goofygrin

Everyone talks about it, but very few people really post how to do it. It is pretty easy, but hey, I need to up my post count :blueangel:

I sized the pictures down. If you need a better view of something, let me know.

Note: I have a convertible 72. I have no idea if the exact procedures for another year/body style.

Note 2: As always, this guide is worth what you paid for it: nothing. Please don't sue me if you drop your seat on your toes or car!

Anyway...

So this is what you might have (minus the *awesome* carpet that is coming out during this process).

Does not seem to safe does it? Lapbelts really scare me.

I did a little research and found out about [url]http://www.billygrahamscamaro.com[\url]. I called them up and they knew immediately about the "Corvette Conversion." It was $75 shipped UPS. In reality, thats all the person on the phone knew. I ordered it on Friday and it got here on Tuesday. (From AL to TX, not too bad I guess...). You get two choices, grey or tan (neutral). I chose neutral to kind of match my interior.

Here's what came in the box. Note only 4 bolts (using a TORX 45 head) and one rubber thing.


I recommend you remove the sill plate first. It is 4 screws. One of mine was stripped (surprise surprise) so I got to dremel it into a flathead!

First thing to do is remove your seat. Look for bolts where the arrows are. For some reason on my car, the bolt in the bottom left (and the same on the drivers side) is a bolt with a loose nut (in a bad place under the car). The others just bolt right into the floorpan. Be aware that the passenger seat might have a passenger sensor hooked up, so don't just yank on that seat!

Man my carpet is not... not.

Next remove the 5 screws/bolts that hold the retractor plastic cover. Again, one of mine was stripped and I got to dremel again.


You will need to remove the seatbelt sensor connector from the retractor. Unfortunately, you will not get to plug this back in, so your seatbelt warning will not work. However, I assume if you are doing this conversion, you are picky about seatbelts anyway...

Now remove the big bolt that holds the retractor down. Mine had a plastic washer under it. I reused that washer on reinstallation. Also unbolt the female portion off of the transmission tunnel (another big bolt). You might want to/have to remove the center console (2 screws) to do this.

In order to get the retractor out, you will need to remove the small stop bar (two bolts) from around the sill area. Once that bar is removed, the retractor should be free.

I recommend a little cleaning while you are here...

Now its time to go fishing... You need to find the mounting hole for the seatbelt retractor on the wheel well. Luckily Bubba was too lazy to remove the quarter panel bracket and I am getting rid of the carpet, so I just cut it out. :) If you have a 68/69, your bolt hole is going to be on the side of the wheel well and you get to make a bracket (do a search). If you never had shoulder belts, your hole might have a plug.

For some reason, there was a metal "stud" that protruded about 1/8 of an inch up that I had to dremel off to allow the retractor to lay flat.

So hopefully you get lucky and the seatbelts you get have a similar size female portion. I read that some are too short? Here's a comparison. The black one is actually the one from my car. It was kind of hard to remove from the plastic casing, but my gorilla grip got it :)


Here I have swapped the female portions. I used a piece of wire to help pull the new receptor through. I did not use the metal peice that was in there originally (was too much effort to try and get it in there).


Bolt the receptor back onto the transmission tunnel using the original bolt.

Now lets look at that retractor. There were 3 pieces of junk on mine that I had to cut off. The first 2 were easy (plastic pieces). The third required a hack saw.


Here is what you are up against:


There was a "tab" on the bottom of the retractor:


That I bubba'ed flat:


The bolts that came with belts were longer than the ones that were originally there (there was not one in the wheel well for the shoulder harness), so I chose to use them for the retractor side. However, they are too big for the hole in the retractor (I guess the rubber thing is supposed to go there?) and the threads for the retractor were too deep unless the bolt went all the way through the retractor hole. Remember though that this bolt has a Torx 45 head (I have a Torx set anyway because my old truck used Torx 50 bolts for its seatbelts)...


A little bit of ingenuity here. The hole was bigger than my largest drill bit... I could have sanded/filed/otherwise enlarged the hole (it only needs to be a millimeter or two bigger)... but I chose not to :) I used a drillpress in a really bad way with a large bit (cheap tools, I can abuse them and not care!).

So after the "enlargement" process, it was pretty simple to bolt the retractor in.


If you have the holes in your seats (I don't, yet?) or the hangers on the door pillar (coupe), you should probably run the belt through them.

Now, bolt the other end of the retractor down in the hole in the floorpan. Be aware of the way the belt goes so that it does not fold over or bind. Reinstall the stop bar over the belt. Then reinstall the "retractor" cover and then the seats and sill plate (and center console if you removed it).

Hopefully it should look something like:


Now do the other side and call it a day!

Sean


[Modified by goofygrin, 6:19 AM 5/21/2003]


[Modified by goofygrin, 6:20 AM 5/21/2003]

'71vert

Great post. Thanks for the info. I look forward to doing this very soon. I have a '71 convertible and my lapbelts don't even have retactors, so if I were to ever have to stop fast or, god forbid, hit anything, the chances of the lapbelt folding and slicing me in half are pretty good.

