Return to the BUILD
“In this phase you will fix the front seat belts to the roll bar; then you will fit the roll bar to the rear trim panels of your Eleanor Mustang model.“
Contents
Parts
Magazine – Issue 18
- Step-by-Step Assembly Guide
- The Beautiful Eleanor: Eleanor, Quite a Price, Toby’s Adventures
- The “Gone in 60 Seconds” Universe: Toby, a First Class Hacker, 60 Seconds Files
- The Cars with Women’s Names: Daniela, Barbara
- Classic Mustangs: 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra
Build
Seat Belts
TIP: While stored in their shipping packaging, these Seat Belts can possibly become ‘wrinkled’ and might look strange if we mount them in the car that way. A quick fix to this is to soak them in hot water for a few minutes. They will soften up and we can then lay them out on a nice flat surface until they cool back down. This will give us nice smooth and realistic belts:
Step 67.1
Slide the buckle on the long single end of the Seat Belt Front Passenger through the slot in the Seat Belt Reel R (marked ‘R’), as shown.
As far as I could tell, both the Seat Belt Driver and Seat Belt Front Passenger are exactly the same – either one can be used here:
Press the hole of the buckle on the long single end of this Seat Belt onto the matching pin inside the Seat Belt Reel, as shown.
There is a recess cut out of the Seat Belt Reel that the buckle fits down into so it only fits one way. It will be secured into place in the next step, but I found that using a tiny drop of super glue here really helps to keep things tidy:
Step 67.2
Retrieve your Roll Bar from the previous kit. Fit the Seat Belt Reel R to this right-side tab of the Roll Bar, oriented as shown below:
Then, secure it into place with one (1) PS14 screw.
Once this Belt Reel is mounted, it will capture the buckle and keep it from falling out:
Steps 67.3-67.4
In the same way, slide the buckle on the long single end of the Seat Belt Driver through the slot in the Seat Belt Reel L (marked ‘L’) and secure the hole of the buckle on the long single end of this Seat Belt onto the matching pin inside the Seat Belt Reel. Then, fit the Seat Belt Reel L to this left-side tab of the Roll Bar, oriented as shown below:
Secure it into place with one (1) PS14 screw:
Step 67.5
BUILD CHANGE: Before we install this Roll Bar, I chose to install the Rear Folding Panel assembly (from Kit 63) into the rear of the Interior here. This Panel is normally installed in Kit 69, but doing it now will make it easier and minimizes any damage to the trim panels. The best way I found to do this was to temporarily remove these three (3) PS05 screws along the bottom of the Lower Left Rear Trim Panel:
Next, I slid the right-side pin of the Rear Folding Panel into the matching hole at this location of the Lower Right Rear Trim Panel:
Then, I gently pulled the Lower Right Rear Trim Panel away from the Interior and the slid the left-side side pin of the Rear Folding Panel into the matching hole at this location:
Finally, I replaced the three PS05 screws holding the Lower Left Rear Trim Panel in place. Our installed Rear Folding Panel should look like this:
Retrieve your Interior assembly from the previous kit. Fit the posts on either end of the Roll Bar into the matching holes at these locations of the Lower Rear Trim Panels.
The two Seat Belt Reels should face the front of the Interior, as shown:
Step 67.6
Secure the left post of the Roll Bar to the Lower Left Rear Trim Panel from the outside with one (1) PS14 screw:
Step 67.7
In the same way, secure the right post of the Roll Bar to the Lower Right Rear Trim Panel from the outside with one (1) more PS14 screw:
Steps 67.8-67.9
Feed the lower buckles of the Seat Belts down through the four matching slots in the Rear Floor (two behind each seat), as shown.
This step can be tricky and you will very likely need to use tweezers here. Also, pay attention to the path of these belts so they do not become twisted. I started with the Seat Belt Driver and inserted the buckle into this outside slot of the driver’s seat:
Then, press the hole of these Seat Belt buckles onto the matching pins of the Rear Floor, as shown.
Again, I highly recommend using a drop of super glue to keep these buckles secured in place:
Next, I inserted the buckle for the inside of the driver’s seat:
This buckle was secured to the Rear Floor in the same way:
Repeat the process to insert and secure the two buckles of the Seat Belt Front Passenger through the matching slots in the Rear Floor:
That step ends this kit. However, while the magazine instructions show these belts behind the seats, they are actually the shoulder belts of a 4-point harness. Therefore, I gently wrapped them around the seats so they laid across the front corners, as seen here:
Thoughts
These Seat Belts were a bit fiddly, but we got there in the end! Keep the four unused Rear Seat Belts nearby for use in the next kit.
Next Up
Kit 68 – Rear Seat Cushions