'66 Seatbelt Removal

[Jerry K.]

To remove and replace my seat belts do I have to do anything underneath the car or just remove the nut behind the seats? Not the nut in front of the seat 'cause that would be me. I tried archives w/o luck. Thanks.

[Tom H.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Jerry, If I remember right, the 66 belts should come right out by removing hardware behind the seats. I don't believe anything under the car is required. As long as the captured "welded" nut on the outboard ones don't break loose, it's an easy job. Don't ask how I know about the nuts breaking loose !

[Mike Z.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Jerry-
Both sides of the belt are held in place with shoulder bolts, not nuts-there are capture nuts riveted to the body. Normally, there is no issues getting them out with a proper socket/wrench from the interior-there is no need to go under the car to remove the seat belts.
Mike Zamora
#12455

[John H.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Jerry-
Both sides of the belt are held in place with shoulder bolts, not nuts-there are capture nuts riveted to the body.

The inboard belts on a '66 are secured with nuts (on a stud that's part of the underbody reinforcement); the outboard belts use bolts.

[Francis F.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

To remove and replace my seat belts do I have to do anything underneath the car or just remove the nut behind the seats? Not the nut in front of the seat 'cause that would be me. I tried archives w/o luck. Thanks.

Jerry to remove the belts you may want to go under the car
and apply a spray to the bolt threads of item #1 shown in the
drawing.This can be just barely seen when looking up in the area
between the frame and the car body,a long extension on a
material like kroil (spray can) will allow you to soak the threads
before you attempt to turn the allen head bolt.Good luck
Francis

[Mike Z.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Jerry-you are absolutely correct, it has been a couple of years since the last mid-year I pulled apart. Still, no real need to go under the car, unless as Francis has indicated spray lube.
Mike Zamora
#12455

[Joe R.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Jerry,

I replaced mine last year. I did not need to get underneath.

Good luck!
Joe

[Jerry K.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

Thanks all. Does anyone know the allen wrench size to remove the outboard? And oh yeah, where can I get correct belts with early '66 design logos.

[Gary B.]

'66 Seatbelt Removal; use an 8mm allen wrench!

Jerry,

If memory serves me correct the allen size is 5/16" (0.3125"). But here's a trick I found. The 5/16 felt a little sloppy when I tried it on the original fasteners on my '66, which were nearly seized in place. So I tried a 8mm (= .3150") allen wrench. I had to gently tap the 8mm allen wrench into the allen recess using a hammer, but it provided a much tighter fit and I was able to remove the original outboard bolts without stripping the heads.

Gary

[Jack P.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal; use an 8mm allen wrench!

Jerry,

If memory serves me correct the allen size is 5/16" (0.3125"). But here's a trick I found. The 5/16 felt a little sloppy when I tried it on the original fasteners on my '66, which were nearly seized in place. So I tried a 8mm (= .3150") allen wrench. I had to gently tap the 8mm allen wrench into the allen recess using a hammer, but it provided a much tighter fit and I was able to remove the original outboard bolts without stripping the heads.

Gary

Same here. With the 8mm. But use a lot of kroil first and I had to use some heat. Go very easy, on bolt. Nut can be tough also.

Jack

[Frank E.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal; use an 8mm allen wrench!

Jerry,

If memory serves me correct the allen size is 5/16" (0.3125"). But here's a trick I found. The 5/16 felt a little sloppy when I tried it on the original fasteners on my '66, which were nearly seized in place. So I tried a 8mm (= .3150") allen wrench. I had to gently tap the 8mm allen wrench into the allen recess using a hammer, but it provided a much tighter fit and I was able to remove the original outboard bolts without stripping the heads.

Gary

They're not allen, they're torx. I believe size 15 but memory may not be spot on. If you use an allen wrench, you may just have a real long day ahead of you

Cheers....


Frank

[Gary B.]

'66 seatbelt bolt type

Frank,

We have to be talking about different bolts, because the seatbelt bolts I'm talking about are absolutely, positively, Allen, not Torx.

Gary

[Frank E.]

Re: '66 seatbelt bolt type

Frank,

We have to be talking about different bolts, because the seatbelt bolts I'm talking about are absolutely, positively, Allen, not Torx.

Gary

Gary...
I guess you're right on this. I just checked it and the allen and a torx 50 fit it fine. Don't know why I was of the impression that they were a torx but I'm not anymore. You can certainly put more on the allen wrench than a torx so I guess it's better to use the allen. Sorry for the confusion.....

Frank

[Tom H.]

Re: '66 Seatbelt Removal

These are the bolts from a 63.