Mustang 3-Point Retractable Seat Belts (1968-1973) Installation Instructions
These Retractable 3-Point Seat Belts will fit 1965-1973 Mustang fastbacks and 1968-1973 Mustang coupes.
Safety is important when driving your 1968-1973 Mustang coupe or 1965-1973 Mustang fastback, and you can make it even safer with new Retractable 3-Point Seat Belts! Classic Mustangs only came with lap belts, so these stylish chrome push button seat belts will not only make your Mustang's interior look better, but will keep you much safer should the unthinkable happen and you're in an accident.
Tools Required:
- Drill
- Drill Bit Set with 5/16-inch & 1/2-inch bits
- 1/2-inch Box Wrench
- 5/8-inch Box Wrench & Socket
- Socket Wrench & Extension
- Flat Head & Phillips Head Screw Driver
- Blade or Exacto Knife
- Duct Tape
Install Difficulty:
- Moderate Project
1. To begin installing your new Mustang 3-Point Retractable Seat Belt, climb into the back of your car and remove the Phillips head screws holding the trim that affixes to the bottom of the interior quarter panel vent trim assembly and remove from car.
2. Remove the Phillips head screws holding the Mustang quarter panel vent trim and remove it from the car. These are made of fiberglass with the actual vents being made of metal. Depending on their condition, they can be flimsy so be careful not to damage them during the removal, or you’ll be buying new ones. As you can see from the picture, my original metal vents are pitted and need replacing, but that’s a job for another day.
3. Remove the Mustang windlace just enough to expose the headliner from around the read quarter panel and pillar. If your windlace is old, or discolored, now would be a good time to replace it. Otherwise, only remove what you have to in order to expose the edge of the headliner around the pillar. You do not need to remove all of the windlace and only remove it if you’re replacing it or actual need to.
4. Remove the coat hooks using a Phillips head screw driver from where they’re affixed to the Mustang headliner and store them. The headliner is glued and wrapped around the sheet metal that you’ve removed the windlace from and you’ll have to carefully pull it back. The glue is old, but still holding well, so be very careful as you pry it loose with a flat head screw driver. Once you have an edge of the headliner freed along the pillar, you can carefully pull it away from the metal while using the screw driver to pull it back. Be very careful not to damage your headliner, or you’ll be replacing it too. You do not have to remove the headliner all the way around and you only need to remove it around the pillar area to get to the anchor bolt hole. Once you have the windlace off and the headliner pulled away from the edge, it should look like the picture below, showing the pillar exposed and the windace still attached at the bottom of the pillar.
5. When you pull up the headliner right above the rear of the door near the pillar, you’ll see three round holes. Working on the driver’s side, the first hole from left to right is the coat hook screw mounting hole. The middle hole isn’t used in this project and the larger, round hole is our factory anchor point bolt hole. Clearly, Ford was prepared in 1967 for the legal requirement to come in 1968. This is the factory anchor point bolt hole designed by Ford. The factory anchor point bolt hole doesn’t have a nut to screw into on the opposite side, but this kit provides the hardware to complete the installation.
6. Now that we’ve found your anchor bolt hole, you’ll need to cut a hole through your headliner so that you can thread the anchor bolt through. Using a blade or exacto knife, cut a hole through the headliner at the anchor bolt hole location. You should be able to feel the anchor bolt hole through the headliner with your fingers now that the headliner is loose. Make sure you’re making the hole in the right spot by first feeling for the anchor bolt hole and then lifting the headliner to make certain that you’ll be making the hole in the right spot.
7. We’re now ready to mount the Mustang seat belt to our pillar factory anchor bolt hole. Remove the plastic cover from the seat belt as shown below to gain access to the bolt head. Remove both washers from the bolt.
8. Push the Mustang front seat belt shoulder bolt through the hole we made in the headliner and through the pillar factory anchor point hole. It’s a really tight fit, so if you can’t thread it into the hole by hand, use a 5/8 box wrench or socket to thread the bolt in as shown below.
9. We’ve reached the toughest part of the installation, which is placing the lock washer on the end of the bolt and then affixing a locking nut onto it. The reason this is the tough part is because the small inch sized hole to the right of our mounting hole is too small to insert your fingers into in order to place your lock washer and nut on the bolt end. I also found that my hands were too big to reach the bolt through the large opening on the quarter panel. So I had to get creative! Place the locking nut into the 5/8 box wrench and put a piece of duct tape around it to hold it in place.
10. Insert the box wrench into the larger hole in the quarter panel and turn the bolt either by hand or with a socket and extension to tighten. This will take some patience to finally get the nut threaded onto the bolt, but after a lot of time trying using my hands and failing, I found this to be most effective and I had the nut tightened within a few minutes.
11. I left the box wrench in place and set the plastic cap on, just to test and check for fit and look during the installation. The mechanism will have to swivel a little bit, so don’t over tighten the bolt/nut to where it doesn’t move it all. If you over tighten it, you can damage your headliner too.
12. With the above done, we’re now going to turn our effort to installing the Mustang seat belt retractor unit to the floor. Pull the carpet back as well as any insulation to expose the floor. I simply measured an inch from the wall to drill a mounting hole because I wanted the retractor unit to be as out of the way as possible. I recommend assembling the retractor unit with the mounting hardware and then placing it on the floor to determine the best location and fit. The assembled retractor unit is shown below and when mounted will also need some swivel room for the arm to move in order to position the lap belt properly and comfortably.
13. Once you have the placement determined, drill a pilot hole with a 5/16-inch drill bit and test the retractor assembly for placement. If you’re happy with the placement, affix the 1/2-inch drill bit to your drill and drill into your pilot hole you previously made.
14. I decided to drill a hole through my Mustang carpet and mount the anchor bolt through the carpet since I have rear mats that cover the bolt assembly.
15. Place a supplied anchor washer beneath the floor onto the bolt, place another washer over it and affix a locking nut as shown and tighten.
16. The final stage of the installation of your new Mustang seat belt is to install the buckle end into an existing factory anchor point on the tunnel which is depending on seats installed, usually behind them if pushed forward on the track all the way. If your car has had a new rug installed, it may be covering up the holes. The anchor mounting holes and anchors can be located beneath the car along the tunnel as shown too.
17. Simply install the buckle end into the existing factory anchor point with the bolts supplied. These factory anchor points in the tunnel should be threaded and you can screw the anchor bolt right in. I decided to affix a locking nut on top of the anchor point since everything else on this installation has locking nuts, so why not put them here too.
18. Place the included plastic cover over the bolt access hole of the buckle end when through tightening into the existing factory anchor point with the bolts supplied.
19. Here’s the new Mustang 3-Point Retractable Seat Belt. Repeat the same instructions on the passenger side.
