Having been in a collision where I was wearing a seat belt but broke my front teeth by hitting the steering wheel, I'm thinking about shoulder belts for my '71 GS convertible. I saw an old thread that mentioned an aftermarket kit for convertibles, but I couldn't find anything online and nobody I talked to locally knew of any source. Wondering if any of you have done this, or have any information about it. Thanks.
I wish that I still had the guy's name but a couple of years back a seller on ebay was selling new reproduction '68-'72 factory style front shoulder belts for A-body convertibles (there is a factory mounting location in the convertible frame). Cost around $200 and he had a few colors. I bought a set in black and installed them in the factory location - they worked perfect. They did have the regular style buckle and I will be swapping out the buckle for the button style to make a thre-point seat belt for the front of my vert. Already did it for the rear so I have three point seat belts there as well.
Was there ever any resolution to this? My 5 year old son has outgrown his car seat and I need to get a shoulder strap conversion kit for my '69 convertible for him to be able to use his booster seat. Anybody know of an aftermarket kit??
Don't see why you can not use the shoulder belts from a coupe and have the regular mounting end from a floor mounted belt sewn to it...should work perfect.....same as the originals in a convertible.
George, I can measure the ones I have, but I believe the convert shoulder harnesses are very long. They mount all the way back to the convertible top frame. Plus they have plastic slides attached that are not on the coupe pieces. Duane
Duane is right, the convertible shoulder belts that I installed were definitely longer than hardtop shoulder belts. I did wind up using a set of hardtop shoulder belts for the rear seat of my convertible, but I had used a repro convertible shoulder belt set for the front seats.
I have those seatbelts in my convertible, they are super long as they do mount to the top bracket (GM - what were you thinking??). You have to wonder about anybody sitting in the back seat. The plastic piece is just tubing slid over the belt to protect where it goes between the two inner trim panels (see pic). Not sure on the guy who reproduced them, we had to threaten him with a lawsuit to get any action on our group purchase and it took over a year for them to show up, that was way back in 2002/03 I think. have you tired any of the chevelle/gto/places?? Somebody must make them. I seem to recall the 67 firebird/camaro hardtop used the same setup, not sure on that though (for some reason they didn't attach shoulder belts to the roof on those cars-going from memory here though so don't quote me on that). Update: Link for Camaro stuff so check those resto sites as well as somebody might have source for belts: http://www.camaros.org/options.shtml#ShoulderHarness Looks like ragtops only as well.
Figured second post might be better than continually editing my first one These guys can probably make up your belts if you supply hardware/buckles and get dimensions...no idea on pricing though. http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/ On my car the belt is about 7.25 feet long when stertched out all the way (sorry, can't get exact dimension without taking car apart). If you look at your convertible top mounting bracket, the hole on the front is where they attach, so they do do a 90 degree turn right away and head forward. Mine also has a belt retainer midway so as you adjust the overall length it keeps the loose end attached to the belt, because this thing is a mess even with that. Properly adjusted for me, that retainer ends up about halfway back. There are no retainers or guides on the seat. The seat has no structure to it anyway. You could use a string attached to that hole and route it forward to get an idea what you need. There is a holder attached to the lower armrest panel for when they are not in use. The female belt is designed to slide over it. Since my 72 was an oddball year, the dude that made my kit cut holes in them (for the 72 style "pin" retaining system) and did a sloppy job so I left them off. I have some pics on my website. On a personal note, I hardly use these things, they are annoying to wear (not on a retractor so once set you are stuck tight). Also, you have to wonder in a crash what would really happen...with no retainer on the seat that belt would snap tight and straight; because it curves over and down your shoulder, it might just cut you really bad. Probably better than eating the dash though. That's all I know
Can someone post pics of rear seat shoulder belt conversions for convertibles? My kids are getting older and I'd like to install shoulder belts, but not sure where or if possible. Byas
Curtis, I believe our cars are different. I have a 71 Skylark convert with the factory front shoulder harnesses and they mount directly to the convertible top frame. I will be pulling them out within a few weeks and will take some pics and post them on this site. I also agree with Tim, they are a PITA to use and even when slid into the retainer clips are still a big eye-sore. They are super ugly, especially on a 71 where there are so many seatbelts you can hardly see the rear seat. Duane PS. The convert shoulder harnesses are for the front seats. I don't believe they ever made them for the rear seats on our year converts.
I have a factory diagram somewhere showing how the convertible front shoulder belts mount to the convertible frame. If I find it I'll post a scan here. What I did with my '72 is swapped the convertible shoulder belt buckles to the '72 button style and hooked them into the lap belt. This eliminated the extra lap belts that hooked into the shoulder belts and made a factory style 3-point belt set up.
I used coupe shoulder harnesses in my convertible for both the front and rear seats. Mounted the fronts behind the rear trim panel in a sturdy area of the inner panel. length was fine and no cutting or altering was done the trim panels. The rears were equally simple to install.
I ran across a company's ad for conv. front seat 3 point belts about a year ago.Even posted a question on the forum asking if any body has tried it. Of course now i can't find the cont5act info. Company's name i have heard of before and they looked nice and solid. Not snake olym though. The problem was you had to cut up the rear quarter trim panel to bolt to the cars body. Ran about $300 if i remembercorrectly When i find the info, i'll post. Possibly could find by googleing 3 point retractable seat belts for convertibles Rick
