[johnonetrillion]

Here's a summary of how my buddies and I have engineered and fitted 3-point retractable seat belts to my 2DHT. (Same will work for a convertible.)

Mine is a restore project, so I wanted them to be as unobtrusive as possible. Initially, I wanted stock accessory belts, and even considered the shoulder harnesses as well – but realised in the end that I needed safety over originality. (Other than that, I have been pretty tight in following the manual on how things should be.)

After some research, I chose the Beams repro seat belts through Seatbelt Pros: www.gotbelts.com – they were well-priced and custom made each belt type to length. I bought the belts in the colour that suited my interior (green), although I was also thinking of grey to keep the original look and feel. In the end, I chose what would be least visible.

Originally I had looked at the instructions from Classic Chevy <http://www.classicchevy.com/assets/pdf/classicchevy/35-315.pdf> for installing these belts, but quickly realised that (1) the top anchor in the front would be too low, (2) the general fixing would look pretty clunky (with retractors visible) and (3) the web would rub on the upholstery on the front belts coming up from the lower anchor point, (I guess those instructions are ok for anyone wanting to do a quick fit of belts, but are not the most resolved way of setting them up.)

Final set-up is: 2 x retractable in the front; 2 x retractable plus on lap (with top anchor for fixed child harness) to the rear.

With this set-up, the rear retractor is fitted inside the rear armrest panel and will come out where the ash tray is. The ash tray will be deleted, and a slim cut-out made and 'cleaned' when the final upholstery is done. Bottom anchor plate is flush and inside the armrest panel, ready to take the anchor bolt from the outside. In the rear, the retractors are fitted to the rear of the seat panel, with a slot each side that takes the web. For me, one trick was getting the top anchor for the fronts as high as possible while keeping it fitted to the vertical panel of the rear inner side, and getting the retractor for same as far forward as possible to keep the angle to top anchor relatively shallow.

All anchor points use the larger rectangular mount plates (optional), as opposed to the circular ones that come standard with each seat belt kit.

This set-up is not automatically DMV (Australia) approved. We are usually not allowed to use coloured web; aviation styled metal buckles; any stitching not undertaken by an approved manufacturer; top anchor points below shoulder height; non-standard anchor plates. I consider the alternatives of (1) using standard lap belts as being inadequate and (2) fixing the top anchor on the roof line as being unsuitable for a pillarless car. Having said all that, I do know there are engineers here that will design and certify top anchor points in the way we have configured, but not all of them will.

Here's how they look, before upholstery:

Happy to answer any questions about how this was done – knowing many people have asked about this topic on both the 567 forums.

Many thanks to people (on both forums) who started and contributed to topics on this, and also took the trouble to give me advice on this.

And special thanks to Des and Steve for helping figure it all out and then get it all fitted. (Yes, Steve, I am very happy!)

Note: After a few years of being on the 'take' with info on these forums, it is nice being able to 'give' a little. I hope the info will be of use. When I started this restore and steering conversion project I did not know that much about cars, but now I am starting to get the hang of it!

Will post more pics when the upholstery is on.

Cheers

John

 

[johnonetrillion]

Maybe someone can correct me if I am wrong, But I think the reason they don;t allow the top anchor point below the shoulder is due to belts that come up from below and over the shoulder cause spinal compression fractures when the body is thrown forward in an accident. The belt can do more damage than the accident.
Gary

Good point, Gary.

I have heard comments along this line. For me, however, I prefer a restraint solution that keeps heads from hitting the dash.

The regs appear be different from country to country. In the UK, for example, there are engineers that are fitting retractable seat belts in coupes (pillarless) like Mustangs, T-Birds and Chevs where the top anchor is well below shoulder height. (And yes, the lower the anchor, the more it would pull down on a shoulder, I guess.)

In the set-up that we configured, we placed the top anchor as high as we could on the vertical part of the panel, which was at least 6" higher than shown in the CC instructions. With my set-up, the top anchor is 4" below the top of the seat.

Admittedly, the concept of putting 3-point restraints in any pillarless car is never going to result in a perfect solution.

 

[johnonetrillion]

Al, I remember I got pretty accurate measuring and figuring out how long they should be and ordered them to suit – even making sure that the lap belt for the back did not have any more length than absolutely necessary so that the ends would not flap around. But with the retractors, I realised in the end that any excess would simply be stored in the retractors regardless. I guess all you need to be sure of is having enough!

Maybe have a look at the www.gotbelts.com site to see what their standard is, and also see the lengths given for the front belts for the items sold via Classic Chev.

But will look tomorrow at my original order to see what I had calculated and re-post.

Cheers

 

[johnonetrillion]

Al, looks like I ordered front and back the same length:

4 x 3-point retractable 110" special order, 25" adjustable buckle end.

1 x lap belt adjustable end 24" fixed end 26".

Hope that helps.

 

[johnonetrillion]

Excellent, thanks John.
Now you've fitted them do you think you would have changed any of the lengths if you had to order them again?
Cheers
Al

My seats are about 200 miles away too, so I have not tested them!

But I measured carefully at the outset. In any case, I would consider my measurements as minimums and extra would not hurt, because it just ends up in the reel. Look at the standard lengths from SeatBelt Pros as a guide ... I think they are 140".

 

[johnonetrillion]

I don't know the exact configuration of the wagons, but I reckon there are two issues with any seat belt:

1. Where to mount the top anchor.
2. Where to mount the retractor.

For the front of a wagon, I am assuming the top anchor can only go on the post. And I would weld in a plate to the inside rather than drill a bold through from the outside. For the retractor - these can mount off or close to the floor by the post or maybe fitted in behind upholstery behind?

For the rear, I am not too sure where the top anchor would go? Is there another post back there? And I guess the retractor would fit to the rear floor, maybe with a bit of support.

 

[johnonetrillion]

Hi John. Can u post photos of inside rear window and armrest after the panels are put to their place?

Sure. But it might be few months away.

We have done a trial fit on on side. The webbing comes up through the armrest where the ash tray is positioned. So, the trimmer guy will delete that, square off the metal and then finish of the upholstery to suit.

 

[johnonetrillion]

I wish there was an option for 3 pt belts for the convertible. My currently has lap belts that I installed back in the 70s

Set-up for 3-points front and back would be same for convertible as is for 2-door hardtop. Just won't work on 4-door hardtop.