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Posted by: silverteener Sep 28 2009, 02:13 PM

I know this may sound like a crazy question but has anyone put a car seat in their 914. I have a 72 and my seat belts don't retract. I was just thinking about putting it in to take him to the sitter which is 5 minutes away. Just wondering if anyone has done this. I would turn the airbag off of course!

Thanks

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Sep 28 2009, 02:16 PM

I have thought about it with mine. yes, it would work, but I really don't want to do that. First off, my car is loud, and scares the little guy, and second I don't think it would offer nearly the protection as my regular car.

When he is a little older and can say "Yes" or "No too LOUD" I'll revisit the issue.

Zach

Posted by: TROJANMAN Sep 28 2009, 02:30 PM

I take my kids for rides all of the time. They actually like the louder car I have now, as opposed to the wimpier 2.o I gave to my dad.

I don't think I would feel as comfortable driving them around in a city the size of LA, but around here, they LOVE it.

The Britax car seats have a seat belt clip that work really well.



The only problem is, I have two kids and one passenger seat. They usually fight over who gets to go for a ride.

These are old pics. The kids are bigger now, and so is the engine.


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Posted by: messix Sep 28 2009, 02:33 PM

had one in my car. my daunter was about 3-4 and she loved it!

Posted by: pktzygt Sep 28 2009, 03:08 PM

I have retracting seatbelts and use a CG-Lock on both of my cars that don't have the LATCH system. I do put down a folded over towel on the seats and clip the LATCH clips together behind the seat just in case. The seat won't move. The only problem is, my 2 year old daughter wants the top off no matter what the weather.

Posted by: Shade Tree Sep 28 2009, 03:09 PM

If you take the bottom pad off of the passenger seat, car seats, or at least the one we use, fits right down on the metal and is more stable than any other car I've tried since you are usually trying to get the seat stable on a thick foam cushion. I don't think our seat belts would work too well with a rear facing car seat, though.

Posted by: silverteener Sep 28 2009, 03:11 PM

he's about 17 months. He loves the car. Last night he spent about a 1/2 hour trying to put my truck key into the ignition! I think I might try it tonight!

Posted by: flipb Sep 28 2009, 03:51 PM

Please share lessons learned!

My son is almost 3 and loves "Daddy's yellow race car" as he calls it. My wife permitted me to drive him 10 feet or so, just loosely belted into the passenger seat in the safe confines of the driveway.

I'm planning to strap a carseat in at some point and take him for a real drive. I know that we need a locking clip and we've got one that came with the carseat, but I haven't tried installing it yet - as much as anything, worried about tearing the passenger seat.

I searched the forums on this topic a while back and there were a few helpful comments - but let us know how it works out for you.

Posted by: djm914-6 Sep 28 2009, 03:53 PM

Done the car seat. Done the booster seat. Now just seats (3 with newly installed lap belt in the middle).

Posted by: silverteener Sep 28 2009, 03:58 PM

I'll have to figure mine out. I've only installed them using the latch method. I've never put one in using seatbelts.

Posted by: underthetire Sep 28 2009, 04:01 PM

My neighbor has his car seat in his-6 all the time. It's even a Porsche car seat !

Posted by: silverteener Sep 28 2009, 04:01 PM

What is a CG Lock? I'm thinking that originally came with the seat.. that a probably don't have anymore.

Posted by: pktzygt Sep 28 2009, 06:18 PM

It holds the lap belt in place and lets the shoulder belt move. Keeps your butt planted in the seat. I absolutely love the thing. I have 2 of them. I use it for autocross and driving on the street and have no plans to get a harness.

http://www.cg-lock.com/

Posted by: srb7f Sep 28 2009, 10:35 PM

I went through this exact scenario for my 3 year-old who was just dying to ride in the car. I work in a hospital and have seen too many accidents involving children, and just didn't like the idea of using 35 year old seatbelt fabric to keep my kid in place. I therefore created what I believe to be the first LATCH-type system in a 914 using the factory seatbelt mounts.

All you need is two race harness mounting eyebolts (standard thread) available from Simpson, RacerWholesale, etc., some grade 8 washers, and spacers that I was able to make by reaming out and cutting down a 10mm deep socket that had the right outer diameter. Only downside is that the seat can no longer sit all the way back against the backpad, but 1 click from all the way back is now as far as it can go (no big deal since you can't really see the difference anyhow).

Works great for LATCH belts that Graco seats use, but not Britax. Rock solid carseat mount, even tighter than my wife's CR-V!

Posted by: srb7f Sep 28 2009, 10:37 PM

Posted by: RobW Sep 28 2009, 10:47 PM

+ 1 on the Britax. Its sturdy and you can clamp it in very easily and safely.

