<VV> Shoulder/seatbelts installed in my Rampside

[Steven]

Public Disclaimer:  This is not a recommendation or guide for other 
individuals to install shoulder/seatbelts.  It is merely an explanation of 
my personal solution to retrofit shoulder/seatbelts into my own '62 Rampside 
for personal use.

I finally got shoulder/seatbelts installed in my '62 Rampside this past 
weekend.  After looking at the assembly manual diagrams and a few actual 
installations I decided to use the existing factory installed mounting 
points for the center lapbelt and inboard (buckle) sections for driver and 
right-side passenger belts.  For the outboard mounting positions and 
shoulder harness I used my best judgement to establish the mounting points.

I bought my belts from WESCO performance.  A pair of light grey retracting 
shoulder belts and a matching lapbelt for the center passenger position.  I
chose them because the buckle section length is 20", a bit longer than 
others available and closest to what I thought was ideal.  Other vendors 
offer 18" (too short) and 26" (too long in my opinion).  They also offer a 
74" center belt whereas some other vendors only offer a 60" which is not 
long enough.
For the shoulder belt mounting position I used the pre-tapped 1 1/2" x 3" 
mounting plates supplied in the WESCO mounting kit.  To get the mounting 
plate into position I taped the plate to a stretched out coat hanger with 
masking tape and fed it up in between the inner and outer rear cab wall 
until I had the plate's tapped hole lined up with the mounting hole I'd 
drilled.  I threaded in the bolts (with the belt hanger and a lock washer 
already on the bolt) and once secure, I pulled out the coat hanger.  A nice 
clean job with no extra holes drilled.

In order to get enough clearance for the shoulder belt hanger to pivot 
properly (because I mounted the shoulder harness far laterally on the curve 
of the cab) I used a heavy lock washer on the bolt behind the belt hanger.

I'd like to thank Dave Sanger for sending me the assembly manual diagrams 
for reference, Mike Amauro for sharing details of his Van installation, JR 
for photos, and Rich Greene for showing me his Rampside installation (and 
giving me the idea of feeding the mount up from below).

For anyone that wants photos of the finished installation, let me know and 
I'll send them to you.  I can also provide more details for anyone with 
additional questions about my installation.

Steve Brown

Media, PA