3 point seat belts mounted on roll bar

[65up2d8]

As I stated in another thread, I'm finally bringing my '65 home this weekend from my parent's house 2.5 hours away, and I'm really stoked about having my baby back! My problem is that Memphis has a mandatory vehicle inspection that I won't pass currently. The inspection requires seat belts, of course, which I currently do not have.

I'm completely aware of all the 3 point seat belt conversion kits out there, but I have a nice headliner in the car that I really don't want to ruin. Also, I have an Autopower four point roll bar in the car already that is tied into the subframe connectors and rear frame rails, which I suspect would be much stronger than tying into a roof that was never designed for seatblets anyway. Does anyone know of a nice looking 3 point belt setup I could use for the front seats that would only require welding a tab to the roll bar?

 

[spirockp]

Roof? In another thread I started about the 3 point belts they said they were tied into the floor. How could you mount them in the roof without seeing it from the outside?

 

[65up2d8]

Roof? In another thread I started about the 3 point belts they said they were tied into the floor. How could you mount them in the roof without seeing it from the outside?

You've got to have a place to mount the shoulder belt that is at shoulder level or higher. I've seen them mounted to the roof right above the quarter windows on a coupe, and I've also seen them mounted high in the rear door jambs for lack of a better description. You can't mount shoulder belts to the floor. In the event of an accident, it will compress your spine.

 

[bnickel]

As I stated in another thread, I'm finally bringing my '65 home this weekend from my parent's house 2.5 hours away, and I'm really stoked about having my baby back! My problem is that Memphis has a mandatory vehicle inspection that I won't pass currently. The inspection requires seat belts, of course, which I currently do not have.

I'm completely aware of all the 3 point seat belt conversion kits out there, but I have a nice headliner in the car that I really don't want to ruin. Also, I have an Autopower four point roll bar in the car already that is tied into the subframe connectors and rear frame rails, which I suspect would be much stronger than tying into a roof that was never designed for seatblets anyway. Does anyone know of a nice looking 3 point belt setup I could use for the front seats that would only require welding a tab to the roll bar?

you might check with someone at the DMV about the seat belts. in Texas cars that were not equipped with them from the factory are exempt. at least, they used to be and i'm pretty sure they still are.

 

[65up2d8]

you might check with someone at the DMV about the seat belts. in Texas cars that were not equipped with them from the factory are exempt. at least, they used to be and i'm pretty sure they still are.

But 65's came from the factory with front seat belts didn't they?

 

[bnickel]

they were optional, not standard, i beleive. i could be wrong though, i'm not an expert on the 65-66 cars

 

[MustangMatt1966]

yeah, i have heard about the compress the spine thing, but it also can compress the spine if not mounted high enough even with a roll bar....so mounting them on the roll bar behind the seat is questionable, but would probably be enough to get you through the inspection process.

 

[65up2d8]

I'm talking about mounting them high enough on the roll bar. Basically what I'm getting at is that I would prefer not to mount them to the roof or the door jamb/interior quarter panel cover, and I don't want to put a cross bar on the roll bar to use 4 point belts and lose the use of my rear seat.

 

[jterry831]

I had a 75 bronco years ago, and what we did was get a set of belts out of an older truck or vehicle that had them mounted to the b pillar. We located where on the rool bar we needed them, and drilled through the bar and bolted them in. Almost looked like factory 3 point belts. Worked great.

Just my 2 cents.
Jimmy

 

[chromedog]

IF you drill through a roll bar, drill the hole large enough to weld a steel bushing into it... other wise you run the risk of weakening the bar.