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I have been searching for a tutorial (pictures would be great) of the conversion from the C5 OEM seat belts and retractor on the sill, to the C6 belts and retractors mounted on the side frame. Have seen a number of references to the conversion but not any step by step or pictures.
Does anyone know of one and where to find it? Also I have seen noted to use only the "single reel" C6 belts. Which years were those installed on? Or is it specific to a model, coupe vs vert, etc.
I'm doing this as we speak...I'm putting in aftermarket seats that require c6 seat belts...because the recliner handle hits the bottom reel on the c5. The c6 has the reel up top and the latch part bolts to where the c5 reel use to be..allowing the handle to move and the seat to recline..I believe supertom also did this..
St. Jude Donor 05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
Originally Posted by 04zjimc
I'm doing this as we speak...I'm putting in aftermarket seats that require c6 seat belts...because the recliner handle hits the bottom reel on the c5. The c6 has the reel up top and the latch part bolts to where the c5 reel use to be..allowing the handle to move and the seat to recline..I believe supertom also did this..
So the C6 belts will pretty much just bolt in with no issues ??
So the C6 belts will pretty much just bolt in with no issues ??
Thank you, Larry
Yes, I believe there is 1 tab on the seatbelt reel that you need to bend up...no biggie my seat belts will be here today...also you have to make sure you get the single reel seat belt not the one that looks like the c5.
Make sure you switch the R and L on these or they wont retract properly. You can bend or dremel off the few tabs that are different on the top reel. The bottom attatchment has an L shape but will still bolt down. Its one of those jobs that will make sense when you see it.
I just ordered my Braum Elites from carid.com($699), ebay c5 seat mounts ($67), and used c6 belts from ebay ($75).
The upper belt spools (re-tractors) on the c6 vette are covered under plastic B pillar trim. When you buy the c6 belts the spools are 'naked'. The c5 only has a pulley up top bolted over the plastic trim , and no plastic covering it. So when I do the conversion, the c6 spools (upper) will be open to see???
The recommended seat belt extenders (female ends), I heard 7" rigid is the way to go. Do you just bolt them to the floor mount with a large flat washer at the square hole? or buckle them in the stock belt receiver?
Thoughts?
EDIT: I found some info.
1. Switch the L and R c6 belts as per SuperTom above.
2. The Stock C5 lower B pillar plastic area will have to be cut where the bottom reel used to be (don't be a wuss its only plastic).
3. Correct a little trimming with a dremel is all it takes. If you can see the curve area in the second pic is all the extra space gained. A little square of carpet will cover the newly exposed metal underneath. The other pics show the seats pushed all the way back with the extra room for the recline mechanism and it covers up the newly exposed area to the naked eye. Im not sure why others with haven't done this with corbeau's and other seats instead of switching brackets and having the recline levers up against the center tunnel. Basically any seat that can fit in a c6 would now fit easier into the c5. Pic with the seat pulled forward. As you can see I added some carpet from walmart to fill in the area
4. Now remove the stock plastic trim and stock seatbelt. The C6 belts need slight modification to work. Place them against their intended mounting location and it will be obvious which pieces need to be cut. I swapped the driver and passenger belts and only needed to remove the small tab on the left in this photo. The belt still locks up under cornering/braking just like the stock C5 belts.
5. The bottom tab of the C6 belt needs to end up completely flat. Remove the stock plastic decorative trim. Belt the small tab flat with pliers and pound the tab flat with a small sledge hammer. You will also need to drill out the bolt hole to 1/2":
6. Use 7" (+/- to your taste) RIGID SEAT BELT EXTENDERS from amazon.. You may have to grind a little off the male seatbelt tab to lock in.
Here are some links to other discussions but thanks to PHOTOBUCKET holding everyones pictures hostage, we cant see them.
The upper belt spools (re-tractors) on the c6 vette are covered under plastic B pillar trim. When you buy the c6 belts the spools are 'naked'. The c5 only has a pulley up top bolted over the plastic trim , and no plastic covering it. So when I do the conversion, the c6 spools (upper) will be open to see???
The recommended seat belt extenders (female ends), I heard 7" rigid is the way to go. Do you just bolt them to the floor mount with a large flat washer at the square hole? or buckle them in the stock belt receiver?
Thoughts?
