Hi, I want to fit sash belts in my 68 R/T. The new headliner was put in before the car was shipped to me so I didn't get a chance to see if it has threaded studs in the roof for these. Were they are standard item in the roof when the car was built even if it only had lap belts fitted? What position would they be in? Any pics?
Thanks
My 68 does not have studs. The holes are stamped in the roof. In the photo the black thing to the left of the hole is the coat hanger hook. The hole is 5-1/2 inches forward of the coat hook. I am glad I could help you because if you remember a few weeks back, you sent me pics of the emergency brake cable bracket. If there is anything else you need, let me know.
The rib right above the stamped hole, which runs from side to side of the roof, is the rib that the dome light is attached to. Starting from the round hole on the right-center of the photo and going to the left, you see a roof bow holder, then the coat hook, then a rectangular access hole. The round hole under the roof rib would have had a weld nut attached inside, just like all the other seat belt attachment holes. Unfortunately even with the roof liner not in the car it would be tough to get a nut in back of that hole. I probably could put one on a stick, go through that access hole, and get it near the hole, run a bolt into it, and then weld it in, but that's with no liner in the car. To cut a small hole in the liner, which you have to do even if the weld nut was already in the car, won't allow you to get the nut behind the hole.
06-04-14, 09:36 PM (This post was last modified: 06-04-14, 09:55 PM by NZ 68 R/T.)
That's great info. So there is a chance that there may be a nut welded in there, but probably only if it previously had sash belts, which it didn't? And I would have to cut a hole in the liner to find this out?
That seems to be correct. But I wonder if you could push on the liner at that spot and feel if there is a nut or not? Here is a pic of a rear seat belt attachment hole. The diameter of the hole is 5/8", the same as the hole in the roof, and as you can see the diameter of the threaded hole is much smaller. Because the nut is welded on the opposite side of the metal(although the metal in the pic is thicker than the roof metal) that should be able to be felt through the liner. In other words if you can only feel one 5/8" hole, you are out of luck, however, if you feel a 5/8" hole with another smaller in the middle, you are all set.
Thanks for that. So this hole, hopefully with a nut will be in line with the dome light? This forum, and people like yourself are so helpful to a newbie!
Yes that's correct, and don't forget you can measure 5-1/2 inches from the coat hook. Good luck and let us know so if my idea doesn't work, someone else might have a solution.