Posted by: jaxdream Sep 28 2009, 11:10 PM

Does your state laws allow children to ride in the f r o n t seat ???Check your state laws on this , in Tennessee small children can't ride in the front seat no matter what child seat one uses !! Don't mean to be a bummer , states vary.

Jaxdream

Posted by: Dr Evil Sep 29 2009, 01:43 AM

Front seats are prohibited largely due to air bag concerns. If you only have front seats, like in a truck, I doubt it is a problem.

Posted by: TROJANMAN Sep 30 2009, 10:32 AM

I actually got pulled over for having my kid in the trunk. The cop didn't by the "no back seat" argument.






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Posted by: Ferg Sep 30 2009, 11:15 AM

I do it all the time, use the metal bracket that comes with the car seat to double up the lap belt and the shoulder belt portion as one. Sorta a pain to get it tight but it's the only way with non ratcheting belts.

I like those eyehooks, but my Recaro seat would not clip on, the anchor clips are only wide enough for the new car anchor points.

Ferg.

Posted by: Mark Henry Sep 30 2009, 08:28 PM

I did it with my kids, here it's legal if no air bag and no back seat.

But one day I did have a cop pass me and lock up his brakes, soon as he started to turn around he realized I was legal and he didn't stop me.

Posted by: silverteener Oct 1 2009, 10:00 PM

I tried putting it in tonight but couldn't get th belts tight enought so I'm going to go with the eye bolt method. I think it will work out pretty well. We'll see that happens

Posted by: astronomerdave Oct 2 2009, 11:35 AM

yep, here's another one who has done the regular car seat, and now the booster seat. My daughter was SO excited to be able to sit in the front seat of a car (all the other cars are modern, with air bags). Now that she's getting older she's been asking why the race car (her name for the porsche) doesn't have regular seat belts (non-retracting).

D

Posted by: Phoenix 914-6GT Oct 2 2009, 11:51 PM

I think I will have to look into something but I only have 5 points. Maybe if I use his seat as a booster and then have hime wear my ear muffs. Hmmmmmm.

Posted by: silverteener Oct 5 2009, 09:44 AM

I finally got it in. After looking all over town for a eyebolt that would work and never finding one. I bought a couple eyebolts and a little , then a little and i have eyebolts that work! I also tried it with the seat cushion out but it didn't seem secure enough. Put the seat cushion back in and it's rock solid. I took pics of the new bolts but don't have them with me. sorry

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Oct 5 2009, 11:20 AM

I probably should not say anything here... But I am going to anyway.

srb7f used racing grade harness mounts, and grade 8 hardware to make his latches.

Finding an eye bolt "that would work" and then welding on it more sounds real iffy given that you are going to be strapping your child into it, and that your child's life may depend on it.

Racing stuff gets tested and re-tested. Are you *sure* your welds are perfect, and that the metal did not fatigue during welding, and that a collision stop would not part the bracket? Are you willing to gamble your child's life on it?

I don't mean to be a super PC kill joy. I just act with a higher level of concern when its babies and toddlers on the line, as I know how I would feel if it were my Theo.

Zach

Posted by: srb7f Oct 5 2009, 08:55 PM

Eyebolt kit is $8.95 from Simpson
http://simpsonraceproducts.com/products/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=344&products_id=9114&sort=

Maybe it was another dollar or two for some grade 8 washers.

I forget the exact numbers, but a grade 8 bolt that size is strong enough to suspend your entire car without shearing (maybe 2 914s). I'm sure one of you engineers could chirp in with some more sophisticated numbers, but they're basically as strong as it gets in the world of hardware. Like Zach said, heat, the wrong welding rod material, surface contaminants, etc. can all contribute to weakness in the joint.

For like $20, the insurance is a small price to pay...

Posted by: oldschool Oct 5 2009, 11:06 PM

this my first 914 back in the day with the twins and my lil girl (now 21 years old and my wife)Mexican style sorry can't upload the photo again

Posted by: oldschool Oct 6 2009, 12:07 AM

Here is my photo twins,younger girl(now 21) and my wife. No car seat Mexican style now if I can view this photo the right way can some one flip it for me.

Posted by: silverteener Oct 6 2009, 10:04 AM

I saw those eyebolts on Simpons site but it didn't give any diameter on the bolt so I wasn't sure if it would work but if that is what you ordered I'll do that.


thanks

Posted by: Rod Oct 6 2009, 10:51 AM

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Posted by: srb7f Oct 6 2009, 10:28 PM

I believe it is a standard thread for any seatbelt mounting bolts/eyebolts, etc. The harness mounting bolts I bought from racerwholesale to mount the 6 point harness on the driver's side has the same exact thread.

As far as I can tell, they're designed for harnesses where you take out the factory seatbelt mounting bolts and run an eyebolt right in to mount whatever harness you want.