golfer9491

I have a 1968 corvette with the original shoulder belts. I bought this car at auction and the guy that i had bought it from pulled it from a long time in storage (since 1980) replaced the whole interior and did not reinstall the shoulder belts. He had left them in the storage bin. I know where they need to be mounted but what pieces do i need otherwise to make it original. I have the bolts and belts and that is it.What else do i need.
Matt

jrzvette

The Assembly Manual should have the parts listed in the "Options" section.

golfer9491

where can i find this assembly manual?

rihwoods

Here is 69...68 similar...



Another option for parts

http://www.andoauto.com/Corvette.htm

golfer9491

thanks. did all cars with shoulder belts have headrests?

rihwoods

Shoulder belts were optional on verts..std on coupes. headrests were optional on all 68-69 vettes.....

golfer9491

i have a '68 coupe that has the shoulder belts. The guy replaced the whole interior so none of it is there except the bolts and belts. He replaced seats and all. I was wondering if all cars with shoulder belts also had the headrests.I'm asking this because i have not seen a '68-'69 that has the shoulder harnesses with headrests.

rihwoods

Here are some pics of my 69....

You will need these shoulder belt guides...very expensive even on E-Bay..(upwards $190.00).I got lucky at a local auto swap meet...$100.00 for the pair..



Best to find some 68/69 seats with headrest hardware...not sure if you can find hardware for headrests easily.....


Rich

68/70Vette

Sorry: The 68 shoulder belts are not similar to the 69. The 68 shoulder belt female end attaches to their own individual male clips. These male clips are positioned between the seat and the ebrake console. Your picture of the 69 shows the shoulder belts and lap belt attaching to them selves and then pluging into one female clip.

Also, the 68 had a little plastic two chambered(compartments) recepticle that mounted right above the end of the ebrake console on the firewall like closeout immediately behind the seats. If not using the shoulder belts, the individual female clips were stored in their own little compartments.

golfer9491

The picture of the '69 like you said is different. Could you show me some pics of what you are saying. Thanks

68/70Vette

My understanding is that the 68's did not have these belt guides. If that's the case, mounting them on a 68 seat back is not going to be straigntforward. The 69 seat back frames had nut plates (a nut like rivet fastener) mounted on the seat back. If your 68 doesn't have them, you're not going to have much to screw the guides into the seat back unless you use a sheet metal screw (which won't be very strong).

I bought 69 seat backs with the head rest fixtures. I intend to use them on my 68 even though it's not exactly factory correct.

68/70Vette

Someone in 2006 published a nice photo of the interior of their 68 that showed the shoulder belt recepticles. The car had an all new red interior. Maybe the person who submitted this photo will read this.

A drawing of the 66-67 shoulder belt harness recepticles can be seen on page 220 (Volume 30) of the Dr. Rebuild catalog. The 68 recepticles are the same part. Dr Rebild has a lot of the seat and head rest hardware. Unfortunately there's nothing to convert a nonhead rest seat to a head rest seat for a C3. Conversion kits do exist for C2's. Maybe they might be the same.

golfer9491

i contacted the 1968 NCRS specialist. So hopefully i can get some pics and everything needed.

rihwoods

I only posted that pic so he could see the headrests and I added pic of the shoulder belt guides...My belts are aftermarket obviously...and he said he had the stock 68 belts..

Rich

golfer9491

hey rich,
thanks for the pics. that is one sick '69 you got there i can understand why you have the aftermarket belts.

jrzvette

Most of the aftermarket catalogs (ZIP, Ecklers, MAD, Corvette Central) have them. They're about $17.00 and the three ring binder is about $5.00. If you want to know how your car was put together they make things very clear. One note: all of the AIMs that I've seen look like 10th generation Xerox copies. For the most part they're readable but some pages are very blurry.

Brian Freeman

Golfer -- realize this is a long shot given time that has elapsed since the original message, but I was wondering if you ever got a definitive answer to your question here?? If so, I could use some help myself.

I too have the original shoulder belts, however no bolts. I'm looking to find out what bolts I actually need (and a source for same) to mount the shoulder belts? I also need the shoulder belt harness receptacle and mounting bolts for it as well (and a source).

I seem to get different answers and different suggestions dependent upon what article I read. Said differently, the 68 is a odd bird for sure especially where seat belts are concerned...

Thanks....Brian

68/70Vette

The guides were not installed on 68's. I have a 68 Convertible with seat shoulder belts. They are factory duplicates from Snake-Oyl. $$$ Maybe $800 to restore the 68 seat belts and build factory duplicate shoulder belts. There were only 35 1968 Convertibles that came from the factory with shoulder belts. You'll need a dual pocket soft plastic retainer to keep them when no used. It's mounted between the front two seats on the "firewall" behind the front seats. It's the similar piece that was on the 67 Corvettes.

I wanted to install the guides and also wanted the headrests. I bought a 69 seat back frame on eBay. The 69 seat back frames come with the provision to mount the headrest and they are drilled with holes and welded nuts for the guides. You can buy factory duplicate new headrests from Al Knoch. He has bought the original factory tooling to manufacture the headrests.

The 68 shoulder belts are quite a conversation piece. They pretty rare.
They also are very impractical!!! They don't have reels. When you put the shoulder belts on and snug them up to hold you firmly against the seat back in the event of a collision, you can't lean forward to look at the inside/outside rear view mirrors. If I would have known this up front I would have bought used 69 belts, had them restored, and installed them. The 69's have reels. But after all the expense and bother of getting the 68 belts, the fight was gone from me. I'm pretty sure all the body bolt holes for the 68 belts are the same for the 69.

About the guides...ebay prices are about $200 when I was looking for them.. Later I found out Al Knoch has a box full of them.I forget what he said he sold them for, but it was a lot less than $200...this was about three years ago.

68/70Vette

The guides were not installed on 68's. I have a 68 Convertible with seat shoulder belts. They are factory duplicates from Snake-Oyl. $$$ Maybe $800 to restore the 68 seat belts and build factory duplicate shoulder belts. There were only 68 Convertibles that came from the factory with shoulder belts. You'll need a dual pocket soft plastic retainer to keep them when no used. It's mounted between the front two seats on the "firewall" behind the front seats. It's the similar piece that was on the 67 Corvettes.

I wanted to install the guides and also wanted the headrests. I bought a 69 seat back frame on eBay. The 69 seat back frames come with the provision to mount the headrest and they are drilled with holes and welded nuts for the guides. You can buy factory duplicate new headrests from Al Knoch. He has bought the original factory tooling to manufacture the headrests.

The 68 shoulder belts are quite a conversation piece. They pretty rare.
They also are very impractical!!! They don't have reels. When you put the shoulder belts on and snug them up to hold you firmly against the seat back in the event of a collision, you can't lean forward to look at the inside/outside rear view mirrors. If I would have known this up front I would have bought used 69 belts, had them restored, and installed them. The 69's have reels. But after all the expense and bother of getting the 68 belts, the fight was gone from me. I'm pretty sure all the body bolt holes for the 68 belts are the same for the 69.