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Not sure what you mean by naked. The C6 reel mounts in the same upper location as the C5 reel. Then its covered with the stock trim. C6 has no bottom reel but there is a part to bolt into the bottom stock location.
For the seatbelt extenders just do what you say, mount them to the ebay seat mounts on the tab that is sticking up with large washers and thick bolt.
I just ordered my Braum Elites from carid.com($699), ebay c5 seat mounts ($67), and used c6 belts from ebay ($75).
The upper belt spools (re-tractors) on the c6 vette are covered under plastic B pillar trim. When you buy the c6 belts the spools are 'naked'. The c5 only has a pulley up top bolted over the plastic trim , and no plastic covering it. So when I do the conversion, the c6 spools (upper) will be open to see???
The recommended seat belt extenders (female ends), I heard 7" rigid is the way to go. Do you just bolt them to the floor mount with a large flat washer at the square hole? or buckle them in the stock belt receiver?
Thoughts?
EDIT: I found some info.
1. Switch the L and R c6 belts as per SuperTom above.
2. The Stock C5 lower B pillar plastic area will have to be cut where the bottom reel used to be (don't be a wuss its only plastic).
3. Correct a little trimming with a dremel is all it takes. If you can see the curve area in the second pic is all the extra space gained. A little square of carpet will cover the newly exposed metal underneath. The other pics show the seats pushed all the way back with the extra room for the recline mechanism and it covers up the newly exposed area to the naked eye. Im not sure why others with haven't done this with corbeau's and other seats instead of switching brackets and having the recline levers up against the center tunnel. Basically any seat that can fit in a c6 would now fit easier into the c5. Pic with the seat pulled forward. As you can see I added some carpet from walmart to fill in the area
4. Now remove the stock plastic trim and stock seatbelt. The C6 belts need slight modification to work. Place them against their intended mounting location and it will be obvious which pieces need to be cut. I swapped the driver and passenger belts and only needed to remove the small tab on the left in this photo. The belt still locks up under cornering/braking just like the stock C5 belts.
5. The bottom tab of the C6 belt needs to end up completely flat. Remove the stock plastic decorative trim. Belt the small tab flat with pliers and pound the tab flat with a small sledge hammer. You will also need to drill out the bolt hole to 1/2":
6. Use 7" (+/- to your taste) RIGID SEAT BELT EXTENDERS from amazon.. You may have to grind a little off the male seatbelt tab to lock in.
Here are some links to other discussions but thanks to PHOTOBUCKET holding everyones pictures hostage, we cant see them.
Here's a link to my install of Recaros, which required the switch to C6 belts. You can jump to post #54 to see pix of what was trimmed on the C6 belts and interior trim. With this install, I had to move the seats outboard 1" so they would clear the tunnel. In doing so, the interior was trimmed a bit more aggressively than may be needed for your install.
Thanks for the link. Will make trimming lower panel very easy! I have the frc z06 c5, so maybe the vert is different?
the top mount of my c5 is just a pulley and it is outside of the upper b pillar trim with no cover (see photo). I think the c6 convertibles may have a cover over the upper retracter spools. The new to me c6 belt upper retracted spools are naked. They should be covered by the c6 upper b pillar trim peice. The c5z06 upper trim piece is narrow and not meant to hide a spool like the lower peice does.
I guess I will find out for sure next week when my belts arrive.
Thanks for the link. Will make trimming lower panel very easy! I have the frc z06 c5, so maybe the vert is different?
the top mount of my c5 is just a pulley and it is outside of the upper b pillar trim with no cover (see photo). I think the c6 convertibles may have a cover over the upper retracter spools. The new to me c6 belt upper retracted spools are naked. They should be covered by the c6 upper b pillar trim peice. The c5z06 upper trim piece is narrow and not meant to hide a spool like the lower peice does.
I guess I will find out for sure next week when my belts arrive.
The seat belts are the same for all 3 of the C5 models, I think. The spool/retractor on the C6 belts goes in the same place (on the C5) as the C5's - midway up, and is covered by the C5 trim. The pulley you show is the upper mounting point and is just a loop. The sheathed end goes down by the doorsill.
The retractor goes under this trim piece:
Last edited by c5vetteguy; 09-05-2017 at 01:48 PM.
