Seat Belts and shifter cable

by Dinomyte Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:34 pm

I've got a '77 Malibu Classic with a bench seat.

I've got swivel buckets and a matching rear bench + console + floor shifter and other interior work to do this winter.

I NEED seat belts.

I was looking at third gen Camaro, and they look the same, (probably shorter) though. Anybody tried this?
- are the retractor mounting holes the same distance apart as ours?

I know that the retractor on second gen Camaros is the same as ours, but this is definitely too short unless you've pushed the seat back.

I also know that nobody makes reproductions of this stuff.

I've got no idea what I need to do differently with the floor shifter I want to install vs. the column shifter I have for the transmission (TH350) I'm happy to keep looking for parts I just don't want to have to take the interior out to make something work.

thanks for the help.

by thatfnthing Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:49 pm

Dinomyte wrote:I NEED seat belts.

I also know that nobody makes reproductions of this stuff.

Which is why I went aftermarket. Take a look at the The Seat Belt Store. You will have to rig up a new hard point (which they have kits for or you can use 1/4" plate steel) to mount the thing. Here are a couple ideas we tossed around last week: 73 Monte seat belt update.

Dinomyte wrote:I've got no idea what I need to do differently with the floor shifter I want to install vs. the column shifter I have for the transmission (TH350) I'm happy to keep looking for parts I just don't want to have to take the interior out to make something work.

This will depend on what kind of shifter you're planning on using. If it's a stock unit, it should bolt right up to the holes that should already be on the trans tunnel, though you may have to tap them (trying to remember -- it's been a while Smile

). You will also need a bracket to secure the cable to the transmission pan rail, and possibly a different bracket for the trans selector itself, both of which you should be able to get at camarocentral.com. The length of the cable should already work if it came off another 68-77 TH350 A-body car. Mine is a 70 Buick GS shifter -- bolted right up. In any event, you will want to retain the linkage back to the column, as this will activate the reverse/neutral switch, so the selector bracket should accommodate both stock and shifter cable linkages.

Obviously, you'll also be cutting a hole in the tunnel for the cable to feed through -- you'll want to fashion some kind of gasket for it to keep out the weather.

Seat Belts and shifter cable

Seat Belts and shifter cable

Re: Seat Belts and shifter cable