Hello All. I bought a basic two-point seat belt from a local SOCAL manufacturer, figuring that replacing a seat belt has to be about the easiest thing to do on a restoration project. But no, it's always something... My seat belts are not original OEM, so I don't know how the belt mounting bracket is supposed to orient. The bracket is flat for the bolt, then angles out a bit so the belt isn't flush up against the floorpan. It just seems natural to me that the angle part should be oriented up, as in pic 1 (driver door side) and pic 2 (trans tunnel side). But...if I install them this way, the belts are made such that they are upside down, so that if I want the buckle button on top (as it should be), the belt has to twist 180 degrees...same with the male side. I would not be happy with this.
So I called the manufacturer, and they said the belts are meant to mount with the angle part of the bracket DOWNWARD...as in pic1 and pic 2:
OK...so, while this will work, and 0rients the belts such that they are right side up, i.e. not twisted, it still just doesn't seem right. For one thing, it puts the belt lower and close to the seat when I reinstall it, maybe too close....and the belt might rub against the bracket nut, maybe eventually wear a hole in it? Can anybody please post pics of how the original two-point seat belts were mounted?
Thanks for weighing in....do you mean that the OEM brackets were not bent at all? I can kind of see how they would be straight under that cover in your pic. But I'm not too worried about originality at this point, and I'll probably upgrade to a 3-point system with covers and retractors and the whole deal in the future anyway. These 2-point belts are just an interim solution....not original per se. But I do actually like the bracket "bend", it gets the belt loop slightly away from the floorpan. But the more I think about it, the more I want to return them or ask the manufacturer to rebuild them with the belts twisted 180 degrees...I just think that bend should be at the top, not pointing down.
Might/Maybe/Could be the difference between bucket and bench seat. I do remember on my '74 not being able to use my bench seat belt when I swapped to buckets, but I am thinking the length of the belt was the issue. Also inner seatbelt anchor bolt changed location by a couple inches in '74 along with the shoulder strap anchor bolt.