OK. Now that I have all my parts I see the seat belt spool will not be naked. The small "pulley" is the only part exposed, just like the c5 belt. The c5 has 2 spools. 1 under the lower trim panel and one about 12" higher under that same panel. The pulley is sticking outside the trim. The c6 belt only has one spool and its UNDER the upper part of the trim where the 2nd c5 spool was, there is a pulley that is exposed just like the c5. Just like SuperTom and C5Vetteguy said.
I also had to swap the c6 belts left for right so they would feed properly just like SuperTom said.
With the ebay seat mounts and Braum Elites I ended up using a rigid 8" seat belt extender (perfect length) and just bolted it to the ebay seat mount in the tab for the seat belt mount.
Question. What is this (picture) at the floor/base of the seatbelt under plastic on the c6 belts?? It had electrical connectors to it, 2 springs and some movement. I damaged it trying to straighten the c6 floor belt braket.
How did you all bolt this side (lower door side)? I turned bracket/belt around,
but now my belt is 1/2 twisted.
Did you run the seat belt through the top hole in the seat to keep the seatbelt out of the doorway?
Last edited by vegas.wr450@gmail.co; 09-25-2017 at 05:13 PM.
Question. What is this (picture) at the floor/base of the seatbelt under plastic on the c6 belts?? It had electrical connectors to it, 2 springs and some movement. I damaged it trying to straighten the c6 floor belt bracket.
If I had to take an educated guess I would say that's a small pyrotechnic device designed to cinch the belt down tight around you when an accident happens to keep you from submarining. The electrical connection would be the firing circuit. Maybe someone with more expertise can clarify.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
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how much more room will this seat belt conversion give you?... I just got my hands on some recaros out of an evo x and they hit the seat belt trim but they seem to clear just fine everywhere else so if I can get enough room in the seat belt area they just may work
Question. What is this (picture) at the floor/base of the seatbelt under plastic on the c6 belts?? It had electrical connectors to it, 2 springs and some movement. I damaged it trying to straighten the c6 floor belt braket.
How did you all bolt this side (lower door side)? I turned bracket/belt around,
but now my belt is 1/2 twisted.
Did you run the seat belt through the top hole in the seat to keep the seatbelt out of the doorway?
This is where I put the brakes on (figuratively) my seat belt swap project. I have a fundamental issue with Flattening both of the lower fastening points with a sledge hammer. The drivers side, pictured here, has a very steep angle in the metal fastening point to go along with all the "stuff" under the plastic cover. The passenger side isn't quite as steep of an angle to flatten.
My concern is metal fatigue. I know it is very unlikely that a combination of event would reveal a problem, but, in principal, doing this to a safety device seems ill advised. (in Principal)
Just my
How about this as a solution for mounting of the lower seat belt fastening point for both the passenger and drives side without having to straighten the metal fastening point bracket with a hammer, when performing the C5 to C6 seat belt swap.
If you twist (rotate) the belt / fasten point around a half turn it will mount onto the car properly, but then the seat belt is twisted.
Twist the belt low and put a few stitches in it to hold it in place, it will be hidden inside the seat belt trim piece. This way you can mount the seat belt to the car without mashing it out of shape, and your seat belt wont (appear to) be twisted, I can't think how that could be a detriment to its functioning properly??? Anyone else?
That's what happened to me. I was beating it with a hammer and broke that plastic cover, hence the picture I posted above.
It would not bend easy so I mounted it 180 (without the cover I broke) and ran the belt through the hole in the seat. I do make sure the belt is in a good place before getting out and closing the door and it almost always is.
Having the twist is a little of a pain in the butt, having a stitch would totally help, good one. Do not bend the tab with a sledge it may crack and its hella strong.
Having a modified seat belt did raise my spidey senses, especially having to put the c6 belt left on the right side and a different angle, but they work flawless and as soon as you brake they lock every single time.
No way that is a pyrotechnic device to tighten belt in that picture under the seat belt cover I broke. It only has max 1 mm of possible movement. Those spirals do look like an electrical heat sensing or creating circuit. I could see it melting the plastic to disengage the seatbelt in an underwater james bond type senario?
Last edited by vegas.wr450@gmail.co; 05-13-2018 at 10:59 PM.
12-10-2016, 10:08 PM
C6 Seat Belt Conversion
