I Put a Child Seat in an '88 Coupe

[Dooodahman]

I know that from time to time the question about child seats pops up, so I thought I would post my solution that I implemented today.

I bought a Britax Boulevard 70 G3 at BabysR'Us. Britax Boulevard 70 G3 Convertible Car Seat - Cavalier - Britax - Babies "R" Us

I initially tried it with the seatback removed, but it was reclined too far and my son had no room for his legs, so I replaced the seat back. However, when reinstalling the seat, I did not reattach the carpet on the back of the seat (you'll see why, below.)

I am using the other side's seat belt as you can see here:



With this car seat, when you use the opposite buckle, the seatbelt is fully extended and very tight, which removes the issues some have with the fact that our retractors are not ALR.

Also, I like that this seat has built in locks, so you don't have to use the H Clip that other seats require. These locks clamp down on both pieces of the seatbelt (shoulder and lap) as you feed it through the back tunnel. There is one at the entry of the tunnel and another at the exit. You can see the entry lock here:



Even though it was pretty tight, it could still tip forward a bit, so I felt like it needed an upper tether. For this I fed the tether down behind the seat back (this is why you need to detach the carpet) and clipped the tether to the bolt that normally holds the seatbelt receptacle. I removed the seatbelt receptacle, since I was not using it, loosened the bolt, attached the tether clip and tightened it back down. You can see the tether attached to the bolt here:



And in the first picture above, you can see the buckle and the tether strap routed under the setback

All in all, I am really happy with this setup. With this setup I am able to use all factory mounting points, which I think is a plus. And it is in there really solidly, this seat is not going anywhere. The passenger seat does have to be all the way forward, but that is fine for us (my wife is only 5'2"). And my son likes it too!

Of course, what works for me may not work for you, so I encourage you all to do what you think is best for your car and your situation.

[christiandk]

Great post,

Just to be clear do you have 3 points or only lap belts? Could you post a picture of the whole setup?

Christian

[Dooodahman]

Just to be clear do you have 3 points or only lap belts? Could you post a picture of the whole setup?

My '88 came with three point belts from the factory and that is what I am using. I'll snap a photo of the seat this morning and post later.

[Dooodahman]

Here are a couple (lousy indoor iPhone) photos of the seat installed:

[Sputnik]

I have a Recaro child seat in my 1988 Targa installed. There is enough room, I can even put it behind the drivers seat. Attachment is on the normal legal way like in any car with the three-point seat-belt:





With a second child being born in April, I would ask if someone has experiences with using a baby seat like a Maxi Cosi (cabriofix)
I can install it behind the passenger seat, but the passenger seat has to be all in the front. I was thinking about removing the back of the rear-seat for 2 years.

[Dooodahman]

Originally Posted by Sputnik

With a second child being born in April, I would ask if someone has experiences with using a baby seat like a Maxi Cosi (cabriofix)
I can install it behind the passenger seat, but the passenger seat has to be all in the front. I was thinking about removing the back of the rear-seat for 2 years.

At least with my car forward facing seat, the seat back was not the problem, it was the fact that the seat bottom is so small. I could not make any use of the extra space you gain by removing the seat back, because the seat bottom doesn't get bigger when you remove the back. Without the seatback, the child seat can tilt back further, but cannot slide back further....if that makes sense. And tilted back, it actually gave my child less room for his legs because they hit higher up on the back of the seat in front of him, where it is closer to him, instead of being lower where the seat curves away.

But with a rear facing, it may have some benefit of extra leg room for the child, so I would try both ways.

Hope that helps.

[Dooodahman]

PS: It is also interesting that that Recaro booster fits in your tagra...

I have ProSPORTs in both of my other cars, which I love. But the seat base didn't even come close to fitting in the '88, and I want my three year old to still be in a 5 point harness, so your booster is not an option for me right now.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by Dooodahman

PS: It is also interesting that that Recaro booster fits in your tagra...

I have ProSPORTs in both of my other cars, which I love. But the seat base didn't even come close to fitting in the '88, and I want my three year old to still be in a 5 point harness, so your booster is not an option for me right now.

I was hoping to get my son's ProSport into the back of my '87 coupe. I guess it's not even worth a try. I agree with you on the 5-point harness issue -- that's why I bought the ProSport instead of the booster. - Matt