Posted for your comments and critique: the 3 point seat belts that I finally finished installing in the 68 convertible.

Front seat belt reel bolt is a 4" long 1/2" diameter Gr5 bolt that passes through the piston cover, the metal behind the piston cover, and then through the inside metal of the car. (good thing I know the names for all these things, eh?) I also swapped out the original 6 piston cover bolts for Gr 5's as well. With the reel anchored in this location, it's all hidden by the arm rest, and the belt comes up through the gap between the arm rest and the side of the car. [see pic1 below] The belt reel sticks out just a bit too far for the arm rest to fit in place as it normally would, so I had to "shape" it around a bit.

Back seat belt reel is the 7/16" Gr5 that came with the kit. I wasn't satisfied with the sheet metal that it bolted to in the trunk, so I added a 3/16" thick, 2 1/2" wide strip of steel that bolts to an existing hole in the trunk hinge. [see pic2 below]
I don't think it's gonna move.

I think they look good, and they feel quite good. [Pics 3 & 4]
With all the windows and top down, the front seat belts do vibrate a bit in the wind when you get up to speed, but that's okay. Best of all, I feel better / safer about taking the boys for a ride. [Pic 5]

Lastly, I'll likely be selling my 5 complete original belts (ebay?) to help finance the project. Not sure what they're worth though.

Anyway, I'd love to hear all of your thoughts.

looks good Dave!

That is a very nice retro fit you did their. I may copy portions of it myself.

Tim

Dave, I would love more info and pics on the rear 3 point belts. I too have kids your boys age but they are too big for the car seats.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Mark.

Hi Mark

The trunk "bar" was the biggest modification for the back seat belts. The existing seat belt bolt locations can be used for the other two points.

I bought my belts from wesco, roughly $70 per belt. http://wescoperformance.stores.yahoo.net/seatbelts.html

If you have any specific questions or photo angles, let me know and I'll try to get the answer / picture.

Great pic of the kids holdin' on to their hats.

Nice job! Thanks for sharing, as I'd like to do the same in the future. I have a set of OEM seats with integrated belts that I am hoping to adapt to the front, but I think it's going to take a lot of work. But this will help me for the rear.

My only comment (and I'm going from memory as my car is in storage) the bolts seem a little small compared to original.

Good job!

Much better looking than the stock belts dangling from the roof.. And safer too.

Just for anyone interested here's my conversion (I think I already posted it but here you go anyway) -very similar to Dave's but with slight differences, such as the rearseat -The belt is located in the trunk, next to the speakers, and is connected first to bottom of each side, and then towards the middle (taken from a new Subaru)

and the small 'holders' that originally was at the roof..


-Here goes: