Seatbelt selections

Stock or modified belts? 3- point (stock lightweight belts with a stock 2" lightweight diagonal shoulder harness) arguably makes less difference safety-wise than new aircraft quality 3" wide vs stock 50-yr-old 2" wide seat belts.

If you add 3" wide heavy duty belts, the stock diagonal shoulder harness (either early or late) cannot fit so must also be replaced. Removing the now-useless stock 2 or 3 retractors will be your only weight savings.

Crow, Simpson or a few other systems with a SEMA approval tag have been successfully used in Panteras for street or autocross competition up to LeMans. Beware of cheap far-east counterfeits!

Thanks Bosswrench- I will look into the HD 3 inch. Had a few solid bingles with standard belts and the increased restraint area of a wider belt sounds very attractive!

Stock belts are required to work to "some speed" by the USDOT,  but there are rumors of hernias being suffered by a few survivors of very hard crashes, as the 2" lap belts (worn without the diagonal shoulder harness) do save the driver's life..... Maybe personal weight is a factor? Dunno.

Percy,

This company may have something for you as well.

https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/WSCH256P.html

I have installed two sets of the seat belts below into two Panteras.  They work well and I feel safe with them with the caveat that we are in Pantera cars.  The only thing I have against them is the "red" release button.  It is only cosmetic but black or white would be better.  There is another thread on our site recommending these should you care to search for it.

https://www.coolcruisers.com/77to84pairof.html

Thanks Otis and Steve - I am sifting through the options and will order this weekend as the rest is getting reasonably close to completion. Another month or so ??? ( FLW - Famous Last Words )....

@stevebuchanan posted:

I have installed two sets of the seat belts below into two Panteras.  They work well and I feel safe with them with the caveat that we are in Pantera cars.  The only thing I have against them is the "red" release button.  It is only cosmetic but black or white would be better.  There is another thread on our site recommending these should you care to search for it.

https://www.coolcruisers.com/77to84pairof.html

Steve...Could You post a Photo or two showing how the belts mount. Is the Retractor mounted in the side rocker like the stock 73s or the bottom of the fire wall like the 74s. Thanks

I’ll post some photos on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks Steve On the 73 the retracker is in the rocker sile. So where do ya attach the third point? Curt

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I’ll post some photos on Tuesday or Wednesday.

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@stevebuchanan posted:

I’ll post some photos on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks

It mounts in the same locations as the stock seat belts for a 74.  The most significant difference is its single retractor.  The original belts had a retractor on the firewall and in the rocket panel.  This only has a retractor on the firewall.

I found it works best with a wedge shaped spacer behind the retractor to keep it fully vertical so the cam lock engages better.   Other than that it works really well.

Any seat belt suggestions for a 71 car that did not have the retractors?

Yes.  The seatbelts in my photo above can be installed in a Pushbutton or early 71.  You will need to drill a hole to mount the retractor on the firewall.  I did this on an early 71 and they worked well.

Another option is to restore your original seatbelts as I did on my Pushbutton.  Here they are prior to installation.

As you already know, '71-'72 Panteras use a separately attachable shoulder strap into the stock lap belt fastener. So to add a retractor would mean replacement of the entire seat belt system with the later style and adding big holes etc. All that usually goes wrong with the stock early system is, the plastic decoration on the buckle stress-cracks from 50 years of internal spring pressure. This then allows the whole buckle to spontaneously disintegrate. Larry Stock's Pantera Parts in NV rebuilds failed stock buckles on an exchange basis.

Another nice-to-have mod is a stiffener system on the short buckle-end like the Pantera Gr-3, so the buckle stays erect and can be conveniently attached one-handed. This can either be a stiff plastic outside sleeve or a wire type stiffener.  There was an illustrated POCA article decades ago on doing this. For badly damaged cloth belts, the jump-seat belts from mid-'80s Ford crew-cab pickups are about the correct length (but have chrome buckles), or there are restoration shops that re-web OEM belts. Remember, all this concerns SAFETY SYSTEMS on a 160 mph car! Do it right!

Mine also being a pushbutton, I'm curious who rebuilt your seat belts Steve?

I restored them.  I found webbing and the plastic tensioners on eBay.  I powder coated the metal plates for the bolts, and used chrome polish on the chrome buckles. I mocked up the webbing through all of the metal parts and took the whole setup to a shop nearby that sewed it.  It is best to do one side at time so that you put it back together correctly.  Taking a lot of photos also helps.

Steve reminded me-:to remove ANY seat belts in a wrecking yard, you'll need a set of spline drive sockets to remove the big hardened late model screws. The lengths and threads are same as Pantera hex-bolt sizes, and they look pretty nice plain if you've lost some of those snap-on (and snap-back-off) plastic hex-bolt covers. The stock bolt-head covers fit over the screw heads more securely, too.

I’m looking for seatbelts also, the previous owner installed 4 point harnesss and removed the shoulder straps, so just one heavy lap belt in there now.

It’s a 73. The post above, it’s out of a land cruiser, is that what will bold up? I’d like a normal shoulder retractable belt with any cutting.

any help would be appreciated

I got the land cruiser set and it attaches to the firewall.  I did make a wedge shaped spacer to get the retractor to sit up straight though.  When it's on the firewall it leans back slightly and has a tendency for the cam lock in it to stay locked otherwise.

It's been working fine.  Looks stock and the spacer isn't really noticable.

Do you have a pic or dimensions part number and directions on the spacer?

To be fair my friend had some aluminum bar stock that I cut off, cut diagonally, cut a corner off of, and then drilled a hole through it.... Very little measuring.
width 3 1/4, side 1 1/4, length 3 3/4

You really don't need anything remotely this strong. Plywood would work fine.  It's not structural and only the top is visible when installed.  The only purpose is to keep the retractor straight up/down.

Thanks