3 Way Seat Belt Install ?

On a slightly different but related note, I was initially going the same route as you guys but I was concerned about the sheet metal in the van not being strong enough (and I didn't want to start welding into it etc).

I ended up buying a "vintage chrome lever" 3-point harness for the passenger side from Wesco Performance.





eta:
That is some impressive work on the seat / seat belt brackets btw, very nice

As usual George, your finished project is well thought out and the best it can be. You also have a great digital camera...... I thought of using a heavy steel bar inserted and welded inside the sheet metal frame, above the pillar as an upper mount. It is a little further back from your reference point, but I like your lower set up better as it is a straight shot up to your upper reference point. Does anyone have a clue as to what these boxes were to be set up for? Possibly for access for a panel or crash repair?
The lower reciever mount is going to be a little more difficult on my truck as we have a widened doghouse for the 302 V-8 and the seat frame is right up to it by about an inch. I`m thinking I will probably have to mount them inside of the frame and have them sneek up the side of the seat bottom.
Are you able to email me all the pics for this conversion? If so please let me know. Thank you again for such a thorough follow thru, true hotrod stuff. Art

econopoor wrote:Hi Art,
I don't know about the thread you are asking about. I did three point belts in my truck when I had the interior done. The belts I bought were designed for vans and motorhomes with hign roof lines. I bought them from Wesco Performance. I welded the supplied upper bolt mounting plate in the factory hole behind the door frame. I had to cut down the supplied bracket by about a 1/4 inch to fit in the area. I kinda wish I had moved it back a little more than this hole as my seats are moved back about four inches over stock. It works this way though. The belts I bought have the drop bracket so the belt is at shoulder height. The retractor is bolted to the floor with the supplied L bracket where the stock seat belt eye bolt was mounted, in the corner just behind the wheelwell. The latch used the opitional extension bracket bolted to the rear hole in the seat bracket next to the dog house. The other end of the belt was bolted to the rear bolt on the wheelwell seat bracket. I used big fender washers on all mounting locations. I didn't get any pictures of this when I did it. I wish I had. Anyway, I hope my description helps. Here's a shot of my shoulder strap bolted in my truck.



Duane in Tennessee.

Duane, the piece at the top, did it go behind the square cut in the inside top rail?

Hi Art,
Thanks for the complement. I got the top point placement based upon
safe angle and appearance from outside (I have a 5-window pick-up.)

It is very difficult to see the belt going up the B-Pillar from the outside
of my truck, even with my nose up against the glass, ha ha.

I didn't show the lower receiver end because I also plan to put my 302
in the truck and had to add that to my plan. The seats I have use an
integrated receiver. It is pretty trick. Didn't plan on showing these on
here as the seat project is pretty darn complex, but here is a piece:

I don't have a better picture of this part but if you look carefully you can
see the seat belt receiver for the Driver's Side seat. It is bolted directly
to the frame of the seat.

Here's another shot of what I am talking about:


(please note, I do not plan to keep the seats in modern covers. I just got off the phone with my upholstery guy, and they will be covered in black vinyl
with "speedline" style of tucks in the center panel. The passenger seat had to be narrowed 1-1/4" and I made adapters that lower the seat down low close
to the Wheel Hump.)

I'll try to round up some pictures.

Thanks,
George

SDEconoTruck wrote:Hi Art,
Thanks for the complement. I got the top point placement based upon
safe angle and appearance from outside (I have a 5-window pick-up.)

It is very difficult to see the belt going up the B-Pillar from the outside
of my truck, even with my nose up against the glass, ha ha.

I didn't show the lower receiver end because I also plan to put my 302
in the truck and had to add that to my plan. The seats I have use an
integrated receiver. It is pretty trick. Didn't plan on showing these on
here as the seat project is pretty darn complex, but here is a piece:

I don't have a better picture of this part but if you look carefully you can
see the seat belt receiver for the Driver's Side seat. It is bolted directly
to the frame of the seat.

Here's another shot of what I am talking about:


(please note, I do not plan to keep the seats in modern covers. I just got off the phone with my upholstery guy, and they will be covered in black vinyl
with "speedline" style of tucks in the center panel. The passenger seat had to be narrowed 1-1/4" and I made adapters that lower the seat down low close
to the Wheel Hump.)

I'll try to round up some pictures.

