# Sticky  Pre October 1966 3 Point Seat Belt Install



## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

As the title says here is some info on my recent install of modern 3 point belts from Wesco in my 1966 Le Mans. After some research it would appear October 1966 is the majic date GM started putting anchors in the roofs of these cars for shoulder belts. Mine was built in June of '66.. Of course.. If you have a post Oct of '66 car there are numerous kits that bolt right in. 

I did this because older "full frame" cars crumble like pop cans in accidents.. Anything will help. I dont feel like finding out what my wood and steel steering wheel tastes like either.. 

The belts I used can be found here, 3 Pt. Retractable Seat Belt Bucket Seat Shoulder Anchor Above Window Long Sash

I opted for the extra $20 per belt and got the GM logo ends on the belts. They are of great quality and I highly recommend you get them, they look OE. Add in the mounting hardware for each set of belts and you will also need to add two 90 degree angle brackets to make life easy. 

Seat Belt Hardware

There are install instructions on that website too for the roof anchor. It is the only intimidating part of the whole install.


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Step 1 is to gut your interior. Take it all out itll be way easier! Front buckets, rear bench ( if you plan on installing new rear lap belts) console, carpet, factory belts, its all gotta come out. 

Once you have the interior gutted first thing is to find the place to install the inner female ends of the belts. You can see in this pic how far forward I had to mount these from the factory inner lap belt holes. You will need an angle bracket coupled to the female end. It attaches using supplied 7/16 hardware. To do this set the seat inside the car and sit in it. Have a buddy line up on the floor where the belt should go relative to the seat in the car. Once you have it marked drill a 7/16 hole in the floor for both sides. Careful of whats below!! Using large fender washers and a lock washer and nut itll be secured later on. Here is what you will end up with.


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Step two is the roof. This can be a little intimidating. You have to cut a hole in your roof reinforcement to slip in the roof mount plate from behind. The best place to mount these ( in a coupe non post car ) is directly above where the rear 1/4 window meets the door glass. Here is what you'll see. First pic is driver side, second pic is passenger side. 

Driver









Passenger


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

What I did is take a small cut off wheel and open up as small of a hole as possible to slide the plate in from behind. You will need to drill two 1/8" holes for rivets and one 1/2" hole for the roof belt mount bolt. Mark these locations with a sharpie by holding the plate to the steel roof reinforcement. Here is a pic of the plate with rivets holding it on on the outside. Remember it goes BEHIND the roof reinforcement not in front of. I just took this pic for reference. The driver side will not require the 1/2" hole for the mount bolt as that 1" opening is already there. 

Slip this plate BEHIND the steel now that you have access to it and rivet it in place through the 1/8" holes you drilled and your done. The 1/2" hole you drilled will ( if you were careful ) line up with the hole with the threads in the plate, that is what the roof belt anchors to. Re-glue your headliner and reinstall the trim. With a razor knife make a slit for the bolt to pass through to thread into your newly installed roof anchor. 

Passenger side for reference


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Step 3 is mounting the retractor and lap belt. I used the factory outer lap belt position and it worked fine. You will need another angle bracket per side to do this. EDIT: In this pic the lap belt portion shares the same lower mount with the retractor. I actually later moved the lap belt mount to where the 90 degree angle bracket meets the retractor instead. Much cleaner but either way works fine. You can see the 90 degree angle bracket in the pic, its gold colored at the bottom of the retractor.


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

The final steps are easy. Reinstall the carpet and razor knife openings for the new bolts in the female end to pass through. Using the large fender washers and hardware provided in the kit snug the female ends down to the floor TIGHT. Its a 7/16 bolt, I did 65ft lbs. In with the seats and console. Bolt in the upper end to the mount behind the headliner and tighten down the retractor side too. Reinstall sills and various other interior what have yous and youre done!! I am 5'9" tall and can testify that these roof mount locations are perfect. The belt lays right on my collar bone, same place as in my F-150. It is also right where GM would have put the factory mounts in a post October 1966 build date car. 

As with anything, take your time! You can see in my pic i put the sill plate down before the rear windlace. DOH!


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Im sure thats not as detailed as it could have been... Any questions at all please ask, im always lurking around the forum lol! You will be very happy with Wescos kit. I think i paid $280 for the GM logo belts and all hardware delivered. That included new matching rear GM logo lap belts too. Come to think of it, You could probably do retractor style 3 points in the rear too! Part 2!?


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## bsimril (Aug 27, 2015)

Great post! Exactly what I was looking for since mine is a June '66 also.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Great write up!!
Love your steering wheel too.


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## Lemans guy (Oct 14, 2014)

Ben, nice job! So I have. 66 lemans hardtop built in December....

This means what? I already have a threaded hole under headliner in right spot?

And I can but the 3 point and just bolt in the bottom, move the headliner and then screw in top? This headliner is nice and new hate to rip it....

And I guess I would buy a similar kit and just not have to use the special plate and drill and all that stuff?


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Lemans guy said:


> Ben, nice job! So I have. 66 lemans hardtop built in December....
> 
> This means what? I already have a threaded hole under headliner in right spot?
> 
> ...


Bingo. You SHOULD have the holes already drilled and tapped in your roof. Having a nice headliner is rough cause you dont want to mess it up but just think of an accident and how important this is... Research the hell out of that date, I got the October build date as including the factory mounts off a couple sites but look deep into it before you tear in. Even drilling and riveting wasnt a big deal if you have to. I feel 1000x better seeing my wife buckled in with 3 points over the factory lap belts. Too many texters and people updating facebook instead of driving these days...


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## Noangelbuddy (Dec 6, 2017)

Bensjammin66 said:


> Bingo. You SHOULD have the holes already drilled and tapped in your roof. Having a nice headliner is rough cause you dont want to mess it up but just think of an accident and how important this is... Research the hell out of that date, I got the October build date as including the factory mounts off a couple sites but look deep into it before you tear in. Even drilling and riveting wasnt a big deal if you have to. I feel 1000x better seeing my wife buckled in with 3 points over the factory lap belts. Too many texters and people updating facebook instead of driving these days...


Just found this thread after asking you for pics, but the request still stands. Appreciate the write up in the thread. However, after the recent site change I cannot see the pictures embedded in your posts. Maybe a site administrator will tell me how to view your photos? Assuming that is possible.

NoAngelBuddy


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## ylwgto (Oct 27, 2009)

Bensjammin66 said:


> Bingo. You SHOULD have the holes already drilled and tapped in your roof. Having a nice headliner is rough cause you dont want to mess it up but just think of an accident and how important this is... Research the hell out of that date, I got the October build date as including the factory mounts off a couple sites but look deep into it before you tear in. Even drilling and riveting wasnt a big deal if you have to. I feel 1000x better seeing my wife buckled in with 3 points over the factory lap belts. Too many texters and people updating facebook instead of driving these days...



Great writeup!
I'd love to do this, but the pics aren't with the post anymore. Can you repost?


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