mountainshark76

I heard certin year camaro's have seat belts, that with no modification
bolt right in to our cars! is this true? and what years? :crazy:

t-rav

ttt, I'm also curious.

VETDRMS

I'm going to be doing this to my car next week :D *spring break* :D
'93-'98 is what your looking for, good luck :)
I'll post how my instal went.

t-rav (my name is travis) :)

Geoff1340

It's true, they bolt right in with little difficulty, there is a triangle piece you must remove from the F-body belts and your old belt support (the piece just behind your head) must be removed from the original belts and fitted to the new...Viola! Mission accomplished! :cheers:

Gordonm

You need to get the rear belts out of the Camaro. The fronts don't work due to the locking mechanism. The fronts mount differently. I have done this modification a year ago and it feels a lot more secure than the old lap belts.


[Modified by Gordonm, 8:36 AM 3/2/2002]

stickben

Ive also heard that some Fieareo (or however you spell it :)) seat belts will fit as well.

Carl in LA

Been using a set from a 1992 camaro in mine for two years... one of the first mods I did when I gutted the interior... others have mentioned the tringluar B-piller mount needs to be swapped (use hacksaw to remove camaro device)... I'll add that the C3 reel cover can be used if you cut the plastic on the Camaro reel to allow the belt to exit through the C3 reel cover opening. Same logic on the inboard clamp... OK to reuse the C3 plastic housing with a little x-acto knife work at the upper edge. You do have to enlarge the hole on the Camaro reel to reuse the C3 mounting bolt - thats what files are made for!

SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT OVER DECADES OLD BELTS!!!!!!

Juliet

It works in a 1970. I think it depends on where the rear mounting bolt for the retractor goes. In 70 it's on one of the wheel humps. The bolt goes straight down. Also, it's REAR CAMARO belts. Here are some pictures.






Ignore the grundgy carpets in some of the pictures. That's my 'old' original carpet - the BEFORE pictures. ;) ~Juliet

Smokehouse69

T-rav, they won't work on your car unless you make some modifications. The 68 and 69 retractor bolted to the side of the wheel well. I made a "L" shaped piece of metal and bolted it to the side of the wheel well mounting hole, then bolted the Camaro retractors to the top of the "L" . Here is a very crude drawing of what I made to mount the retractors on. It is made out of 14 gauge steel (thicker than the original mount) and is bolted to the original mount. The original mounting hole is sort of hard to see on the side of the wheel well since it is plugged with a gray plastic screw that is about the same color as the unpainted fiberglass. There will be a small metal ****, about 1/4" in diameter and about 1/3" long sticking through the fiber glass, right in front of the mounting hole.
In my drawing you'll see a small hole in front of the larger hole, this hole fits over that little ****, so the new mounting brace will fit flush against the wheel well. Everything on my car is under the carpet so the only thing that sticks thru is the bolt that I bolted the Camaro retractor thru.
You'll also have to get the buckle part of the Camaro belts, as the tang on the strap won't work with the old 69 buckles. It is a real PITA since the Camaro buckles are much shorter than the original buckles, so they won't fit in the plastic sleeves. Unless you increase the length of them with a little creative fabrication. I used a piece of steel about 4 inches long, to bolt to the floor of the car, then bolted the other end to the belt. The whole thing is hidden inside the plastic cover.
Also the Camaro belts are a little short for me, but I'm a pretty thick individual. They don't allow me much forward movement, but they aren't really uncomfortable.



[Modified by Smokehouse69, 12:29 AM 3/3/2002]

Dr Z

Hi everybody!

The setup being described in this thread is exactly what I would like to install as well. The only problem: I am in Germany and don't see where to get a used rear seatbelt out of a 199x Camaro over here...

If any you have a set you'd like to part with or know where to get one *please* let me know!


