Installing a manual seat belt system into a ’92 SVX



Installing a manual seat belt system into a ’92 SVX by alia176

This project outlines most of the necessary steps into removing the automatic seat belt system out of my ’92 SVX and installing a manual seat belt system out of a ’95 SVX. This is a fairly simple but a time consuming project, so allow the better part of a day. I apologize in advance if I forget to mention anything but I think I got most of it!

Items needed out of a ’95 SVX:

• Manual seat belts for both driver and passenger

• Upper seat belt guide (hidden behind the side trim pieces)

• Upper trim piece for both sides (along the ceiling edge)

• Grab handle and backing plate on the passenger side

• Rear seat bottom cushion plastic retaining clips (quick release clips that allows you to remove the seat cushion)

• Extra plastic trim piece clips (those annoying retaining clips that we all end up breaking at one time or another!)

• If you really want to get crazy, grab the carpet and the center console too. They’re slightly different than what we have in the auto seat belt equipped vehicles.

Tools needed:

• 10, 14 mm socket and wrenches

• trim piece removal tool (sort of a prying tool for those pesky trim clips)

• Phillips and flat head screwdrivers

• Work light

• Duct tape (dark, grey color preferably to match the grey carpeting)

If you’re doing this project in the winter time, it’s best to heat up the interior of the vehicle for half an hour or so. Doing so decreases the chances of breaking plastic trim pieces, clips, etc. You’ll need to remove the front seats, center console and the rear seat cushion. I tried to do this project without removing the seats but it just wasn’t worth the headache. So here we go!

1. Begin by removing the front seats. This is accomplished by removing the four mounting bolts. These bolts are under the plastic covers that are easily removed. If you turn the plastic covers over, you’ll note that they are marked for LH or RH. This will come in handy later during the re-installation phase. On the driver side, begin by moving the seat back all the way forward before removing the four mounting bolts. Remove the four bolts and flip the seat onto its back. You need to disconnect the two connectors and remove the seat out of the vehicle. The passenger seat has no connectors and it’s actually lighter than the driver’s seat.

2. Remove the rear seat cushion. You can feel the two plastic clips near the front of the cushion. Push down gently and pull the cushion upward. The cushion is attached at the rear with two metallic brackets. You’ll need to push the cushion down in the rear and then pull it forward.

3. Remove the side interior wall trim pieces by removing the two plastic Phillips located on the floor. After you remove the plastic screws, pull out the screw holders. If you can’t pull these out, they’ll come out when you pop the side interior wall out. One screw will be visible where the bottom cushion was. The other plastic screw is visible by folding the rear seat back down. Gently pry the interior wall piece by starting at the bottom edge of the door and working your way upward. You’ll need to disconnect the power window connector. Here’s what you should see once the interior wall is removed:

[pic]

4. Remove the top trim pieces by gently prying them out. On the passenger side, you’ll need to remove the grab handle first. Remove the seat belt motor and the track from the car by unscrewing the 10mm bolts.

[pic] [pic]

10mm bolts

Rear belt travel limit switch Front belt travel limit switch.

5. Now remove the trim piece on the sill by popping the plastic clips out gently.

[pic]

Gently pry here

6. Now, it’s time to remove those rear cushion seat clips from the floor in order to fold the carpet back. This by far is the most PITA item to remove without destroying it! That’s why I recommend getting another set just in case. I ended up destroying mine! If you’re careful, you can move the carpet out from underneath the clips without removal.

[pic] [pic]

7. It’s time to remove the center console. Open up the center cubby, lift out the bottom liner piece and unscrew the three screws. There are two more screws hidden under the trim piece by the shifter area. Remove these two screws and work the center console out of the vehicle. You may have to remove the actual piece that surrounds the shifter to make things easier.

[pic] [pic]

8. You can now remove the lap belt retractor that was under the center console by removing the 14mm bolts. This is a great time to vacuum/shampoo in a usually inaccessible area! I also took the opportunity to replace the shifter illumination light bulb at this time.

[pic]

9. Next thing to remove is the trunk and fuel flap release mechanism cover. Slip off the plastic knobs and unscrew the two screws. Work the plastic cover off.

[pic]

10. Now it’s time to move your attention to the door sill area and undo the carpet and peel it back. I used a bungee cord to pull it out of the way. Then remove the long, white plastic trim piece that was hiding under the carpet. It’s held in place by three plastic nuts. Two under the front foot well and one under the passenger feet area.

[pic][pic]

Peel the carpet back from the sill. Long plastic piece held by three plastic nuts.

Bungee cord holding up the carpet

11. Next item is the removal of the lap belt retractor that’s located in a cubby hole inside the sill. First, remove the plastic piece by unscrewing one screw. Second, you’ll need to unbolt the two 14mm nuts and extract the whole thing. The retractor is located inside a plastic box. I put the empty box back inside the sill and placed a grey masking tape over it. The grey tape sort of blends in with the grey carpet, which is desirable because this will be visible when you’re all done.

[pic] Plastic box

12. We’re now going to install the manual seat belt retractor starting with the driver side of the vehicle. The following pics will take you through this step:

[pic]

13. Cut two holes in this are to expose the two threaded holes behind the vapor barrier. If you look closely at these locations, you’ll see that Subaru actually placed an X in these spots on the vapor barrier!

14. Here’s a picture of the retractor installed without the vapor barrier to give you a better idea where the retractor ends up at. The retractor uses one 14mm and one 10mm bolts

[pic]

15. Now, you’ll need to mount the belt guide using two 10mm bolts. The threaded holes are there already.

[pic]

Belt guide

16. Let’s move to the upper seat belt mounting area. This mounting area is the same location where the auto seat belt track was bolted to using a 14mm bolt. You can do a dry run and install the upper seat belt mount here to see how things will look. However, you’ll need to install the replacement upper trim before mounting this permanently at this location.

[pic] [pic]

Replacement upper trim.

You’re almost there! Now, we’re going to install the lower lap belt mount where the cubby hole is. Notice that you removed two 14mm bolts to get the old lap belt retractor out. You’ll be using the forward bolt hole to mount the new manual seat belt anchor. Unfortunately, the large hole stays open since we removed the large plastic piece that used to hide the previous lap belt retractor. However, the seats do good job of hiding this large hole.

Cut this tab (comes with the belt) down to about ½” and stick it through this hole

[pic] [pic]

Rear 14mm hole Forward 14mm hole Plastic box tucked in here with grey duct tape.

You’re now DONE with the manual belt installation.

You’ll need to reinstall the following back into the vehicle:

• Rear seat cushion. Be sure that the back of the cushion is inserted into the brackets properly. Don’t forget to thread the seat belts through the cushion.

• Center console if you haven’t done so already (five screws)

• Long grey plastic piece with three plastic nuts

• Carpet edge on the sill (snaps into the grey plastic piece)

• Trunk and fuel flap door release mechanism plastic cover (two screws)

• Install the upper trim and snap into place.

• Install the passenger side grab bar.

• Install the upper seat belt mount using the 14mm bolt

• Install the side trims. Don’t forget the two plastic Phillips

• Install the sill cover plastic piece with four snaps

• Install the seats. Plug in the two connectors under the driver seat

The finished product should like this:

[pic] [pic]

Driver side Passenger side

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’RE DONE!!!!

You should have a pile on the floor that looks like this:

[pic]

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