seatbelts in a 64 chev stepside T10

[pheengurs]

anybody have any info on seatbelts?

mine has a power bench seat, with 3 sets of seatbelts.. ALL 3 seatbelts are the non-retractable type, and are bolted ONLY to the cab sheet metal, not to the frame.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say that these seatbelts are not stock, nor are they mounted in a safe manner...

I read through my owners manual and 64 shop manual supplement, and there is no mention of seatbelts being installed, or as an option from factory or dealership...

Anybody have any thoughts?

This is one of the things I have to resolve before getting the vehicle inspected... once it passes inspection I can plate and insure it... however they way things work out here, you cannot get a specific list of requirements for your vehicle, it is entirely dependent on the inspector, and what mood they are in that day... the most I could get out of them is "anything safety related must be operational" an obviously broad reaching, and entirely vague statement, that tells me nothing specific in regards to my truck... Now if the inspection was say twenty bucks? No big deal, it fails a few times, and I know exactly what to fix, but the inspection costs around $150... so I want this to be a one shot deal, in and out, with a big rubber stamp stating my vehicle is up to par and is safe to drive as far as the insurance company is concerned...

so if this vehicle had seatbelts from the factory, where would they have been mounted? OR if they didn't come with seatbelts, and you were going to install seatbelts to save your life in a crash, where would YOU mount them? how would you do the mounting? what kinds of tools would you need to mount them properly? what kind of seatbelt did you install (retractable? shoulder & lap? lap only? new or from another vehicle?)

Is this one of the things I'd be able to figure out if I had bought a full 1963 chev trucks shop manual?

again, any help is appreciated!

[Longhorn Man]

I can't speak for your laws, but here in the US, if it was never equipped, they can't require it in any inspection. You hould be able to point out that there are no anchors to mount to, and your owners manual says nothing about them... every owners manual I have ever read gives instructions on how tin properly use belts. Since belts were so new in the 60's, your book would definatly hace a section on this.
You could also get a restoration packet from GM. ( http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=124574 ) it'll cost you a few bucks, but the info is well worth it..esp if it helps to get your rig on the road. This will show all standard and optional features, and in Canada, it'll give some info specific to your truck.

[pheengurs]

thanks Longhorn, I knew there was a number in the US but now I know there's a number for us Canucks... thanks! It'd be awesome to know what exactly was on/in the truck... I'll have to do the same thing for my old 77 vette too! again, thanks!

yeah, I've had a few people locally say, that what was not installed from the factory does not have to be there... and honestly, I seriously can't see those seatbelts being installed like that from the factory, so I figured I'd just pull them out, and cover the holes for the inspection...

I sure would like to have seatbelts though! This truck will be seeing highway driving, and some decent off-roading... seatbelts not only stop you from flying out the windows, but they also stop your head from bouncing off the roof when yer out 4-wheeling!


so anybody install their own seatbelts? or have seatbelts in their old truck? take a gander at them, and lemme know what you see, and how they are mounted...

[Longhorn Man]

As you suspect, your belts won't do anything but rip out of the floor as you go head first through the windshield.
Next time you are in the junk yard, look at the floor boards where the seat belts are bolted on a later model truck, you'll see the floor is beefed up quite a bit.
IF your floor boards are in great shape, you could use a 2 inch by 2 inch piece of flat steel... I'd want it to be at least 1/4 inch thick, drill a hole in it, then line it up with the holes in your floor now, and bolt the two together at the 4 corners, then mount your seat belts to the now reinforced floor. I honestly don't see how to do 3 point belts though.
Again, can't speak for your laws, but in the US, 4 or 5 point belts are not legal for highway use, and without a roll bar, you couldn't set them up properly anyways. They have to anchor at shoulder height. or a few feet back, otherwise they'll compress your spine in a collision.
However, if you have room for a roll bar, and it is legal there, that would be the zenith in securing your hide to the truck.

[ed455]

My 66 had seat belt provisions in the floor. They were beefed up a bit and were 7/16 fine thread nuts welded into plates. They also had a plastic insert hole up over each shoulder behind the door. Not sure what they were used for but they make a good place to bolt a shoulder belt. Not sure if the belt provisions began in 65 or 66.

Ed

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[cptstickfigure]

Originally Posted by pheengurs

mine has a power bench seat, with 3 sets of seatbelts.. ALL 3 seatbelts are the non-retractable type, and are bolted ONLY to the cab sheet metal, not to the frame.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say that these seatbelts are not stock, nor are they mounted in a safe manner...

Actually, you're not going to want to bolt your seatbelts to the frame. If, god forbid, the body separates from the frame, you don't want your seatbelt trying to pull you through the floor.

Best thing to do would be to check with the various seatbelt vendors. I've heard good things about Julianos, but there are plenty of others. Most of them have very good instructions on seatbelt installation.

For now, just make sure your floorboards are solid and that you have some sort of mounting plate on the back to spread the load and keep the bolts from pulling straight through the floor in an accident.

[jasonrmorrow]

Hey hows it goin...

I have a 64...which happened to be the last year they didn't put the plug in the cab up top for the 3 point belts, i bought a kit from some company in the states, it comes with a huge washer to stick underneath the sheetmetal to spread the load...so i just cut some 1/4" plate about 4" around and stuffed that up inside the b pillar and held the nut while someone esle tightened the bolt from the outside.

