3 Point Seat Belts in 73-75 Full Vert?

[1975Jimmy]

Does anybody on ck5 have a mostly stock 73-75 full vert with 3 point belts? I found a thread on the square body forum and it looks like the belts can bolt directly into floor as well as the fiberglass roof and am curious if anybody has this set up. There appears to be a bolt hole plug on the b pillar on both sides of the top. Anybody want to weigh in?

 

[nvrenuf]

I'm no help but I'm amazed at the possibility of the fiberglass top being an anchor point for the belts.

 

[ZooMad75]

I would feel uncomfortable about the anchor point in the top for a seat belt in a wreck. On my old 75 I went with bucket seats out of a 2001 Silverado with the integrated seat belts. You do have to reinforce the floor to keep the integrity of the floor in check in a wreck.

For me it was easier to reinforce the floor than try to beef up the upper mount on the top.

 

[blazinzuk]

I looked into this pretty heavy some years back. Anchoring to the fiberglas top is not a good idea. It is not braced up or reinforced or anything. No matter what you do short of glassing in a steel brace of some sort that the top anchor point will hold in a crash

 

[1975Jimmy]

I looked into this pretty heavy some years back. Anchoring to the fiberglas top is not a good idea. It is not braced up or reinforced or anything. No matter what you do short of glassing in a steel brace of some sort that the top anchor point will hold in a crash

I tend to agree with you about not trusting it in a crash, though i wonder if anybody has ever dissected one of these full vert roofs. They are heavy as hell and I would be interested in knowing if there was any kind of reinforcement in the b and c pillars from the factory. It looks like something is riveted in behind the fiberglass at the shoulder belt mount point.

 

[blazinzuk]

I saw one deconstructed in Moab. Took that side section home.

There is nothing but fiberglass in there

 

[1975Jimmy]

Good to know. Definitely gets me thinking that I need something stronger than the factory roll bar in there now.

Dang! Sucks to hear a full vert suffered a Moab casualty. Hopefully the truck was salvageable.

 

[blazinzuk]

It rolled on potatoe salad hill. Kids driving it were drunk. No seatbelts. Idiots. And nothing was saveable. It was hammered

 

[ZooMad75]

I think with a tab and a welder one could zap a mount onto the stock rollbar on a full vert. If you have one that is. Mine did, but I didn't have easy access to a welder. I liked the Silverado buckets as an easier path plus access to the rear seat didn't need to thread through a seat belt hanging from the side.

 

[1975Jimmy]

I think with a tab and a welder one could zap a mount onto the stock rollbar on a full vert. If you have one that is. Mine did, but I didn't have easy access to a welder. I liked the Silverado buckets as an easier path plus access to the rear seat didn't need to thread through a seat belt hanging from the side.

That's a good point. I could fabricate something on to the stock roll bar. The reason I'm against doing the new Silverado or f150 seats with integrated belts is because I've restored the interior and dig the mid 70s feel of it.

 

[ZooMad75]

I get the vibe you are going for. Stick with the tab on the bar. Nice look for sure. Good job.

 

[mrk5]

My suggestion would be to mount it off the roll bar. In an ideal world, I would also add a kicker back to the top of the fender well just for good measure.

 

[1975Jimmy]

My suggestion would be to mount it off the roll bar. In an ideal world, I would also add a kicker back to the top of the fender well just for good measure.

I was planning on doing that, just need to find a decent welding shop around here or make friends with somebody that has a stocked garage.

 

[mrk5]

I know a lot of people don't like clubs but one advantage is getting in with people that can help you with welding jobs. The club I'm in has "tow hook" parties just for that reason.

 

[1975Jimmy]

I know a lot of people don't like clubs but one advantage is getting in with people that can help you with welding jobs. The club I'm in has "tow hook" parties just for that reason.

I'm all about clubs. If there was a So-Cal K5 club, I'd join it. I think there used to be one, but not sure if they still get together. What exactly do you do at a tow hook party?

 

[blazinzuk]

We used to have tow hook parties at my place.

You mount tow hooks usually. But just a bunch of folks getting together to help.others out

 

[1975Jimmy]

We used to have tow hook parties at my place.

You mount tow hooks usually. But just a bunch of folks getting together to help.others out

That's awesome. I learned pretty quickly that there is a true brotherhood in the CK5 community. If anybody here in SoCal were to throw a tow hook party, i'd go.

 

[mrk5]

Yeah just generally helping fix stuff on club member rigs. Also seem to end up tuning CB's.

 

[rpcraft]

Honestly, if you are intent on having three point seat belts I would look at getting some seats from a 2003'ish Silverado and fab a bracket to mount them in. They have seat belts built into the seat and you can find them in cloth, leather, and a pretty wide range of colors.

 

[1975Jimmy]

Just wanted to bring this thread back to life. Now, I can't find any literature on it, but i did a little recon using a bore scope and it does look like GM did in fact install provisions in the 73-75 full convertible roofs for 3-point seat belts. The photos looks like crap, but check it out, you can clearly see when looking at the b-pillar that there is two rivets and a cap covering what looks like a mounting location for a 3-point harness. So, jamming a bore scope up through the dome light connector plug access hole, it looks to me like they reinforced that section of the roof with 1/4" steel (C-shaped). And there is indeed an anchor nut welded in the middle. Now, these fiberglass roofs are pretty damn strong, i wonder if in a collision, if this would be enough to keep my ass in the seat. I would certainly question it's durability in a rollover situation where the roof gets crushed, but i would bet this point is strong enough for keeping your butt from eating the steering wheel or going through the windshield if you happened to nerf someone on accident.