Who's using what? going to remove the old 75 belts and just may go with an replacement type vs the rebuild service costs.
Thanks,
Gary

 

In the car now I have universal lap belts from Ssnake Oyl. In my color (light saddle), they look/work good at less than $100 for the pair. I also have some late F-body belts to put in this winter so I'll have shoulder belts. I just don't feel right with just lap belts.

 

I remember the Camaro and Firebird belts being discussed here but don't recall what years were recomended? I think there several sources mentioned too?
Thanks,
Gary

 

i also had my 67 lap belts redone by Ssnake oyl.
very nice work. buckles and belt color were perfect.
ncrs guys frown on any generic type belt.

just my 2 cents worth.

 

I think the REAR seat belts from the last body-style camaro fit well. Thats what was said on a post last week.
I am in the middle of replacing my seat belts and the plate welded to the frame, that the belts bolt into broke loose when i was attempting to unscrew the bolts ......Anyone know a good welder?

 

Likewise, anyone know if there is another car that the belts will work from (something with a nice shoulder strap, perhaps?) I have a 68 Convertible 'Vette, and it does have the mount points in the rear wheelwells (but came with only lap belts, which no longer exist).

 

You can still use the Camaro belts in a 68 but you have to make a steel L-bracket to mount the retractor.

BTW, the belts that work are 93-up Camaro or Firebird REAR belts.

 

What orientation does the rear retractor sit at in the 68-77 cars?

 

I have the 93-02 F-body belts in mine. The retractor bolts to where the rear shoulder harness was. The retractor under the seat is replaced by a mounting strap. Works great. Check my web page for more info.

 

68: Retractor was vertical (thus needing the L-bracket)
69-77????? (not sure about 77): retractor was horizontal on top of rear wheel hump. This is the easy install. Just bolt the f-body retractor on using stock HW.
78???-82: I think they went vertical again??? not sure...

 

I put the camaro seat belts in mine while I had it down. This weekend was my first trips using them and I just feel better about them being in the car. There is a metal tab sticking down on the camaro retractors that needs to be bent out of the way. Other than that they are just a bolt in operation. My car did not orignially have the shoulder belts, so now I have the shoulder belts coming around the seat. 74vert has the camaro seat belts coming through his seats and it makes for a much cleaner installation IMO. BTW, you can get the camaro seatbelts on Ebay for less than $50 shipped.

 

The Camaro seat belts are the way to go. I have had them for 2 years now and they make me feel much safer in the car. I had a chance to really see how they work this weekend. I was auto Xing the car and it got out of shape and I spun pretty good. The retracter locked up and it held me tight in the seat. Well worth the 50 dollar investment. They mount on the wheelwell. Most 69 and later cars have the hole and it is threaded even if you do not have shoulder belts. I just cleaned the threads and ground off the tab and they bolted right in.

 

My car has upper and lower retractors. I have the carpet out, and I'm wondering. There is a retractor behind the seat but also where they fasten UNDER the seat, there's a retractor. What to do?

 

I have the same problem with looking for replacement seat belts. I have a 1973 coupe and have been looking for a guide or diagram to illustrate how they are supposed to mount. The seatbelts I have in now are aftermarket non retractable lap belts. For the 1973 the shoulder belts are supposed to go through the seats. If I look at 93 and newer Camaro rear belts the shoulder harness and the lapbelt are all one piece similar to latter model C3s. So how would these work in coupes that have the shoulder belts going through the seats.

 

Like I said before:seatbelts

 

I went with '95 Camaro rear seat belts. The mounting hole where the factory-option shoulder retractor would have mounted was filled with a rubber plug, which came out easily. I used grade 8 bolts and lock nuts to mount the Camaro retractor in the factory hole. Under the seat, you just need to remove the factory lap belt retractor, and use the original mounting bolt to fasten the metal fitting at the end of the Camaro belt where the original retractor was mounted. The metal plates at the end of the Camaro belts had a slight bend in them that I was able to straighten out easily without fire or a vise.

The only surprise in the whole operation (which led to one of the most frustrating mods I have had to do to the car) involved the seatbelt pass-through slot in the seat backs. In '74, the shoulder harness was an option, and I assumed that all I would need to do was grind out the pass-through in the bezel on the top of the seat, and install a pass through bezel on the back of the seat. Wrong.

Apparently some GM genius decided to have two completely different seats depending on whether you chose the shoulder belt option. If you got a shoulder-belt car, the seat back frames had cut-outs and a guide rod for the seat belt. If you got a lap belt only car, your seat frames are solid steel.

Anyway, after peeling off the seat covers that I had so carefully installed over brand-new seat foam two years ago, I found no pass through in the seat frame. To avoid making a long story longer, a couple of Dremel cut-off wheels, a few beers, and a lot of cursing later, I had myself a pass through for the driver's seat belt. Everything about the job was a PITA. You have to cut through the foam, drill mounting holes for the seatbelt bezel on the back of the seat, etc. Because of the huge hassle involved, I have a driver's side shoulder belt that passes through the seat, and a passenger's side belt that goes around the outside. Both of them are far better and much safer than the factory lap-belt only setup.

Keep in mind, with the F-body retractor, you get a much safer seat belt system. The stock lap retractor (and I assume the shoulder retractor as well) is a web-sensing design which stops the seatbelt only upon sensing that the webbing is being unspooled quickly. Not only is the design old, but the parts that make it work properly are pretty tired after all those years. The F-body retractor has a pendulum that keeps the webbing from unspooling when it senses lateral acceleration (such as when braking or in a front-end collision, although the pendulum also stops the webbing when accelerating and cornering). This is the reason you can't use just any new retractor as a replacement. The F-body rear seat belt retractor can be mounted in the Vette in the same orientation as it was mounted in the F-body, which allows the safety components to work properly. And that's really the main reason to do the conversion anyway.

Good luck.

 

I bought a set of 01 Camaro SS belts. I got excited and didn't realize they were from a convertible until it was too late. Not that it mattered, I didn't know they wouldn't work in the 78-82s until I had them. They mount vertically with the belt coming out the top. Would these work for people with '68s so they don't have to use a bracket?

If so, let me know, I got a black set gathering dust.

 

Well if they will work I'm looking now. Let me know. I have to call some local places today.

 

Found a nice set out of a 96 camaro for $20. Thanks,
Gary

 

How does the retractor mount in the 68's? The belts I have mount with the bolt below the retractor and the belt coming out of the top. Is that similar?