bypassing interlock system

BarryC said

Hey BigD, my 74 still has all of that on it. The plugs under the seats have been unplugged ever since I've had it. I got it from original owner at 42,000 miles. Dug into it one time and pulled the reset switch under the hood apart and found the contacts had been soldered together.

The blue box your talking about, is it the one mounted right above the fuse box? If it is, I've wondered what that was for the past 20 years. What exactly is it? All I see inside it is a circuit board.

Also, is there a key or seatbelt buzzer on these cars? I've never been able to find one. I know the earlier ones are mounted beside the glovebox compartment.

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That blue box is the seatbelt interlock. All of the main wires coming from your ignition switch go to this unit but it they are not in series, meaning that if you disconnected them, they are not vital to the operation of other electrical items. If you value the seatbelt buzzer, seatbelt light and engine cut off, then you will need this item. If you don't value them, then the whole unit can be bypassed. This was my main focus in my search to find the gremlin in my '74 wiring harness into my '73 duster. This was quite a dilemma as I spent lots of time resolving it. The soldered connection you mention was a solution to preventing constant resetting of the button under the hood. And yes, it is a circuit board.