<VV> Shoulder belts kits

[Dale Dewald]

Hello Cliff,

My message was not a technical question about installation, but rather a 
commentary on the sorry and ridiculous state of the tort system in our country.

At 23:52 8/17/2008 -0400, Cliff wrote:
>At least one member in our club has used the Andover Company to install a 3
>point safety harness in his 67.

I likewise have installed 3-point belts in all of our Corvairs; '65 Monza, 
'65 Corsa, '65 500 sedan, and a '65 Greenbrier.  The Andover Co has a great 
selection of supplies that are top notch.  I have also obtained belts and 
retractors from JCW.

>   Beginning in late 66 or early 67, Chevy
>began installing an anchor point in the ceiling of coupes and sedans.  The
>anchor point is about 4" behind the coat hanger.  I have the headliner out
>in my 66 (production date 11/65) and I do not have the welded nut.

For the '65-66 cars we can at least copy the factory position and design of 
the upper mounting point and install an aftermarket 3-pt belt assembly 
after suitable fabrication.  There is quite a bit less of a liability issue 
because we rely on GM's design of the mounting point for the cars built 
after Jan 1, 1966.

The difficult situation is to make a 3-point belt kit for EM's and 
FC's.  There are no "factory designed" upper mounting points we can 
copy.  A private installation using common sense and workmanlike 
fabrication is about all we can do.  There is not much of a product 
liability issue in this case because there is no "deep pocket" from where 
to extract a damage award.

>   My 71
>Nova had the ceiling mounted shoulder strap and while I seldom used it, I
>think I am leaning toward this configuration.  You can buy an anchoring
>point from Andover and weld it in the aforementioned spot.

You may want to use a retractor system even though it may not look 
stock.  It is a problem to operate the parking brake in the Corvair with 
the rigid shoulder belt. Back in the late '70's I habitually used the rigid 
shoulder belt in a '72 Pinto SW and got used to it, but a retractor would 
have been much better.

Dale Dewald
Hancock, MI