How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
#3160875
07/19/23 10:01 AM
07/19/23 10:01 AM
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Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
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I’m looking to add factory shoulder belts to my 69 GTX. People are doing increasingly stupid things on the roads here. I had them in my last 69 rr and felt better about being out on the highways, and that was before the extra dangerous stuff I see now. I picked up some of the modern three point belts that are supposed to fit into the factory mounts. I just can’t convince myself to use those since the rest of the car has correct parts/looks.
I’ve found a few bits and pieces here and there. My car has black buckets, my last car had a bench. That one had the strings and snap buttons. What caused a car to have those and not belts without them?
Anybody know what part numbers I need to be looking for? Some of what is out there has numbers on them.
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#3160923
07/19/23 11:45 AM
07/19/23 11:45 AM
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 19,408
north of coder
moparx
"Butt Crack Bob"
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"Butt Crack Bob"
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 19,408
north of coder
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i have been thinking about adding a modern type shoulder belt system to my 69 charger. how "off" does the modern type belts look in your GTX ? they would look the same in my charger, or close, so a picture would give me an idea what my car would look like with them. what outfit did you purchase them from ? 
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: moparx]
#3160944
07/19/23 12:15 PM
07/19/23 12:15 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,212
Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
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OP
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i have been thinking about adding a modern type shoulder belt system to my 69 charger. how "off" does the modern type belts look in your GTX ? they would look the same in my charger, or close, so a picture would give me an idea what my car would look like with them. what outfit did you purchase them from ? I can take a pic. Think it was the big seat belt company that does lots of cars. I used their rear belts to replace the missing ones in my car. Look good enough I think. The three point rig has a roll up retractor and in no way will look like the two separate belts of the factory. I grabbed them with the rear belts I had to have during the pandemic mess when things were extra hard to get. I liked they bolt into factory mounts.
I want my fair share
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: topside]
#3160951
07/19/23 12:18 PM
07/19/23 12:18 PM
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SomeCarGuy
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The '68-'69 B-bodies (I don't recall my '70) with shoulder belts had a male buckle at the sun visor for that belt; the female end clamps onto it. The snap & elastic was intended to keep tension on the belt when it wasn't being used to keep it close to the headliner.
The later/improved 3-belt integrated setup made that unnecessary.
A buddy has an aftermarket 3-point setup in his Dart, and it's pretty lame: big retractor, and uses a straight extension bracket to reach the OEM mounting at the rocker panel.
So, the retractor flops around, and I doubt that extension is sufficiently strong.
The retractor's too big, and it uses a GM-style buckle.
I've looked around on the web for a better aftermarket setup but haven't found anything that I know would fit properly and eliminate that extension.
Seems to me the best setup would be a later-model OEM 3-point with a smaller retractor, and likely relocating its mounting on the rocker.
If anyone has a better solution, I'd love to hear it. That’s the deal, belt plugs in at visor. There are quite a few belts for sale that do not have the string. How do you figure out what you should have? Did the bench seat cars need a longer belt so that created the string situation?
I want my fair share
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#3160998
07/19/23 01:05 PM
07/19/23 01:05 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
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Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
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Here’s a 68 with buckets car. Has snaps but no string. High level resto, scored near 1000 points. I checked my pics and the ones I have don’t show the belts with strings on my bench seat car. It had original stuff all Latinos the same and factory installed headliner. I’m sure it was all factory.
I want my fair share
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#3161004
07/19/23 01:17 PM
07/19/23 01:17 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,786
A collage of whims
topside
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A collage of whims
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All of my '68-'69 Bs that I can recall (coupes & HTs) had the elastic strap, which were almost always stretched out after a few years.
I don't recall my bucket seat cars being different from the bench cars: attachments are in the same place, whether in use or not, as I recall.
My original, 17,000-mile, bench RR coupe has the elastic, and it's still tight. I don't think they've ever been used.
My restored '68 bench RR coupe with restored belts has no elastic, but a snap at the tail (folded & stitched into a triangle shape) to secure the shoulder belt's tail.
I think availability of the correct elastic straps (and/or maybe avoiding complaints of fit/sagging) might be the reason those were done that way.
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#3161301
07/20/23 12:24 PM
07/20/23 12:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 19,408
north of coder
moparx
"Butt Crack Bob"
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"Butt Crack Bob"
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 19,408
north of coder
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i have been thinking about adding a modern type shoulder belt system to my 69 charger. how "off" does the modern type belts look in your GTX ? they would look the same in my charger, or close, so a picture would give me an idea what my car would look like with them. what outfit did you purchase them from ? I can take a pic. Think it was the big seat belt company that does lots of cars. I used their rear belts to replace the missing ones in my car. Look good enough I think. The three point rig has a roll up retractor and in no way will look like the two separate belts of the factory. I grabbed them with the rear belts I had to have during the pandemic mess when things were extra hard to get. I liked they bolt into factory mounts. a picture would be great. 
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Re: How to determine correct shoulder belts in 69 b body?
[Re: moparx]
#3161340
07/20/23 02:46 PM
07/20/23 02:46 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,212
Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
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I Live Here
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OP
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Here you go. I might be cutting this set loose if I can gather all the parts for the oem deal.
I want my fair share
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