Thanks,
George

Wow, I like your thinking George. I can see all the work that went into that frame, incredible! I sent Duane a question about using the hole that was in the framework above the window, as I made up some heavy pieces to be inserted and welded into them. But looking again at your setup and his (in which he has his 1/4 windows covered up, or it`s a 3 window with panels) I came to the same conclusion..... invisability. Using those holes on top means seeing the belts thru those windows... not a good visual.
Fred installed Pontiac Fiero seats, which have alot of movement fore and aft, but no arm rests. Those are killer seats you`ve got. Art

Hi Art,
Yes, I mounted the plates behind the upper roof frame behind the factory rectangle opening. They didn't fit in the opening and I had to cut about a 1/4" off of it so it would slide into the spot. My truck is a three window so I wasn't concerned about the location of the belts. Notice that Fred made the interior panels to mimic the shape of a five window. I think Fred likes the five windows. LOL!! I wish they were back a little more than they are. I'm 6'2" so I sit back pretty far. If I had mounted my belts like George they wouldn't even touch my shoulder. I like George's idea's but they wouldn't work for me. My interior panels cover all that up so I would have had to have Fred incorporate that into the interior. It was hard enough to get done what we did in the short time we had. I was trying to make it as easy as I could for Fred and still have it look clean. They do look better hidden though. Wesco sells some gromets to pass the belts through the interior panels if needed. Not having the corner windows solved a lot for me. You can't see my retractors at all. Your sitting position says where the belts will need to be mounted. It changes for everybody. The Wesco site has some good information about seat belt placement. Look around in it for more help.

Duane in Tennessee

Hi George,
Nice work on the seat brackets. I know how hard it is in fitting seats in one of these. I really like your wheelwell bracket. The square tubing looks a lot better than the original stamped piece. I had to cut the doghouse side bracket on the passenger side into four pieces and add a section from a 65-67 bracket to fit my seat in place. I had to get my seats as low and far back as I could to fit myself behind the wheel. Sometimes I wonder why I ever though an Econoline was a good idea. :-)
Duane in Tennesee.

Hi Art,

Yeah the narrowing of the seat started out as, "Okay, I'll just narrow
it and re-upholster..." Then I had to narrow everthing including the
aluminum space frame (just learning TIG/GTAW right now) plus I
had to narrow the two torsion bars that make the seat back return
from reclined to upright- ha! Overall, it was fun, just a lot of figurin'
to keep it seamless.

I could have gone with Fiero seats, but thought I'd be "different" and
found a great deal on 2010 Caravan 2nd row seats that fold forward
flat and recline back pretty good. They are real thin in the butt area
which was good to get the seating low once I fabbed the brackets.
Oh yeah, the seats had arm rests along both sides. I canceled the
outboard ones and will place the Door Armrests to match. The Caravan
armrests actually twist INWARD into the seat back when they are
folded up- something really nice to get out of the way of opening the
Doghouse.

Hi Duane,

I hear ya, good fitment of the belts is of primary importance. I'm 5'10"
and the upper mount does me right even when reclined a bit. I road
tested it (checking the inertia lock) and things felt real good (and QUIET!)
The modern seats are much quieter than the stock sprung seats.

I think if I had a 3-window I would go the route you did as it is so simple
and has more choice for making a good hardmount (I had to weld into
the outer skin from the inside which would cook a good paint job.)
Here are some pics of the brackets I did:

I used .063 wall 1x1 square tube.


My seat bracket (black) actually rides UNDER the outer bracket (silver) which
gets the seat pretty low. In fact if you look closely I had to cut down the
battery box 1-1/8" lower!

I even had to chop the Inner Bracket 1-1/8"

The weld can just be seen on the left post, mid way, but I dressed the weld
then painted it.

I used 4 bolts to attach the two brackets as the outer backet holds the
black seat bracket/adapter in suspension,


Oops! Just looked at what I wrote, sorry for the hijack Art!!!

George

No worries George, real nice clean work ! Art

George -

Thank you so much. My next project is 3 point belts in my '67, this is the idea I was looking for. My Wheel wells have seat belt mounts in them already which will save some time and drilling. Off to work....

No worries Murdock, I should post a thread of what I did to make the seats and belts work, pretty dialed-in now...

...good luck!

thanks for posting! i've been trying to figure out how to do this as well

I have a four point harness in my 65

SDEconoTruck wrote:No worries Murdock, I should post a thread of what I did to make the seats and belts work, pretty dialed-in now...  

...good luck!

Sorry for the necro thread resurrection.
I might be scooping up a truck this week so if you or anyone else has any walkthroughs or ideas that would be awesome.
The truck I might be getting has NO seatbelts in it at all and the previous owner drove it like that!   
Collector plates but still, that is just insane.   

Udo wrote:

SDEconoTruck wrote:No worries Murdock, I should post a thread of what I did to make the seats and belts work, pretty dialed-in now...  

...good luck!

Sorry for the necro thread resurrection.
I might be scooping up a truck this week so if you or anyone else has any walkthroughs or ideas that would be awesome.
The truck I might be getting has NO seatbelts in it at all and the previous owner drove it like that!   
Collector plates but still, that is just insane.   

Sometimes I ride my motorcycle and it doesnt have any either!

So I should just wear leathers and a full face helmet then when I drive this?

Udo wrote:So I should just wear leathers and a full face helmet then when I drive this?

No probably just some of those fingerless gloves and a novelty helmet! You dont want to get carried away.

I have a Stormtrooper helmet, that should work.