C3 Retractable Seat Belts

[Tony Roussos]

Greetings. I'm replacing the aftermarket seat belts with correct retractables from Ecklers. Apparantly, my 1971 coupe did not come with retractable lap belts. So, Does anyone know where I can find the guide bars that mount to the body next to the seat? What else do I need to retrofit the lap belts under the seat? It seems I need to make a hole in the floor and install a plate on the underside of the seat cavity. Correct? Thank you for your help. Tony

[Terry M.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Tony,
I don't believe 1971 had a mount under the seat or retractable lap belts. I think the outboard belt bolts into a threaded hole right at the side of the seat. No guide bars or plate under the seat. 1969 and 1972 had retractable lap belts, but not 1968, 1970 or 1971.
Take off the sill plate and lift the outboard part of the carpet and you should find the hole. I kind of wonder what you are buying that is "correct."

[Jim T.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Terry the 68 Corvette has retractable lap belts. The retractor is located under the seat in a black plastic housing. The belts that are retracted are the belts that come from under the seat and through the plastic slot in the carpeting near the door sill.

[Dick W.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

The retractors on a '68 are similar/same? as used on midyear. They were installed on the belt rather than, as the later cars, at the attachment.

[Harmon C.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Terry Their is a plastic housing retractor and it must have some metal in it being sold today. I seen one on display by snake oil that they are using to reweb shark belts and sell outright. It would be fine for the early shark's that needed no wire connector for the buzzers. It will never work for later shark's that I had to learn how to repair to make the buzzers work when the vendor I was using ran out of parts to work on them. You could never pass a PV on a shark needing buzzers with this new unit but for a driver it would be fine. I doubt if any vendor would tool up to make the switched unit as it was only used in late 72all of 73 all models and 74-75 convertibles only.One could overide the unit with a switched buckle but the function would be caught by a sharp judge.I have been buying up the cores for years but the supply is getting low even at the big shows. Lyle

[Terry M.]

1968 Retractable Seat Belts

Well I would swear I have seen 1968s without retractors, but the one that comes to mind is a very late example. Guess I should leave interior comments to those with more experience in that area.
None-the-less I'll stand by my comments about 1971 lap belts.

[Jim T.]

Re: 1968 Retractable Seat Belts

Terry I think it is very easy for someone to believe they have seen 68's without the seat belt retractors. With the location of the retractor under the seat and concealed in the black ruubber which at times in some 68's had to much moisture seek its way into the car, the retractors became inoperable and if the belts was used, this portion of the lap belt would not retract and remain in the extended position and subsequent owners would not know of the retractor feature. Page 32 of the 68 owners manual mentions the retractor equipped belts. Keep those comments coming, this is how we learn.

[Terry F.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

I can't help comment on this subject. I have scrounged through too many 68 cars and seat belts to not comment. I don't believe that all 68 lap belts came with retractor springs under the seat. Though it is only hear say, I believe the springs were eliminated because people were not fully extending the belts before locking them across their laps. I also believe there was a problem with them retracting under the carpet. In any case, I have pulled two styles of under seat lap belts from 68 corvettes. The early one's resembled, if not were identical to 67 corvette underseat lap belts and I believe they had retractors on them and had 68 lables on them. I had an NOS example of one with 68 lables and recently seen some on ebay advertised from a 68 corvette. As I recall, they had a long steel bar (about 6 inches) attached to them and at the end of the bar was the retractor with the webbing roled around it. The other end of the metal bar had a hole in it which was bolted to the floor under the car. The other style that I have seen and is more common has no retractor. They all came with a black plastic sleeve that covered the entire retractor and a good portion of the belt. In this later version there is no metal bar and the retactor bolts directly to the floor board under the seat. I don't know when that one showed up in production. I know that some people that rebuilt seat belts have retrofitted retractor springs to them because the customers felt they belonged there. But, if you ask those people that rebuild seat belt, I think you will find that their experience is that there are no retractor springs on the later version of 68 lap belts. I suspect the transition occured around the time the carpet gromet disappeard on the side of the seat where the seat belt came through. Just a guess because that was another aberition that is seen on 68 corvettes in that area. I eventually came across a set of dark blue 68 seat belts in original GM boxes that were unopened. They were the later version and they have NO springs attached to them. I sold the boxes to a seat belt restorer in California (I wonder what he did with the boxes). Now, I did look closely at the NOS belts and you can see a place where a spring could go but I suspect it was for a different application. Also, If you try to wind the webbing on to the retractor, as I recall, there is too much webbing and it won't fit before it gets too tight inside the sleeve. So,,,,like so many things on the 68 corvette, it is frustrating to find the truth. Like looking for the Holy Grail. This is only my observation.

[Reba Whittington]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

The Third Edition of the 1968-69 Judging Guide says that retractors were only found on early 1968s. There is no mention of VINs or dates in regard to this, which usuallly means it was not yet pinned down. You are correct, Terry, that all 1968s did not have these, but we still don't know just when the change came.

[Terry F.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Thanks for the responce. I used to tell this to certain people and they would look at my like I was crazy and then try to tell me all 68's had retractors. Every time I was digging around on the wrecks I would pay special attentiong to certain areas of the cars to look for differnces. I looked for years for the springs that were suposed to fit the later retractors. I never found them. It's been an interesting car to restore. Best regards, Terry

[Tony Roussos]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Hi Terry. Tony here. It seems you've go a LOT of friends. I had hoped they would have commented on 71 sharks or later that had retractable. I'd like to know how it was done. Thanks.

[Louis R.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Last year I replaced the seat belts on my 68. The original ones had retractor in a black poly case located under the carpet. They were rusted frozen. I was able to re assemble the belts using my original buckles and the original black poly case. The vin on my car is 424460

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Tony,

FWIW, I've got both a 71 and 72 coupe. I can't say that the retractable setup of the 72 is worth the potential hassle of the dirt and water that might accumulate inside the mechanism. I don't personally believe that it is the best GM idea I've ever seen. A better retractable mechanism is the pocket used on my 70 Cutlass, but there isn't enough room in a Corvette between the seat and the frame rail to use this type of retractor.

It's an easy habit on a 71 to lay the lap belt on the floor in front of the seat out of your way, or use the factory-designed and installed clip on the front of your seat to hold the lap belt. In addition, while you might be able to find all the parts from a 72 and later car, realize that by the time you purchase working units wiht all the brackets, guards, etc. and go through the hassle of having them redone with webbing the correct color for your car, you could easily spend $500-1000. To see all the parts you would need, consider acquiring a 1972 AIM and reviewing the appropriate seat belt pages.

Patrick

[Reba Whittington]

Re: C3 Retractable Seat Belts

Patrick, you are correct about the problems with the retractor being under the seat. However, the main cause is that for some reason GM removed the water deflector in the door jamb that year. This has always puzzled me because once it was discovered in 1968s that water ran directly down the jamb and under the seat, different types of barriers were installed. This arrangement continued through 1971. The 1972s, and I think '73s (Lyle will know), had nothing there to stop the flow. I have solved the problem on my '72 by installing the later-style deflector that fits onto the end of the sill plate.

[Harmon C.]

Reba-- No deflectors on 73's also *NM*