1976 Deville Sedan Seat belts

[Phil Weber]

Need help with seat belts for my 1976 Deville Sedan 4 Dr Hardtop . Tried a couple of places with no luck . I'm hoping someone in the club can recommend a Fitter or perhaps a readymade brand belt . I'm in Sydney western suburbs .

Thanks..............Phil

[Bruce Reynolds]

What you need is the older type, without the spring-loaded roller, and then mount it to the roof, and the floor in the normal way.

I fitted Lap/Sash belts to a '72 Camaro, and converted the US style top mount to a single flat bar using the two mounting bolts to mount the bar, then a central hole to mount the shoulder part of the belt.

Doing it nicely, you can use the original plastic cover to cover the mounting.

I will have to see if I can dig out a photo of what I did.   But, it was back in 1983, so it might take a while.

Bruce.

[Phil Weber]

Hi Bruce

That thought crossed my mind too . Since I posted I've spoken to a couple of firms in Melbourne . One is called Restraint Technology . They make a belt that they sell for the HQ Monaro Coupe . They retail them through Bursons . My local store has one so I'm going to check it out tomorrow . For this belt I would also need to make a bracket for the floor as well as the roof. Apparently the retractor angle is critical on modern seat belts . 
The other firm I spoke to was called APV Safety Products . They were very helpful as well . I've sent them a heap of photos and measurements and am just waiting on their reply .

Thanks...................Phil
                   
 

[Bruce Reynolds]

If you don't need to, Retractor Belts will look out of place in a '76.   And yes, the angle is very critical.  I have fitted Retractor Belts to my cars, including a '1937 Chevrolet Coupe Hot Rod, front and rear, and also my '72 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible.   Plus, used XE Falcon Rears in the front of a '35 Ford Roadster Ute Hot Rod.

Doing RHD Conversions and building Hot Rods makes one investigate stuff more than the average builder.

Below is the reason why I don't want an old car after 1972.   
"The requirement for Seat Belts changed in July 1973 when ATAC endorsed ADR 4B with the requirement for one mode of ADR 4C which was also endorsed by ATAC in July 1973 for application to the above 1 January 1975. The requirement for dual sensing of locking was incorporated In vehlcles one year later than for ADR 4B."

The years is also important to me as my '72 Eldorado was manufactured in 1971, and therefore I can retain the red Indicators at the rear, as the requirement for Amber lights came in around 1973.

Bruce.

[Phil Weber]

My build date is 4/76 and I have to have retractor belts . It has them now but only the single inertia type.
I also have to have amber rear blinkers and a speedo dial in KPH .

[Bruce Reynolds]

Yes, the date makes a huge difference.

The reason that the US belts are not compliant is also that they are two-piece belts, as in one lap belt, and another sash belt, that join at the buckle, or in some cases, have separate buckles.

The Amber rear blinkers can be done, but that requires some wiring alteration, as in taking the indicator wires from the front of the vehicle, which separates them from the brake light circuit.   Plus, this has to be done when towing a trailer.

A section of the red lens can be removed and replaced with an amber lens, which I had to do when converting a '76 Ford Torino to RHD.

I managed to purchase a Metric Speedo out of Canada from a '73, which fitted my '72.   So, there may be Metric Speedos in Canadian '76's.

What Cadillac did to convert the speedos was to simply place an overlay reading Kilometres over the Miles, and with the Odometer, that was a bit more complicated in that they redesigned the gearing to drive the odometer "wheels".

The Authorities sure make it difficult for us, but then, we are living in this wonderful country, and must conform to the regulations.

Bruce.

[Phil Weber]

No luck on the seatbelt front yet but somebody has thrown another idea at me .
You can buy readymade for the Pontiac Firebird a bracket which allows you to fit the rear under parcel shelf seatbelt to the roof .
https://www.seatsafe.com.au/710-112 . The problem I think I would have there is the angle of belt .
The original belts went through a plastic loop attached to the top of the seat .
I somehow don't think ADR's allow for plastic loops .

With the blinkers I swapped the tail lamps side to side and incorporated the blinker in with the reverse lamp . I also put a small amber LED in the outer park lamp just to make sure.

I had a metric inlay placed on the speedo face and left the odometer in mph . Had it calibrated so as long as the needle points to the right number I'm ok. They do make a factory metric speedo for the European market . I don't know about Canada .

77-78 Eldorado and Seville speedos have both mph and kph .

I finally worked out how to shrink photos in Windows 10 .

Phil

[Bruce Reynolds]

I like your Speedo fix.   Yes, all they want is the speedo to register in Kilometres, and don't care about the distance travelled.

I cannot see the Pontiac Firebird belting work, as you would have a horrible lump in the headlining to cover it.

Bruce.

[76sedandeville]

Luckily I didn't have to mess about with the belts and speedo on my 76
I did swap the lights L-R and put amber globes in the reverse lights for indicators too

Seatbelt Solutions here in WA might be worth a ring
They reweb belts and might be able to offer some solution on the compliance and retrofit the inertias

I did speak to them when I brought my car in... they were talking figures of $1000 for all 6 belts (I still have the lap only in the rears)
My engineer just signed off on them no problems

[Phil Weber]

The car is at the seat belt place at he moment .

The intention is to have custom brackets made for the roof and rear " under the parcel shelf " belts fitted . This should allow me to keep my original covers and the belt can still pass through the guide
on top of the seat .
The lower inertia section , next to the seat , won't be needed .
For the rear I can have standard belts fitted . No need for inertia belts . The rear parcel shelf is already drilled for the shoulder belt . Apparently it was an option in 1976 .
I'm also hoping to retain my original buckles . Depending on cost . I really don't like those black and orange things .
I haven't got a final price on it yet but I'm guessing $1000 might be just the deposit .

Phil