Many thanks,
Chris

Garys '68

Chris 70,
I'm going to search a couple yards around here in the next few weeks for a set for my 68. I'll see if I can find an extra set for you. From your photo, I'm assuming you're looking for black ones too.
Gary

ddecart

EXCELLENT PICS JULIET!


What you need:
REAR belts from a 1993-present GM F-body (camaro/firebird)

They are a direct bolt-in replacement on 1970-?? C3's as shows in Juliet's car.

You can find them for about $20-70 at a salvage yard in pretty decent shape. Don't worry if it's hard to get the belts to work smoothly once you gett hem out fo the car. They're very sensitive to proper mounting (which is what happens once you get them in the car).

On '68 & 69 it's just like Smokehouse said. The orientation of the stock belt is incorrect. You either need an adapter plate like he made, or you need to make a new reinforcement and mount it to the underside of the wheelhouse (ugly job unless you have the body raised) which is what I did on mine.

If you're wondering, they work fine as it's a nearly stock installation and very close to the belt's original installation in the F-car.

A question about insurance came up once regarding whether or not your insurance company will pay if the belts aren't original and you get in an accident. I checked with Hagarty and they said there would be no problem. They just want you to have belts in the car.

Hope this all helps!
Dave

Steve86

Going to look at some 94 Camaro belts tomorrow. Looking at the pictures, the end that mounts next to the seat, how is it attached? Looks like it's mounted to the frame next to the seat and doesn't run underneath like the lap belts do. Is there some drilling and tapping involved, or can you mount it to the existing mount for the lap belt. Thanks. Steve

Racer16k

I have the same question about the lower mount. Was an extension made or do the belts normally bolt to the side in a 70 rather than under the seat like my 73. I could fab a cool extension if needed.

ddecart

The latch/buckle portion of the belt attaches to a stud that sticks though the floor from an underbody reinforcement.

The other end, the loose end, routes through a guide next to the seat and bolts to a reinforcement roughly in the middle under the seat. I think this changed over the years with retractors/no retractors, but it's essentially the same I believe.

Sting Raycin

Will this work for a 78-82? I don't think I have ever seen it in one.
Jason

Juliet

On my '70 (and I think all 1970 vettes) the factory created seat belt mounts are as follows:

Behind the seat, bolt goes straight down.
Outboard of Seats, bolt points outboard.
Inboard of Seats, bolt points inboard.

Even lap only equipped 1970 vettes had the backing plate in the rear seatbelt bolting position. I only had to find the hole under the carpet and remove the plastic plug and find the proper grade / size bolt. You need an extra strong bolt for these as they're a safety item.

I can't speak for other year corvettes, sorry I'm just not familiar with them. ~Juliet

Noel Carboni

I'm all for saving a bit of money, but are "correct" seat belts available? In other words, could new belts be bought from GM or one of the aftermarket parts companies? Sorry if this is a dumb question somehow.

-Noel

David68

Good info here. Questions for Juliet... On the `70 seat backs, will the replacement belts feed through the seatback in it's original location? I see in the photo that your belt comes around the side of the seatback. Attachment at the floor positions uses original fasteners?
Thanks.

Juliet

Sure. NCRS Correct shoulder belts in a '70 will set you back close to $700 and good luck finding them, especially in blue. To buy a set outright from SnakeOyl you're looking at even more! :eek: Aftermarket ones (non GM belts) are a few hundred a set. Most of the big catalog houses (like Zip) carries them. You could buy new camaro rear seat belts direct from GM too. I only did this as a temporary gap to have shoulder belts while I hunted for the $$$ pair in bright blue. I do not know if GM sells current service replacements for the early sharks or not though. I opted for the $50 junkyard specials for temporary use. :yesnod: Actually, I'll be putting the correct originals I just purchased this winter in my vette shortly, but the camaro ones are already spoken for. My car came from the factory with only lapbelts. Shoulder belts were an option on convertibles in 1970. I can't really say much about the later sharks, someone else will have to give you 82 info because I really don't know. ~Juliet