Retractable shoulder belts on '76????

Thought I thought I wouldn't mind it, April and I loathe the use of the separate shoulder harness on The Clam ('71 Grand Safari). It's bad enough that we typically don't use them. Because my first concern is safety I knew I would eventually put shoulder restrains in, however I think I read a while back that '76 came with them standard. Is this true? If so, I could easily switch that over using the interior B-pillar piece.

Can anyone confirm if what I read was true?

Thanks

 

at least to 74 I believe had what your talking about. Not sure about 73

 

You are correct, GM started using the 1 piece lab and shoulder belt style in 74. They should bolt into the earlier cars, infact I plan on doing the same modification to my 73 Lemans Safari when I redo the interior.

 

Thanks for the response guys. Couple Clamshell questions then. Will the interior B Pillar piece interchange between 4 door post and station wagons? Will that interior piece interchange between Buick, Chevy, Olds, Pontiac?

 

im pretty sure they are interchanable.
BTW... ACRS equipped cars only had lap belts. makes it hard to find a headliner sometimes for an ACRS car.

 

but there may have been no ACRS cars in 76 .. i cant remember.

what color is your interior?

 

To be completely correct, you're going to have to modify the front seats, too, as, on those three point system, the shoulder belts passed through a little clip on the top outboard edges of the head restraints. The seats on your '71, if they're original, certainly won't have these. My '73 Custom Cruiser has separate lap and shoulder belts, too, and the shoulder belt just comes straight off the roof without passing through anything as it goes over your shoulder and attaches to the buckle.

Below is a page out of the '74 Olds brochure showing the front seat of a Delta 88. Note the clips on the headrests the shoulder belts pass through.

I'm sure the belts could still be used without these clips, but it might be difficult to keep the shoulder belt properly positioned.

 

Curses, I hadn't thought of that. My Caprice (the 2 door) has those clips and they make getting the baby seat in and out of the back a real pain in the Rose.

Our '71 is the roof mounted shoulder belts. I really don't like how the buckle fits right in the middle of our chest so if we have a wreck it'll be sure to break and slice whatever it's up against, which being my bones and organs, isn't something I'm fond of.

I wonder if the headrest would have to be taken apart and a piece of metal welded inside for an anchor.

 

Maybe you could just find a pair of headrests from a '74 or later car and swap them for yours, assuming the shaft of metal they're mounted on is the same size.

 

That's an even better idea. Why do I always go to the hardest route first?

 

it is as mine has a drivers clip missing and it's a tad uncomforatable

 

It depends on how tall you are. At my height, the belt is in a very uncomfortable position when it goes through those hooks. I hate the things.

 

I forgot to post, as per the question, my interior is this color (this picture is from before the seat was fixed):