I happen to live in Calgary...and work at Country Hills Toyota ...but i can't do OPI's i'm still just an apprentice, but if you want to have a look at how i mounted mine or if you even want to bring it to our shop to have the OPI done...i know one guy that will do it, hes into the old ****, and a great guy to deal with too. And our service manager has a 69 c10 so as long as i pass it by the two i'm sure it'd be no problem to have you bring it in for the Out of Province.

Let me know.

Jason

[pheengurs]

I'm still waiting for my brother to showup with those reinforcement backing plates... while waiting, I removed the outer seatbelts, and reinstalled the bolts... I won't be able to use a simple flat piece of steel for the outer bolts, as the idiot who drilled those holes, put them at the outer edge of the cab, where it starts to curve downward...

oh well, I guess it means I'll have to buy a heavier hammer to mold a curve into the steel plates, when I do get them...

our local pick yer part junkyard was having it's annual 50% off sale...so I went out there, and there were no trucks older than about 76, of course, but I found the oldest chev truck I could find, with the color interior parts I was looking for and took the sun visors, map pockets, screws, retainers, etc... I was thinking about taking the seatbelts, but didn't have that damned special 8 or 12 point star bit that GM likes to use for things like seatbelts and Ford likes to use on tailgate strap bolts... anyway, I got the visors home, and find out they won't work. the part that goes into the body is too long - goes too deep... what a pain in the arse!

so after this fiasco, I got mad, and bought a parts interchange manual off of ebay, which was advertised as GM & Chev 64-72, but in reality covers EVERY domestic vehicle for those years, and thusly has very little information about 1964 chev stepside T-10's... things like interior parts .. like sunvisors.. so am I now forced to pay $49.95 for a new sunvisor??? come on! I'm going to 'modify' the part that goes into the body, and make it shorter...

[jgrh64]

In Ohio I was told the truck must have seatbelts even if never equiped - how did you reach up so far in the piller for the backup washer and nut ???? I was thinking of using a hole saw to open a large enough hole far enough below the mounting point for strength but close enough to get to the back, then finding some sort of body plug with a GM decal over it to cover it over (welding is not an option)

[kwkenuf]

I installed bucket seats from a 2002 Silverado, they come with integral 3 point belts. Real slick and easy install and the belts are retractable. I used under floor support brackets from Julianos to mount the seats. No pictures in my photobucket album currently but I'll rectify that and edit this post to include a pic of the seats and belts.

[kwkenuf]

Here ya go. Couldn't be easier.

[jgrh64]

I wondered what newer seats would look like in my truck , what did those set you back ?

[pheengurs]

yeah, I saw a couple of threads on newer seats.. namely newer yukon seats... I checked on ebay, only found one set, and they were somewhere around 600 bucks! Course, they were leather, but much too pricey for me at this stage of the game... but it is something I DO want to do in the near future... first tho, I have to get her saftied...

[kwkenuf]

I got my Silverado seats for around $250 (delivered) on Ebay. You could probably do better in a local late model junkyard but I kinda bought these things on an impulse.....

[leftcoast66]

I did 4 point harnesses and used the factory locations for the bottom and used the gas tank bracket to bolt the harnesses too for now since I don't have a cage at this point. Never heard any complaints from the officials at the dragstrip

[jgrh64]

good price on seats ,around here the good bone yards close on sat. to keep the general rif raf out ( they want to sell to collision centers) only the crappy ones stay open to the general public.

[pheengurs]

do these newer seats with the integral seatbelts have enough room underneath them to put subwoofers/poweramps/cd changers ???

if I'm going to go all out on the interior, I'd like to be able to hide the stereo stuff... I'd like one 8 or 10 inch sub under the center seat, the cd changer under my seat, and the amps under the passenger seat...

I want to move the heatercore/interior fan unit inside the cab of the truck to clean up the underhood look, so that will also take up more room inside the cab, so any stereo equipment is going to have less places to be... I also still have the in cab gas tank...

anyone have experience installing / hiding stereo components in their trucks? if so, what did you do? got pics of it?

[pheengurs]

well, I ended up installing seats pilfered from a late 90's tahoe... grey leather, power seats...and centre console, modified to fit. the integral seatbelts on these seats are ideal, and bolting them in, was easy peasy...

one of these days I'll install the lower covers, and get some seatcovers to match the interior color... but for now they keep me safe and comfortable...
the only thing I don't like is the fact that I cannot go back because of the in-cab gas tank. one more project for the pile...

here's a pic

[LILRED66]

In the US, seat belts became mandatory by Federal Law in 1966 in light-duty trucks, however, seat belts were an option prior to 1966.

[jgh64pkup]

i have a 64 and it did not come factory with seat belts but my dads 67 did i think the transition year was either 65 or 66

[LILRED66]

The seat belts were mandatory in 1966, as stated above. You could get them before 1966, but they were not standard equipment and only available as an option (RPO).

[TR65]

Pheengurs,

As others have stated, it is fine to mount seatbelts to the cab floor assuming it is still steel and not rust. Just use about 2 or 3 inch round, thick washers. If the crash was severe enough to pull those through the floor pan you are gone anyway.

You can fish a backing plate taped to a stiff wire up between the inner and outer cab panels and screw in the shoulder harness bolt. It took me a few minutes but not bad. No need to have a hole bigger than the mounting bolt. See a 66 or later to see where the holes need to be drilled. The backing plates are available from vendors or you can make one. Again, that will be as good as the OE installation. Here is a link to the hardware I used.

http://www.gotbelts.com/inki.html

Good luck with the inspection.

TR