I have been working for over a year now on my truck and it is finally registered and ready to be driven, however my dad insists that before I am allowed to drive it I have to install seat belts (3 point to be specific). My birthday is coming up soon and I'm a bit fed up with having to wait to drive my truck. For my birthday I told my parents I just want seat belts so that i can finally drive the truck i have been working on. Everything on the truck works the way it is supposed to and it is all squared away and ready to drive, it even got an oil change and a new filter today.

My question is, where do I get seat belts and how do i go about installing them? I don't know that my truck has a place to bolt them to. I don't have a welder, but I do know how to weld and cut metal. if I absolutely had to I could ask around and probably cut/weld what I needed, however if I can get away with using high quality bolts and fasteners I'd much rather go that route.

I've seen some that seem pretty basic and all I really need to do is bolt it to the floor, near where your shoulder is, and on the right side floor. Has anyone here taken on this project? I'm sure I could just pay someone to install them, but I'd rather do it my self just to save money, however if it is unrealistic to do my self them I will pay to have it done because it is a safety factor.

Thanks in advance

PS- its a 1963 f100 4x4 with a 292.

 

Hey 63', Congrats on getting your truck done! Your parents are right - safety first. Check out this great tutorial thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...seat-belt.html

I'm hoping to do this install on my '64 in the coming weeks with '67-'72 retractable shoulder harnesses I bought from LMC.

 

you can also go to the local boneyard and get the seatbelts out of a 90 or 91 dodge dynasty. get the rear seatbelts they are built perfectly for these trucks. with the limited space on the floor by the gas tank they need to be built for tight spaces. and then just use the thread on the previous post to install them. i have two of this set ups on both of my 66 's and they work very well. first one took me awhile to install but the second one was about two hrs. Dutch

 

According to US law, it's a felony to sell used seat belts. Most wrecking yards cut the belts so they cannot be used.

 

thats interesting . good to know. i have never tried to get any from a junk dealer. i've always taken them out of junked vehicles . seems to be plenty of them around. Dutch

 

there should be bolt holes behind the bench seat for use for that. my 66 did. i put in elite 1100 series leather racing seats with 2004 f-240 lap belts works perfect. get this got the seats from the junk yard both with a custom lumbar for 50 bucks. checked summit racing and found they cost 300 dollars per seat. anyway i did lap belts. some seats have built in shoulder mounted seat belts if you decide to change out your seats. or just tell them to go install seat belts on all the school buses around town lol.

 

Not sure of belts in a '63---Mine does NOT have them.

I'm yanking the seats and tank out of my '63 this very weekend. I will check when I get that far. but I don't recollect any provision for belts in it.
In 1963, my Grandpa C. bought a brand new '63 Fairlane 500 and the dealer told him it was the first year for seatbelts for Ford cars. He also said that trucks won't have belts in that model year.

We'll see.

MG

 

Belts were an option untill 67 then they became standard I think.

 

I got a pair of new beamis 3 point belts from ebay for about $70. Then I bought backing plates for about $6 from I don't remember where. I used the existing seat belt mounts for the bottom innermost belts but had to drill new holes next to the seat for the retractor and return attachment as the other factory mounts were to far under the seat to work. I mounted my top anchor point in the curved cab corner surround of my 65 f100. I don't know what configuration you have in a 63. If your door pillar is located at or behind you shoulder, you can place the top anchor there. In any case, if you are using a new hole you will need to place a support behind the sheet metal. My kit came with large fender washers for this, but as I mentioned earlier I bought special brackets for the top mounts. Below are two great links to show you how to do it. The first link is the best and you'll need to scroll down to find the seat belt installation. The second link shows the bracket needed for a door pillar install. Mine turned out great, but if I did it over again I would have set my top mounts a little higher. They are at sholder height now but I think 3 or 4 inches higher would have been better.
Classic Car Restorations & Customization — Bob’s Hot Rods
Retrofit Seat Belts Installation Shoulder Bolt Anchor Point Your Classic Car, Hotrod 3 Point Seatbelts

 

Thanks for the input guys. I honestly don't think that my truck even has mounts for them. Would it be acceptable to weld a thicker piece of metal to the floor to divide the stress over a larger area, then drill through the center of that and bolt the seatbelt to it? I don't care too much what the floor area looks like, but I would like to make the shoulder mount area to be fairly clean because that is what people are going to notice.

Its not like my truck has been restored, is has its fair share of rust on in, but I'd still like to keep it as clean as possible.

 

Actually you could use a large fender washer on the out side under the nut. If you look at modern seat belt mounts there mostly just a nut welded behind the sheet metal.

 

The dealer was mistaken...twice, lap seat belts were first offered as an option in 1956 cars/trucks.

As part of a new safety package, all 1956 FoMoCo Passengers Cars had "deep dish" steering wheels, a padded dash was available as an option, as were seat belts....which were optional thru 12/31/1965.

As part of new NHTSA safety standards that went into effect 1/1/1966, all passenger cars came with lap seats belts as standard equipment.

Lap seat belts were optional on trucks from 1956 thru the 1966 model run, became standard equipment in 1967.

1956/59, only black was available: B6AZ7021200A.

Beginning in 1960, Ford offered seat belts to match the interior colors:

COAZ6461200A Black / COAZ6461200B Gray / COAZ6461200C Green / COAZ6461200D Brown / COAZ6461200E Light Blue / COAZ6461200F Dark Blue / COAZ6461200G White / COAZ6461200H Tan / COAZ6461200J Red

 

I honestly don't think that my truck even has mounts for them.

All 61 to 66 floor pans have factory mounting nuts for seat belts. Tilt your seat forward at full extension and you will see four rubber plugs across the back just before the rise to the gas tank mounting shelf. These are installed in the nuts to protect the threads. Pull them out and you have mounts.

No shoulder mount is provided.

Garbz

 

So if mine does have those plugs all i need to do is bolt the seat belt on and then worry about the shoulder mount?

 

The 63 F100 body that I put on my F250 4x4 frame has red seat belts in it. Im not sure if they are FOMOCO or aftermarket belts. Ill have to look closer at them to see if they have the number on them someplace. They are bolted down in the area Garbz was saying.