New Child Seat Mod
 

So, one of the reasons (at least relayed to my wife) for me to purchase the 993 (and get rid of my old boxster s) was so that we could take the baby along with us on cruises. However, I become somewhat disappointed after trying to get a childseat to fit correctly for my baby who is now 15 months old. It appears that booster seat fitment (for somewhat older children) has been discussed at length, and acceptable solutions exist. However, to date, I have not seen anyone come up with a reasonable, safe, and easy solution for forward facing child seats for toddlers not yet ready for the booster seat. It appears that the narrow back seat and configuration/height of the lap belt attachment make it near impossible to get traditional child seats to fit tightly. Some have come up with solutions such as replacing the shoulder belt with lap-only belt devices from earlier porsche models.

The first problem to solve was to find a child seat that was narrow enough to fit. Width between the belt anchors is about 11 1/2 inches. I went to Baby's R us and tried out a bunch. The only device that seamed to work was the Britax Roundabout with the base removed (requires some work to get off, but definitely possible without damaging the seat for use in other cars in the future). By luck, the only color available happend to match porsche classic grey almost exactly.

When I got home, I tried for hours trying to get the shoulder belt to mount the seat, but again there was no way to get the seat to fit tightly enough no matter what I did. I thought about potentially fitting lap-only belts in the back, but that seamed a bit excessive. So, from my Recaro seat installation, I had a few extra Brey Krause harness anchors lying around and came up with an idea. The brey krause (R-9003) anchors (designed for outboard front seat belt attachment) fit on the rear seat belt anchor points.

As luck would have it, the latches on the baby seat click right into them. This allows cinching down the straps and extremely tight fitment. You can get a really nice fit by angling the child seat back a bit and stuffing some towels or other soft shim behind the seat base. Cinch down and that seat ain't going anywhere. It's a tight fit between the top side of the child seat and the cab top pillars when the top is down, but the top does goes up and down without rubbing. You'll want to be extremely careful about the child's fingers and I probably wouldn't recommend raising or lowering the top with the child in the seat.

I've attached some photos. As a disclaimer, I don't take any responsibility for the safety of this installation. Only thought I'd relay one possible solution to this problem.

I've been debating buying those harness mounts for three months to do the exact same mod. Good to see it will work. I'm still working on getting the upper tether mount done, though.

Thanks for the post!

For now, I've used the stock bolts. The outside bolt is a bit long without the stock-seat belt receiver; not a problem, but the anchor swivels a bit too freely. The inside bolt is a bit short with the belt also attached. There appears to be enough purchase to be safe, but I'm not going to take any chances and will order a bolt that is a bit longer. I'm going to re-measure and order appropriate bolts (1 cm width, 1.25 cm thread pitch) and appropriate washers/spacers when I have time to do it right.

Also, as a tip, cinching down the latches is a bit awkward. Secure the two latches to the BK anchors, then pass the tightening strap from the outside latch through the seat and pull from the other side. That way you can push down on the seat and really the thing tight. You will not be able to tighten the straps from the same side.

You'll also have to play around with the seat back angle to get it secure. Place something under the seat, as the plastic pieces will dig into the leather. Packa bunch of towels behind the seat to fill the dead space once you find thte right angle.

That is an excellent idea.

I've been using the "mighty-tite" to cinch the seat down tight. Works well but it is tricky to position so I never take the seat out :)
I'd much rather use the latch system belts on the kid's seat.
Thanks for the great post.

Both of the following

http://members.rennlist.com/movies1/Child_Seat.html

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...hild_seat2.htm

show how to do the upper attachment for LATCH system. Apparently there are attachment points but not put into production. I think there is a part mentioned in one of the articles above for what anchor will screw right into that factory attachment point. Cutting a hole or a slit in the vinyl strip allows for the tether hook to snap into place.

In the first DIY from Rennlist above, they also mentioned the parts number for a Ford anchor that will work the same as the anchors by ninjabones. The peilican article also mentions the parts number for a 964 lap belt and a cap/plug for a hole that you would cut to expose the top LATCH attachment (looks very factory).

Upper Latch tether for cabriolet
 

Thanks for the information. However, the post you supplied applies to the rear deck in a coupe. My car is cab without the rear deck. After looking closer, I found - what appear to be - anchors on the back of each rear seat. They look exactly like the tethers on the back of the rear seats on my volvo. The Britax top tether straps clips in perfectly in these spots and give just that added bit of stability to the upper portion of the car seat that I was looking for. Awesome, I had purchased two tether anchors from Ebay and planned at a latter day to some how mount them to the back of the seats. Looks like Porsche did it for me.

Can anyone confirm that these anchors are in fact anchor points for the latch system? Or do they serve some other function that I can't think of?

Also, the 964 lap belt idea is probably okay, but no lap belt allows you to cinch down the straps the way that the factory latch straps do. I imagine also that it would be a real hastle to remove the stock seatbelts and try to track down the 964 seat belts. With my method, two aftermarket anchors and turn two bolts and you've got an excellent solution. Not to mention that the Brey Krause anchors are extremely sturdy and well built.

Once I get a longer bolt, I'll be able to leave the outboard seat belt reciever in place keeping the car more "stock" appearing when the car seat is not in use.

Ninjabones,

Thank you very much for contributing this. I have been wanting to do this for a year and I haven't been able to find solid info on how to do it. I also have a 1995 C2 cab and a two year old that weighs 25 lbs. Thanks again.

Michael:

Please take a look behind your rear seats and see if you have these tabs as well and if they look to you like child restraint anchors.

G

I'm going to respond to myself here, as I subsequently learned what these tabs are for. These tabs are designed to hold down the cab boot cover. They are not child restraint anchors! Do not use these tabs to secure your carseat.

Hold down the cab boot cover? How so? Doesn't it just snap along the outside edge sort of like a tonneau cover?

This was an old post from my old cab. Now have a coupe. However, I remember it well. There were two elastic straps with clips on the boot cover. These clips secured the boot cover behind the rear seats. I never used them as just tucking the boot cover behind the seats was enough. However, if I was going on a long trip or was planning high speed highway use, it would be better to secure it down with the clips.

Wow...thanks. I don't recall ever seeing those straps on the boot cover...wonder if it is an aftermarket or replaced boot cover? Mine just has 3 flaps...2 snap onto the side, and the other one sort of either flops under itself or behind the seats...I don't recall...it is cold out :(

Oh, so do you recall what you ended up doing in the cab with the car seat?

Anyone else come up with rear tether options on a cab?

So I pulled up the carpet just a little around that loop...it seems both welded and bolted to what seems to be a cross member. Anyone else have thoughts as to what it is, and if it is a suitable child seat tether point?