93GT seat belts in a 88GT

[webshot]

bah, my black interior swap is full of road blocks. Well I discovered another. Front seat belts. Seems they were made different in the 90+ years. ANyone have any advice or tips for getting these seat belts to work? Seems I will have to drll/cutout a notch for this to work. But before I do just wanted to see what otthers have done to get 90-93 seat belts to work in 87-89.

ANy input greatly appreciated.

 

[trbkrb]

The only change I did was to drill a new upper mount hole in my 90 model quarter panels and then I bolted the retractors to the same location. It has been a few years so I may have bent the bracket to fit them, don't recall exactly, but they have been working just fine. You may have to rotate them a bit on the bolt to get the locking mechanism to unlock in the right position, but they should go in pretty easily.

I plan to install some 2003 belts I got on ebay so I can use the newer style buckles on my 2002 seats. But that is a project for another day.

Good luck on it!

 

[webshot]

On mine the problem doesnt seem to be the hole for the retractor bolt, but the hole for the tab from the seat belt retractor. It is located in a different area than my 88 seat belt. I'll see if I can get a picture. I am sure I can dremel out a little hole/cutout for the seat belt but I want to make sure there is not another method. I know someone had to have done this swap before me. Wondering how they did it.,

 

[trbkrb]

I think I bent the tab straight on mine to let them fit. IMO the only reason for the tab is to keep the assembly line workers from installing them off level, resulting in a necessary repair if the belts lock up from being installed in an incorrect location. That was the easiest solution to me, but you can cut a hole if you want to.

 

[webshot]

Just wondering? Seems like that tab would keep the isolator stable to keep the little locking mechanism working. I dont want to sacrifice safety for the seat belt to work (seems like a contradiction...lol.) Anyway, thanks for the insight. Anyone else take a diff route to this type of swap or have some advice?

Thanks

 

[Mustang5L5]

Sell them and buy 1990 seat belts.


The only direct swap years for black front seatbelts are 79-84 and 1990. In 1991-1993, the tab was changes as you've just found out.

I went through the same BS before just specifically searching for 1990 seatbelt. It was plug and play at that point.

 

[webshot]

Yea I am thinking that is my best re-course at this point. I am not too big on cutting the metal for the tab. Thanks!