The time has come

[rdub]

So now the 2 year old is a five year old and i dont have shoulder belts,this was my biggest delema with the choice i made in Deli land,you see selfish as i am (or was at the time) i HAD to have a 5speed Delica with NO glass on the roof and slider windows,this venture took me over a year to find till, one day looking at the incoming shipments of Deli's on line there he was ,The One,as i went to work the next day i was so worried someone else would grab it. So i suddenly felt sick and really needed to go "home"from work. The second i got into my big stupid gas suckin f150 and after pulling a pathetic fast one on the foreman i sped down to the place in which he would soon arrive, and said when is it going to be here he whens what going to be here,I did not want to say,for there was other Deli browsers in the midst,so i said The one with no glass on the roof ,oh! that one,one week he replied i then said il give you a deposit ,he said ok and thats my story ,soooooo i need to figure out how to put in one shoulder belt ,drivers side. Please pick at you brain for me this Van is our life line to freedom.

Thanks
Rich and fam.

[Luna-Sea]

Heh Heh,
I commend you on your actions towards you noble 5-speed steed!

I want to upgrade as well at some point.
Not quite in the same rush as you,so your up!
It is do-able I think,just take a bit of welding for the strong points
to bolt on to, I would think.
Compare it to a later 3 point model to figure your templates.
Grab the belts from CC auto, Amazing Auto or the like.
Of course you will post some pics eh?


Right ON!

If you have nobody around with a 3 point to compare to ,PM me I will send you some pics.

[rdub]

Yes pics of all sorts of the belt assembly and cofiguration would help if anyone has an open belt system to veiw,i will make it happen ,it just needs to be safe and ive got about 2" left in the car seat he is in now. Thanks EVERYONE for you hopefully incoming input. I will take lots of pics for the forum fam's who may be or will be in the same sitch.

Rich.

[Erebus]

I presume you are referring to putting in shoulder belts for the second or third row seats?

If so, you basically can't retrofit shoulder belts. Yes, you can physically mount them, but the post-Aug-1991-built Delicas that come with factory shoulder belts have some major structure in the walls to provide strength. The pre-Aug ones don't have that reinforcements, so any belts mounted would not have the strength and provide only illusionary safety.

There was discussion on this about 1-2 years ago, a search of older posts should find them. I seem to remember there were photos of the differences.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

[after oil]

im with erebus.. i dont have kids, but i would only trust the auto manufactures to make a car safe for babies. glen at CCAuto showed me the difference inside where there is a belt and in one where there isnt, its pretty weak inthere..
itll be easier to put slider wondows in a newer 5 speed with no glass inthe roof...

[Luna-Sea]

Yuppers it's a bummer.
I talked with Glen from CCautos yesterday in person
about that predicament and a bunch of other
nebulous(to me anyway) topics.
He concurred with above post (Erebus an After Oil) ,in that it
would be of great hassle and expense to
do it and anything short of great reinforcement
would only provide only a visual result.

I am a little choked about it,but
maybe some of the other solutions
members have come up with can
buy you some time.

I was really hoping it would
be more easily do-able

Good Luck

[Erebus]

Rich,

I've been thinking more about your problem, and I've come up with several possibilities. I'm assuming you have second row captain's chairs, but I think it can work with bench too.

1) have your five-year-old sit in the front passenger seat, it has shoulder belts.

2) sit in the captain's chair with it facing rearward, especially with the arm rests down. Since most accidents involve sudden deceleration, he would simply be pushed back into the seat, with the lap belt holding him in place.

3) visit a shop that works on race and rally cars, and see about putting in a 4-point harness. I'm thinking that with the captain's chair facing forward, the shoulder harness could be anchored to the bolts that anchor the third row seat. If not, the shop might have some ideas.

I sure hope you can figure out something other than trading in your Delica for a newer one that has shoulder belts.

Good luck!

[mararmeisto]

If you got a model year after '92 (?), it comes with shoulder belts in the rear...

...otherwise you can't retrofit them. Not enough structural support in the pillars, no mounting plates in the sides or floor.

Sorry dude, we've had this conversation before on this forum and one of the mechanics pulled apart the inside of a wrecked van to look around.

[thedjjack]

Other option is to add an internal roll cage and mount should straps to the cage (better then the factory mounts). Look at jeeps with cages. Just need $$$. Again go to a race shop that does custom cages.

[FalcoColumbarius]

At risk of sounding politically incorrect.... What is wrong with the lap belt in this situation? I am trying to remember here but when my son was five... I think he was three feet tall? Rich, have you sat your child in a shoulder belt configuration? How does the shoulder belt rest in relation to his or her neck/throat/jugular? There have been instances where the shoulder belt was the cause of fatality.

Falco.

[loki]

shoulder belts go along with booster seats (up to a certain size), lap belts don't require boosters, but then there is the thought of you childs torso flopping up and down in a crash . a lap belt and rear facing is far safer than a should belt (even with booster) facing forwards imo.

[FalcoColumbarius]

We have had this discussion before somewhere. I remember it being pointed out that it was not so much the action as it was the re-action that led to whiplash. A booster seat under a seat belt.... that seems a little unstable to me with weight shifting in an accident and all.
Falco.

[loki]

We have had this discussion before somewhere. I remember it being pointed out that it was not so much the action as it was the re-action that led to whiplash. A booster seat under a seat belt.... that seems a little unstable to me with weight shifting in an accident and all.
Falco.

the reaction is negligible if it is forcing the head in a forward motion as the neck can handle that much better than the snap backwards if facing forwards, there is a reason that you are supposed to keep you kids in a rear facing car seat as long as possible (in Europe they do it longer than we do I'm told).

[dfnder]

A few years ago I remember seeing a tv program about airline safety where they said it would be far more safer on an airline if they took all the seats, except pilots and made them rear facing. The only reason they have not done it is the airlines fear less people would enjoy flying facing backwards. I would have them sit in the captains chairs and face rearward.

I have a 91 and my van has shoulder straps in the rear, I dont mind if my kids have the chairs turned around (shoulder straps not usable) because I figure this is just as safe.