Hi guys, I'm looking at adding some seatbelts for my 54, and I'll definitely need to re-do the seat and headliner, kick panels, etc. I'm not sure yet how much of it I'm going to do myself, especially around the seat rebuild, as it seems like it's almost the same price to do it myself as opposed to having a professional do what would likely be a better job. I might even make my own kick panels, I have to be able to do better than cardboard...that said, LMC and MACs both offer stuff that looks decent but I'm not sure of which is better. I assume many of you have bought stuff from them, and other sources and have some opinions. It seems like if I'm going to redo the interior myself I'll kind of have to stick with one, as the colors might vary a little between them, and I can save some money if I buy whole kits instead of getting things separately. It looks like LMCs headliner kit comes with bows but the MAC's one comes as a more solid item that doesn't use bows, it's hard to tell from the description. That's just an example of the stuff I'm not sure of.

I also want to put in some seat belts, and I know there are used parts I can use if I can source them, but there are nice reproductions offered by many suppliers. Used seatbelts can be safe, but I'd prefer to use new ones if possible. I prefer having a shoulder belt, and they don't offer that in LMC or MACs in the year catalog I shop in. I know you could get shoulder belts in the 1960s, and I assume it's not that difficult to mount shoulder belts in the effie cab. I'd be fine with a vintage appearing belt set, the truck didn't come with them anyway so it's not like there's an "original" way to do it. Has anyone had good results recently with a supplier to do this? if so, what year vehicle did you find good fitting parts? I'm sure I can buy a generic belt set and make it work, but I'd rather go with something I can be sure of and that looks nicer.

While I'm at it, I need a front hood emblem, as mine was missing when I got the truck. Who makes the best one? I've seen some in chrome, others as a brushed aluminum look, I'm not sure what was stock, or what the quality is like from the places you can get them. I'll look for used ones, but finding one locally is almost impossible and I'm leery about buying a 70 year old item without looking at it first. Any feedback on that would be helpful too!

Thanks as always!

 

Get bucket seats from a convertible. They will have the shoulder belts built into the seat. I am going to the local U-Pull It to see what selection they may have.

Later!
Mr. Ed

 

I bought lap belts from these folks - they also offer shoulder belts. https://www.julianos.com/

 

Matt Js 54,
I'm with FortyNiner, on using Juliano's for the seat belts. I considered their products before I went with the Dakota seat for my 48 F-1 and had to use the stock seat belts. Make sure you get their backing plates for the seat belt bolts through the floor. They are designed big enough and have rounded edges so they won't pull through the floor sheet metal in an accident.

For interior panels you might consider using these guys, https://www.quietride.com/

They have ABS panel kits for our trucks. They also have sound dampening pads and insulation kits. Their kits seem to be pretty complete The ABS panels can be covered with auto interior fabric as well. The best part is no cardboard.

Philip

 

Mid Fifty also has shoulder belt sets which look a lot like the sets that julianos sells( thanks forty niner for the link-). I am also in the process of adding seat belts to my 56. A friend of mine used the old square body S-10/blazer seat belts in his 40 Ford coupe. They are kinda self contained and look nice. So last summer I went to a salvage yard and looked at a whole bunch of seat belts in junk trucks. Most of the vehicles have the mechanisms in the pillar behind the plastic panel- that won't work. I looked at explorers, newer S10s., colorados, rangers. toyota pick ups, kia SUV's, etc. etc. The best I found were the old 82-91 S10's. But the problem is they are too old to be in yards still. Most of them have been crushed. Back in their day you may be able to find a almost new totaled out S10 and get nice new looking belt assemblies but not now. I want black belts and it seems that most are grey. And they are old- in old clapped out trucks, all the belts I found were all frayed/stained. And good luck getting them out of our rusty Michigan trucks!! So, I guess I will go with new also. Also there are Military surplus belt assemblies out there that were a kit to put seats in the back of HUMM Vees. I have seen them on ebay but haven't seen them in person. I went into a surplus store and they didnt have any. I'm still checking, I'll let you know what I find. Please post what you find also, Thanks, Greg.

 

I used Rod Door ABS interior cab kit on 3 of my trucks can not beat it and Mid Fifties for their shoulder harness seat belt kit WITH the harness metal bracket support--had my original seat completely redone and used LMC cover which the upholstery shop was impressed with---







good luck

 

That looks REALLY nice! I am leaning towards the Mid fifty kit also. I love your interior, I'm not going to do mine that nice at least at this point. Thanks!

 

I did my own interior using a Ranger split bench. I can't speak for your year, however, the Rod Doors ABS headliner fit like a glove in my 49.