Automatic Seatbelts to Manual Belt Conversion = weight s

[TsiMiata]

Considering that the manual belts are MUCH safer than the auto ones I don't see how they could complain. One auto website I looked at actually warned against buying a 92-93 MX-3 because of the safety of the passive restraint system.

[Gro Harlem]

I could honestly care less what the law states. I'm sure what I did was illegal but I don't care. I buckle up every time I am in my car. When i had those power seatbelts, I never used the lapbelt. I'm sure that is more unsafe than buckling up the factory 3-point manual belts.

And it gives me peice of mind actually FEELING the belt touching my shoulder/chest as i'm driving. My power seatbelt never really touched me unless I adjusted the seat when ppl are in the back or something.....not very reassuring.

[RodbeyBur]

My driver side power belt is broken and I was thinking about doing the manual conversion. I noticed that after the conversion the seatbelt light will stay on.

Is there a way to fix this so the light doesn't stay on. I'm guessing the manual belts have a sensor on them, so when you click in the light would go off. Is it as simple as just rerouting the sensor wire from the auto seatbelts?

[Gro Harlem]

doesn't stay on for me. If it does, just loop a wire through the plug that goes to the lapbelt reels

[TsiMiata]

I haven't pulled the seatbelt ecu yet. I'm hoping my light goes off when I yank it.

[Gro Harlem]

[kulluminati777]

you would think almost every question was answered here but i had one....did any one take pictures while they were doing this conversion i mean im keeping my original a pillar and b pillar until i get a new head liner but

-i cant get my armrest (big one in the back) to go back one with out breaking it HELP!
-i had to cut my auto seat belt thing (the one that runs along the top of the door) in a couple of places did anyone else have to do this and Gro harlem are u still in germany bro maybe u can come and help me or i can pay u to do it lol

[davmac]

If you want to replace the rear side panel without tearing the plastic you’ll need to remove the bottom and back of the back seat. With full access you’ll be able to replace the side panel without tearing things up.
I’m not sure what you did to your power seat belt track. Since I did not replace the A and B pillar trim or the head liner I cut the lines from the seatbelt motor and then popped a couple of pins from the end piece of the seat belt track. Then you can remove the latch and the cable from the track. After the latch was removed from the track reassemble the end piece to the track and install the track above the door so the head liner and trim pieces can be reused. See pics below (click on the thumbnails for full size):

[kulluminati777]

this was the part i was talking about i mean i plan on using the manuel a and b pillar once i can get a head liner but for now (until who knows) ill roll with this modified stuff lol

[kulluminati777]

Instaling the new belts:
-bolt up seatbelt assembly behind rear panel first, then bolt the top anchor through the B pillar trim & finally bolt the lower anchor to the carpet (you will need to cut a peice out to do this)






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so i bolted the seat belt assembly behind the rear panel and now im have two problems on the auto seat belt rail i removed the end like davmac said but one of the old pieces that originally held the b pillar on is in the way is it easier to cut or bend out the way (mind u id rather ask than do it first its cold as **** outside) and when i go to bolt the top part of the seat belt in the screw that came with it doesnt want to fit in the frame of the car did i miss some instruction saying to replace this with a different bolt? please help this getting me so fraustraded i been driving with any seat belts for a week now lol

[davmac]

I’ve meant to put together a proper how-to, but haven’t gotten around to it. Here is a mini how-to convert to manual belts that should get your project completed. I don’t like the thought of driving without seatbelts. There are too few MX-3 fans we can’t be taking any chances. I've included the thumbnails in this reply. Click on the thumbnails for the full size picture so you can see the details.

I found that I had to shave some metal off both the old automatic belt track and the flange of the upper seatbelt anchor.
The seatbelt track modification is shown here -you can see why you have to trim both for fitment:


Here you can see both the seatbelt track and the upper seatbelt anchor trimmed:


Another view of the upper seatbelt anchor trimmed:



You also have to add some holes and trim some plastic to reuse the old automatic belt trim pieces. You need to make a hole in the b-pillar for the top seatbelt anchor. Several pictures follow to show where to make that 1” hole.

The hole needs to be centered about 1.5” from the side:

And about 4.75” from the bottom:


You also need to notch the trim piece at the side of the seat to allow the belt to pass up to the top anchor.

This picture shows the position and length (about 0.5” from the end and about 3.5” long):


This is how the b-pillar and lower trim look together:

[kulluminati777]

yes yes yes and yes lol thanks alot i think now i will be able to get my project rolling demac u should really do a how to asap but yeah i got one more for ya when u take of the original center console there sits the original shoulder belt reel now once u remove that there is this wierde black thing held on by 2 bolts i removed tose bolts but i cant get the darn thing out do i leave that in there or no

[kulluminati777]

What is this thing and how do i remove it



<


what are these


this goes where!?!?



diffrent angle do i even need to remove this and if so how!?




thats just funny

[john1983]

ok so i my self have been thinkin about replacin my auto belts with manual sence i bought my car with the deffective driver belt stays in rear most position ive been just using the emergency release also in a few of the prior post there where statements about the requirements of airbags to autobelts was the 92 mx3 equipped with driver a/b and auto belts? i noticed that my steering wheel center looked like it may have had an air bag that was either removed or deployed and never replaced but there are no lights on my dash for my bag needing replaced and what i did to shut off my belt light was just take the light out lol

[davmac]

Good for you. You got the seatbelt guides (What are these?). These are mounted with 2 bolts under the top shoulder belt anchor point. You can see the indentations in the sheet steel in the photo below. You’ll have to take my word for it that there are weld nuts or threads there also:

In this diagram you can see the guide brackets that are used to guide the seatbelt behind the lower trim piece along the side of your back seat.


(What is this and how do I remove it?) Pull the carpeting back and you'll find it is anchored by large torx bolts IIRC. You may need to get some torx bits that can be driven by a ratchet to remove.
The center consoles in cars with manual seat belts are different – they don’t have to cover up the lap belt reel. If you have the manual seat belt console use it and you’ll have more storage. The bracket in your picture is part of the shoulder belt reel and guide and can be removed. I believe the shoulder belt reel and bracket is held with some torx fasteners (can’t remember the exact size). See the diagram below:


The bracket you have (this goes where?!?) goes in the same place that the shoulder belt reels and guides. You should not have to alter the bracket That bracket is used to anchor the back portion of the center console: