Rear shoulder belts?

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nxtdrnaybr

nxtdrnaybr

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I am looking to put some shoulder/3point seatbelts in the rear seats of my 68 Barracuda Convertible. Has anybody done this? If so, can you give me some advice or tips?

I haven't pulled the seats out yet, but thought I heard maybe in 68 there might already be some upper mounting holes for shoulder belts, anyone know if this is true?

My 7yr old son rides in the back, so looking to keep him secure. Up until now I've gotten away with a full car seat with a full harness, but he has outgrown it now.
 
nxtdrnaybr said:
I am looking to put some shoulder/3point seatbelts in the rear seats of my 68 Barracuda Convertible. Has anybody done this? If so, can you give me some advice or tips?

I haven't pulled the seats out yet, but thought I heard maybe in 68 there might already be some upper mounting holes for shoulder belts, anyone know if this is true?

My 7yr old son rides in the back, so looking to keep him secure. Up until now I've gotten away with a full car seat with a full harness, but he has outgrown it now.
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I’m watching. I’m nearing this exact scenario with my ‘73 Swinger. My 7-year old loves to take the Dart everywhere but is nearing the weight limit on his seat.
 
This is my 69 fastback so it might not be what you're looking for?? It did work great for my kids though!!

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Now that my GTS is getting on he road my boys (soon to be 8 and 11) like to ride in it. I need to do something int he rear too. There was factory optioned rear shoulder belts. @mbaird has a set from a Charger.
 
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nxtdrnaybr said:
I am looking to put some shoulder/3point seatbelts in the rear seats of my 68 Barracuda Convertible. Has anybody done this? If so, can you give me some advice or tips?

I haven't pulled the seats out yet, but thought I heard maybe in 68 there might already be some upper mounting holes for shoulder belts, anyone know if this is true?

My 7yr old son rides in the back, so looking to keep him secure. Up until now I've gotten away with a full car seat with a full harness, but he has outgrown it now.
Click to expand...
"Search" is your friend!
Convertibles with 3 point seat belt conversion?
Add Shoulder belts to 66 Dart Conv?
a sebring interior for my 66 dart
and others...
 
The factory shoulder belt option was for the front seats, not the back. Anything you do will be suspect from an engineering point of view, but with that said we are planning something similar for my son's Dart convertible. One of the things we need to go get is one of the bars that the car seat attaches to at the bottom (his kids a 3 and not yet 1). After that we'll look at some of the factory upper mounts and either duplicate them or swap them in.

As for three point for older kids in boosters, we haven't thought about that yet...
 
Trust me, I've searched hear and google. Plenty of info on converting the front seats, and found a few related to rear seats for non-convertibles. But, I haven't seen any pics or advice on a successful rear seat conversion. Though hopeful some ideas will come out of this thread since it seems I am not the only one interested.....
 
1969 I know rear seat shoulder belts were offered optional on hardtop coupes, and fastbacks . My sons 69 barracuda coupe the package tray has provisions for that. 67-68 did not. It was an odd not often ordered option. Probably why they dropped it.
 
i'll be doing rear 3 point belts in my valiant. that's part of the reason i'm fabing more structure back there and tying it into the floor shock mount area. also have an idea for rear head rests that shouldn't be too obtrusive
 
I have a notch and I did 3 rear shoulder belts. I hope the picture comes through. The retractors are on the underside of the package tray which I reinforced with a large piece of thicker alum under each retractor. The shoulder belt is the stabilized under the factor seat belt buckle location.

I only have this picture on my phone but I can get better pictures with the weekend.

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ptptCuda said:
I have a notch and I did 3 rear shoulder belts. I hope the picture comes through. The retractors are on the underside of the package tray which I reinforced with a large piece of thicker alum under each retractor. The shoulder belt is the stabilized under the factor seat belt buckle location.

I only have this picture on my phone but I can get better pictures with the weekend.

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Those look like they belong there. That’s great. Do you mind sharing where you got those for the rear?
 
I think I got the retractors from one of the many seat belt suppliers that are online, so nothing special there. I think that on both far sides of the package tray there are factory "slits" for the seatbelts and I then cut a third "slit" for the middle belt. I'm going to my shed tomorrow and I will then be able to upload all the pictures you need to show you how I did this
 
Yep, 69 coupe has rectangle holes in the package tray, along with 2 round holes, probably for a trim cover.
 
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of my rear seatbelt set up. But I remembered now how I did it. I bolted the seatbelt retractors to the reinforced factory lap belt hold down the floor (this took a longer grade 8 fine bolt). The shoulder belt head went up and through the “slits” in the package tray. I used 2 pieces of thick Al bolted to the package tray so that the belt “head” would not go through the belt “slits” back into the retractors when not in use. I know this post is wordy but without pictures you have to add 1000 words.

Lastly, Know that I’m not a seatbelt or car safety expert in any way. I only take responsibility for the safety of my family when they ride with me and know that if I sell my car these shoulder belts will be taken out as they are definitely not a factory safety option.
 
I welded a reinforced bar to mine and used the stock sebring convertible mounts and placement the open areas got filled up with 3"L ,1/4" thick angle and a beam 2.25" x48" underneath the crossbar was 1/4" plate steel bolted and welded together for support, the weak point is not the wheel tubs but they are getting a "bucket seat stiffener approach after I test things out.
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I like what you did for added support, and I think I will add a welded-in psudo roll bar that reaches up to just under the package tray as a means to better stabilize the shoulder belts. Being a novice welder is definately my weaness in design, great job with the rear belts.
 
Update.... I ordered and and installed a set of the wesco 4 point shoulder belts on one side in the rear seat. I was a pretty easy install once I managed to get the seats out. I ran the top tether in between the seat and the boot bracket. Seems to work well with my 7yr old in a booster seat.
 
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