BB73Chris

[QUOTE]

If you have the holes in your seats (I don't, yet?) or the hangers on the door pillar (coupe), you should probably run the belt through them.

QUOTE]

Is it easy to get the new belts through the holes in the seatbacks? I'm thinking about this mod because my drivers side lap belt decided not to come out and play anymore, the one thing I can't think through in my mind is how to get the new ones through the seat...

Mystery Machine

Excellent description! I did the same conversion (got my belts from Billy Graham too!) and in a coupe you have to remove the plastic casing around the retractor in order to get the rear quarter panel to fit back over it.

GOod work on yours! I did the same thing with the little tab on the retractors...I bent them flat too! :thumbs:

Paul L

That is not a project on my list but being a pic/photo buff myself, I wish to congratulate and thank you for the very informative post! Many will benefit from what you have taken the time to do.

QuickVet

very nice job. :yesnod:

MassVette

Very good post- very well done!
:yesnod: :chevy :chevy :yesnod:

Brint_B

That's a great job! Perfect timing too. I just bought a set of 97 camaro seat belts for my '69 ( $65 on ebay :)) and plan on installing them next weekend.
Thanks again for the info. :thumbs:

bbeck

My car doesn't have any seatbelts in it. :confused:

goofygrin

Brint, I hope you got the rears... the fronts won't work.

Your 69 will require some bracket manufacturing... search archived threads for it (someone posted an image/drawing).

Sean

Jay M

Thanks for the detailed instructions!! That's all it took for me to go ahead and call them to order a set.

It may be a little more of a chalenge on my '68, but I'll feel a lot better driving when I have a shoulder belt :)

~Jay

Robert N

Not sure if it will be easy, but I think it can be done. I will eventually trying the same on mine. Just need to get black or green belts first.

Thanks for the pics Goofygrin.

sray454

You have mail

Brint_B

Thanks for heads up on the rear belts. I got both the front & rear sets. I haven't really gotten into it yet because were still working on the motor. Almost finished hooking everything up, then we'll move to the interior (hopefully this weekend). When I install the belts I'll try to post some pictures.
Thanks again for your help.

JB

You guys doing the '68 & the '69, it is definitely different, because the mounting anchor on those years is on the side of the wheel well instead of the top, and if you mount your new retractors in the side position, they won't function & when you crash your vette, it's going to get real ugly, real fast.

There are two ways to make the camaro belts work in your '68 or '69. One way is to construct a right angled bracket out of blank stock that bolts into the stock anchor and makes a horizontal platform for the retractor. I think that looks bad and is a PITA, so I went the other direction in my '69, which is to relocate the bolt hold in the anchor plate. the anchor plates are located in your wheel wells and are L-shaped and go over the top of the wheel well. So all you have to do is drill down through the top part of the anchor and make a new bolt hole, stick a long enough bolt through, and attach a nut, and bingo, you're in business.

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL doing this, though! Exactly below the place where you'll need to drill on the passenger side is your fuel line. :eek: There's just enough clearance between the anchor and the fuel line to get the nut in to bolt through, so you also want to be careful to get a bolt that's not too long & shim it as need up top so you don't twist it into your fuel line. The best way to drill without punching the line is to put a half inch thick piece of wood between the anchor and the lines before you drill (I used an old piece of wood flooring). When you hit wood as you're drilling, STOP. Pull the wood out, put the nut in under the hole, bolt your retractor on.

BTW, old Billy Graham's starting to gouge a bit! When I bought my belts from him a year ago, he was only charging $45!

JB


[Modified by JB, 12:24 PM 5/21/2003]

Brint_B

Great Information!! :hurray: I like the idea of drilling the new clearance hole & I'll use your 1/2" wood block idea too. Thanks again

American Boy

Anyone knows if the 1995 camaro rear belts fits too???

Thanks

Stephan


[Modified by American Boy, 3:32 PM 5/21/2003]

Brint_B

I believe the belts are the same or similar from 93 to present. They changed in 93 so don't get anything before that. Other than a little cosmetic differences, I think they all should work from '93 and after. Can anyone back me up? :yesnod:

Edzred72

Awsome post goofygrin :cheers: It gave me insight into the upcomming job I have of installing these belts. Thank you..
Your rear outward seat mounting bolt is obviously missing the backing plate that slips into the frame undernieth. The seat bolt threads into this plate. It looks like the one rivited on the inboard side that you do have.
Nice job on the belt install....but....Dude....Uhh...please.. ..vacumm your car!!!! :D :D
Eddie

Jay M

Thanks for the tip about '68-'69! that's very helpful

I'm a little concerned about the belt rubbing the leather. Would it be possible to mount
this:


where the convertable top frame is bolted on to prevent the belts from rubbing the seats?

~Jay