Hi all,

I just bought a '68 SS clone convertible with non-number matching 350 and I am making it more operator friendly as it will be my everyday car. I want to, and will, install 3-point seatbelts for the 4 passengers (incl. driver). I understand that it will take some reinforcement work.

Has anyone done this? Any recommendations or pictures?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Theo.

Theo, I can't help with your question, but I am also quite curious about the answer, since I will be wanting to put 3-point seatbelts in my 65 convertible.

Derekf,

I emailed you a picture of a Camaro 3-point seatbelt setup that I found on the Internet. I hope someone has some more input...

Theo.

Noone has done this?

Well I was hoping someone was going to chime in.
I purchased a "so-called" shoulder harness option from eBay, but have yet to install it.

These were for the front seat ONLY.
The directions show the mounting to the convertible top piston bolting behind the rear seat.
Has anyone ever seen this done?

I'm still asking everyone that I think might possibly have a clue, and I did get one useful bit of information:

A wise man told me "The upper mount on a three-point shoulder harness should be no more than two inches below the shoulder". Unfortunately, I'll have to dig the seats back out of the shed to figure out if I can really accomplish this, or if the seats are too tall.

I hope this link works...

http://www.customaccessoriesmfg.com/seatbelt.htm

I thought the same thing Derek. If the anchor for the shoulder belt is below your shoulder it will compress your shoulder and back and possibly cause more damage than good.

Peter

This is from my racing days:

"The shoulder harness straps must be mounted such that the angle of the straps from the driver’s shoulders to the anchor point must not be above horizontal nor at an angle greater than 40 degrees below horizontal."

My '68 Convertible is supposed to be delivered early next week graemlins/hurray.gif . I will have to measure some angles. I may have to add some raised posts to be within the above requirements. If it is good with racing, it should be good for street.

Theo.

I checked out the seat belt place mentioned above and it is local to me... When I receive my car, early next week, I'll drive over and talk to them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Theo.

Very interesting. On the Mustang page on that site - http://www.customaccessoriesmfg.com/mustang.htm - that's definitely more than two inches below the shoulder.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I dig the racing rule "angle should not be above horizontal" - most stock modern vehicles would fail that one, I think. The Mustang on that link would definitely pass the no greater than -40 degrees part of the rule though.

Derek,

I can assure you that a lot of thought and testing has been done on the racing harnesses. The rule I quoted is from the BMW club racing rule book. I suspect that one of the reasons the shoulder belt should not be above horizontal is that they do not want drivers to slide up in case of an accident. The lap belts might not be enough.

I did some more searching. This is from Drag Racing regulations ( web page (http://www.fia.com/regle/dragster/drag-a.htm) ):
"All cage structures must have in their construction cross bar for seat bracing and as the shoulder harness attachment point; cross bar must be installed no more than 4-inches (102 mm) below, and not above, the driver's shoulders or to side bar."

Another racing harness site ( web page (http://www.gforceracinggear.com/pdf/harnessinstall.pdf) ) says that the shoulder belt should not be anchored more than 1" below shoulder height.

Yet another harness installation document ( web page (http://www.discoveryparts.com/pdf/harnessinstall.pdf) ) says the shoulder harness should be approx. 1" to 4" below shoulder height.

The last place ( web page (http://www.soloracer.com/soloracerdotcom/harnschrothfaq.html) ) has even larger angle below shoulder height.

It seems that for racing harnesses, most agree that shoulder harness anchor point should be at horizontal or within 2"-4" below.

Theo.

My 67 came with lap belts, but I took it to an interior place and had them pull the headliner back and the attachment points were up there behind the headliner. I've been told the first option year for three point belts was 66, so you may have the holes installed already.

Here is a web site I used for info on my street rod seat belts. www.andoauto.com/seat_belts.htm (http://www.andoauto.com/seat_belts.htm) Go to quick links then to Late model factory replacement style for a good diagram.

Hi all,

I just bought a set of seatbelts from Custom Accessories Manufacturing (800-560-2358). This includes 3-point belts for the 2 front and two rear passengers and a lap belt for the center rear passenger. They come with the required backing plates/washers bolts and nuts. I have not installed them yet but it looks like it's going to work just fine. I should install them in a week, or so. The mounting point for the front passenger shoulder belts is almost at my shoulder level. I am 5.11" and I have the stock backet seats.

They whole setup was pretty expensive... It took me by surprise, but, I'd rather be safe. Really, anyone could make the kit. The most involved (still very simple) part is a "L" bracket with three holes for the front seatbelts.

Theo.