much. I really like this old wagon and want to know if there are any tricks or tips for mounting some shoulder belts in the rear. Has anyone bothered to do this?

 

I understand that safety equipment is a critical issue, but I am sure that I can way overbuild the new belt connection points so that there is no doubt as to their permanence.

 

Thanks to you all,

 

Patrick

 

blinkibus@hotmail.com

i looked into this a while ago. get some rear shoulder belts from a loyale wagon.. same body style as yours. you may have to weld a big nut into the frame near the roof to accept the topmost hardware as .. well, my car didn't come with those in the roof. they added them to the body design to keep up with safety regulations, no doubt.

 

the trim pieces may be a slightly different shade of grey or blue (only colors loyale interiors were available in) but they'll be an exact fit and cover any welding you may have to do. the top part may require that bit of welding, again, but the rest of the seatbelt hardware should bolt right in. *should*

I forget the SOA number but might just go down to a dealership and ask them cause they do have a retrofit kit to put 3 point belts in place of the 2 point ones

hm, i never thought of that I prefer the hard way anyway.

My 80 dl wagon has the bosses in the pillar. Does your pillar have a covering? (mine is metal) It might be there under the covering....

Funny... I had thought of starting a thread like this just yesterday!

 

I have a couple Loyale-type wagons, and my wife really wants rear shoulder belts. I noticed that a coworker had a '92(?) Loyale with the rear shoulder belts, so I looked at it.

 

The mount point is some 10-12 inches behind the b-pillar along roof-line, with a belt stiffener used to bring the belt forward to the seatback area. Looked like it shouldn't be too hard to replicate if I got the right belts.

 

So SOA might have a conversion kit? If they do and if it is reasonable then I would definitely be interested.

 

Some of you may say "so what" if a car does not have rear shoulder belts, since driver never sits back there, right? But many of the new child car seats, especially boosters, pretty much require shoulder belts.

IIRC since it is a safety thing it is actualy rather cheap so might contact teh dealership on it

Having worked testing seatbelts for a bit now, I'd reccomend not changing anything that has to do with seatbelts. the amount of testing that goes into those things would astound you, Unless SOA has a conversion play it safe, unless you are 100% sure that your "engineering" can hold a full size sedan dropping from it, thats what you'd weigh if you get in an accident.

Your safest bet is to replace the belts with the 3-point system from a 1989 wagon. They don't have the inertia reels but they're much easier to install.