Any extra seatbelt mounting holes on a 70 Duster

-
T

TheBigE

70 Duster - Slant 6
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
89
Reaction score
1
Location
London, Ontario, Canada
Hi gang.

Good news and bad news with the newer A-body seatbelts I`m installing into my 70 Duster:

Good news is that the shoulder belt retractor and shoulder belt mount in the rear door panel and roof respectively are fine. It did take some customizing of how the retractor went into the door panel but it`s pretty slick now.

Bad news is that it looks like the mounting hole on the door side for the front seat seatbelts are made for just the 70 style simple lap belts with no retractor. They are way forward and don`t allow the seats to move back very far at all(and I need them all the way back at 6 foot 4) because the seat hits the lap belt retractor.

I need to move the threaded mounting hole back about 8 to 10 inches so it`s more at the feet of the back seat passenger.

Any ideas if Mother Mopar put any more threaded holes back further or if I can drill and tap my own into the side at a place of my choosing and still be into strong metal.

Thanks in advance for any info.

The Big E
 
There is a threaded plate welded to the inside of the rocker panel on the later model cars about the middle of the rear footwell.

IMO, no chance the rocker panels only would hold in an accident if they were threaded to the sheetmetal.
 
I think with these seatbelts that were made for a later model A-body(likely 74-75) they would have used the more rear bolt spots to keep the retractor clear of the front seats.

I take it that an old school Mopar man with some welding knowledge could weld in a new threaded plate for me???

Big E
 
I am putting three point retractable seatbelts in my 67 Barracuda. I just don't feel like getting my teeth knocked out on the steering wheel. You can buy the plates and bolts from Wesco. I had to move the lower anchor point back toward the rear because the retractor was too big to allow the seat to go back.

I cut out a section of the side with a dremel cutoff wheel, put in the anchor plate with stainless bolts, and welded the section I cut out back on. There was about three layers of metal at that point. Went through a few cutoff wheels. I did the same to mount the upper anchor point (except only one layer of metal). To get the bolts in, I taped a coat hanger to a wrench so I could get it on the nuts behind the metal.
 
Some pics

anchorPlate.jpg


loweranchor.jpg
 
After the metal is welded back on (yes, I did clean it up). Also, the upper anchor point, the string was tied through one of the bolt holes in the plate so I wouldn't lose it if I lost my grip.

welded.jpg


upperanchor.jpg
 
Thanks for the info and pics. Interesting stuff.

Your problem is just like mine, seats hitting the belt retractor. I also need to move them back about the same distance. I can see in your pics that a similar system was used in the factory...a backing plate with threads behind the rocker panel sheet metal.

Does your shoulder belt have a separate retractor on the floor or is it just bolted to the roof with the belt just recoiling into the lap belt one???

The Big E
 
Here are the pics (Just a test mount, the interior is getting all redone). Not a good pic of the top point, but it is the 7 or 8 inch long shoulder sash that is bolted in.

beltin.jpg


upperin.jpg
 
To answer your question, it is just one retractor on the bottom like most modern seat belts. I put a set of these in my 73 Dart, which already had the correct anchor points.

The bottom location you see in the Barracuda is basically the same as the factory location in the Dart.
 
Are these seatbelts then from an aftermarket place and not any 70's A-body?

When I bought my seatbelts I saw Dan201's setup in his 74-75 Dart and that was where the anchor was...but I can't recall where the lapbelt retractor sat??? But it definitely was not interfering with the front seat.

Big E
 
Someone else showed a fairly simple adapt before. He used a piece of steel 4 inches long maybe wth a hole drilled in each end. The factory bolt went in one hole and a nut and bolt held the retracter to the other end. That bolt was extra long and a hole was drilled to let it into the rocker. That keeps the piece from rotating on the original bolt. No cutting or welding was needed.
Looked fine to me.
 
TheBigE said:
Are these seatbelts then from an aftermarket place and not any 70's A-body?

When I bought my seatbelts I saw Dan201's setup in his 74-75 Dart and that was where the anchor was...but I can't recall where the lapbelt retractor sat??? But it definitely was not interfering with the front seat.

Big E
Click to expand...

The first retractable 3 pt seatbelts were 74 I think. They had the retractor behind the rear door panel and another lower anchor point in a different spot. Those 74-75 (and maybe later, not sure), would be hard to put into a car that wasn't designed for them. The aftermarket ones are easier to fit.
 
RedFish said:
Someone else showed a fairly simple adapt before. He used a piece of steel 4 inches long maybe wth a hole drilled in each end. The factory bolt went in one hole and a nut and bolt held the retracter to the other end. That bolt was extra long and a hole was drilled to let it into the rocker. That keeps the piece from rotating on the original bolt. No cutting or welding was needed.
Looked fine to me.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are lots of different ways to put these in, this is just how I did it. I'm having a hard time picturing what your friend did. However, maybe I'm pariniod, but I don't think I would be confident of their strength in an accident without some kind plate behind some good sheet metal.
 
Thanks for the info men.

RDJ method looks very neat and clean once done.

And I think I can picture what Redfish is talking about. A piece of steel that bolts one end into the original anchor hole and the other end holds the end of the seatbelt with your own nut and bolt, extending it into the rear seat area. In an accident the steel and nut/bolt would have to take the force of the crash.

Big E
 
I just did some Duster work. I was amazed to see that the driver's bucket seat edge is way more in towards the middle of the car. Not sure why, both my new buckets from a 74 Dart were put in using the 2 outer holes that are already there in the reinforcing bracket for both outside rails. I had only worked on the passenger side and assumed the same issue I had on the passenger side.

SO that was a pleasant surprise on the driver's side, I just bolted in the lap belt retractor. When the driver seat is all the way back the retractor just barely rubs the left rear corner of the seat, but I can live with that!!!

Now the passenger side is a different story. Not sure why this seat is over to the door so far. It seems to be the same width as the driver's seat and the arm rest/buddy seat in the middle fits in perfectly. Is the driver's side on the floor up to the hump a little wider maybe for driver comfort??

The Big E
 
Who knows. Actually you lost me at reinforcements on the outer rails. You have 74 seats in a 70 car so which year track were used ? 74 floor and tracks were different due to the addition of cat' converter
 
As I read in another thread, the outer rails have a thicker piece of steel coming down from the side so that the seats are not just bolted to the floorpan alone. For the bench seat that my Duster came with only the 2 rails are used near the doors. But there is a predrilled hole in the extra piece of steel for buckets and it was only punched through the floorpan if you had bucket seats from the factory. So I just drilled these holes through the floor pan and was half done for holes for my buckets! I assumed that these holes would be aligned right for all A body buckets, and they seem pretty good.

I only had the rails from the new 74 buckets so I used them. As you said though they are different from what I should have had for a 70. I didn't realize this was due to the catalytic converter in 1974!!!! it was fine on the passenger side for being level but the driver's seat right rail was very short. So I had to use my own spacer system on the right rail to raise it about 2 inches between the bottom of the seat and the rail. It worked! Thanks for the explanation as to why the rail didn't just bolt in.

the Big E
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top