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Does anyone know if the 1968 convertible has the mounting plate already for the three point? Been searching and haven’t found the answer.
In 68 and 69, the rear mount plate was factory installed on all corvettes, coup or convertible. If the shoulder harness option was not ordered, the hole in the bracket was plugged with a plastic plug.
You can see the bracket between the frame and the fiberglass at the top of the arch of the frame, behind the rear tire. It is fastened to the fiberglass with aluminum rivets.
68 and 69 shoulder belts were mounted on the vertical wall of the wheel well. 70 and up, the mount hole was moved to the top of the well.
If you go with the gen 4 Camaro rear seat belt option, the retractor must be mounted on the top of the wheel well, as in 70, for the inertia latch to work. That's what I did.
If you have the original style seats in your 68, you will need to obtain a set of shoulder belt guides to attach to the seats. I believe they are reproduced today by the aftermarket. They weren't for the longest time.
What year is your car?
I got mine from a low mileage junked car (not wrecked) and the latches almost worked but not quite. I found a set of clips from an early 80's chev (cutlass, malibu etc) that work on the belts and the stock floor latch on my 72 anyway https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592362003
You could check ebay as well but there's likely some f-bodies in most wrecking yards still
M
I am not sure that the Camaro came with black belts. I do think they had black in the Firebird. Black is hard to come by, I re-webbed mine in black with a bit longer belts.
If you get the 4th gen rear seat belts, they will be wrapped up in the retractors and get the buckle from the same car.
Like Mooser, I got the buckles from another car that worked with the belts from the Camaro.
I got black for mine, I think they were firebird. At first I had a set from a camaro (still have them somewhere) but they were titanium or carbon or something and more of a charcoal / grey than they were black
M
I’d really like to add 3 point belts to my 72 convertible but of course the seats don’t have the pass-through. I don’t love the idea of guides on the sides of the seats. Does anyone make a kit to cut out and clean up the slot, or do I have to get new seat backs?
Hey @redwingvette I like that look!
My 71 has the seat belt slots just like yours. Was it a pain to get the belt though the seat slots or was it as easy as removing the plastic cover on the belt and pushing/pulling it though the seat slot?
I’d really like to add 3 point belts to my 72 convertible but of course the seats don’t have the pass-through. I don’t love the idea of guides on the sides of the seats. Does anyone make a kit to cut out and clean up the slot, or do I have to get new seat backs?
There's an internal piece that need to be added to the seat to guide the belt through the slot and then a metal trim piece where it exits the rear of the seat. The front part that you see has the windows popped out of where the belt goes through. As far was I've ever figured out, they all were made with both holes blocked off and then they popped open the side (drivers or passenger) when then needed them to be used for cars with shoulder belts.
Hey @redwingvette I like that look!
My 71 has the seat belt slots just like yours. Was it a pain to get the belt though the seat slots or was it as easy as removing the plastic cover on the belt and pushing/pulling it though the seat slot?
Cheers,
Richard
To get the belt through the seat you need to remove the buckle. Pull out the retainer bar by slightly spreading the sides apart. They are very stiff so you cannot break them. It helps to have an extra hand to put them back on but i did it by myself
To get the mounting plate through the back of the seat I had to remove the back trim plate off the seat. String the belt through the trim plate and then through the seat. once the belt is through the seat you can put the trim plate back on.
hi redwingvette, thank you for the photos, I love the look and am looking to do the same retrofit with some electric blue webbing for my 73 coupe
The link you sent above seem to be landing on a chrome lift latch universal seatbelt but the photos show a standard buckle. Are the photos from the firebird retrofit you had prior?
Looking at it again, even though there is a notice that it shouldn’t be mounted horizontally, it might actually not be applicable to this specific one. Second screenshot does highlight horizontal mount.
