Rear seatbelt upgrade

[stephers]

One of my customers asked me to install some rear seatbelts that he had purchased while I was putting his car back together after a paint job    They had these large ugly plastic boxes that were meant to sit on top of the parcel shelf  looked like crap     So I made up some steel boxes that fit under the parcel shelf in the trunk area  ( I did get this idea from someones blog but could not find the actual blog so thank you )   Made some changes from what I saw   I bent some metal up , welded nuts on a plate and then weld that to the bent pieces to give me a nice box  I added a thru bolt with a steel tube on it so as the belt passed by, it went smoothly   I then powdercoated both boxes a nice gloss black and installed the seatbelt recoils into them.   Had to cut some slots in the parcel shelf but not that big to allow the webbing to pass through    Then cut the parcel shelf board with cutouts so the belt could pass through there easily as well, added some seatbelt trim pieces that I got from seatbelt planet on each side , recovered the parcel shelf tray and fitted everything     Worked out quite nicely    Was a lot easier without the rear window in 

 

Looks nice and clean     Had to cut off the old vapor box bracket and move it over after I powdercoated it white to match the car 

 

Here are some pictures of the set up   I did everything in house 

 

Thanks, Rick 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Hmm, I have the autoflug covers, but they don't seem to fit if the rear glass is in place prior to trying to install the covers. Your solution is very clean, mine is a little half baked but I did not want to cut the original parcel shelf. Is the plate above the enclosure the original stiffener? Was it necessary to install the enclosures at an angle to get proper angles for the belts not to rub?

Andrew
 

[AceAndrew]

Neat, very cool to see another guy go for it.  You are taking inspiration from Patrick at Midnight Motorsports and the work he did on @Teelinger's car.  Certainly a very clean way to do 3-point rear harnesses.  I like how you used the through-bolt to anchor the reel to the bracket.

 

It is on my shortlist on things to make and offer to the community (see the comment on the blog), have had it drawn up for a while now.... just the dang covid-life getting in the way.  I intend to forgo the C-pillar mount and use the belt stand-off's (as used on the E30 sedans).

 

 

[Bob D.]

Rick, beautiful work in both planning and execution.  Looking at that rear seat now, the belt looks like it was born there.  Thanks for sharing.