[William Roche]

I recently replaced the front bench seat on my 1967 Chevelle with the correct model/year bucket seats. After purchasing the bucket seat conversion brackets that you see in many Chevelle catalogs and after proper installation and alignment with the bench seat outer holes, the retractable seatbelts won't align correctly into the holes for the retractable seatbelts. The retractable harness fits so close to the bottom of the bucket seats that it makes impossible to screw in the bolt for the retractable seatbelt. The bucket seats are properly aligned and installed because I used the outer bench seat holes for the alignment. Has anyone had this similar problem after replacing the front bench seat with bucket seats? Do I have to replace the bench seat retractable seatbelts with ones that originally come with bucket seats? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Larry]

I did a bench to bucket conversion in my 69 last summer and had a similar problem: the buckets sat out farther using the stock bench outer seat bolts. Since the inner brackets were already welded in place I just decided to live with it. In order for the outer seat belt retractors to fit they had to be twisted a bit cockeyed to fit. You really can't tell unless you're looking for it. From what you're saying, it seems to be worse for 66-67 at least. Sounds like a warning to all who are considering such a swap in the future.

 

[JohnC]

I did the same conversion and had a similar problem. I put in 67 buckets first, using the outer mounting holes and a year one bracket for the inner half of the seats. I bought retractable seatbelts and when I put them in, found that the plastic cover on the seat belt assembly rubs against the plastic trim along the bottom of the seats. I was told that this is not uncommon. Can anyone confirm whether or not this is supposed to fit this tight?

 

[von]

My '69 had the bench to bucket conversion already done when I bought the car and it also had this problem. I've looked at original bucket seat cars and they don't have the problem. Either the retractors must be different or the outer mounting holes for bucket seat cars are in different locations. I'm guessing the retractors are different. Does anyone know? von