Question: 70 Vette Seat Belt Removal

[paulcleek]

I'm replacing the carpeting in my 70 Vette. The bolts holding the seat belts in place seem to be impossible to turn (I have not put a breaker bar on them yet). Are they supposed to come out or do you cut the carpet around them?

Appreciate the help.

Paul

 

[Rex S]

They should come out but I see you have a Houston address. If the car has spent any time around the coast look underneath and see if there is a bunch of rust on the bolt's threads. If so wire brush the exposed threads and soak with a good penetrating oil for a couple days (respray daily). If you are pitching the old carpet, cut around it and spray from the top too. Just keep it off the belt's webbing. An impact wrench MAY do a better job with the first loostening. If you are friends with a shop or tire store have a mech. spin them out and then back in easy to get home.

 

[paulcleek]

Seat Belts

Thanks, I'll give that a try although I'm surprised that of the four bolts I can't get even one to budge at all.

Paul

 

[White75]

Another Houstonite here. When I did my interior one bold would not budge. I went ahead and removed all the carpet and doused the bolt with PB blaster on the top and the bottom. It wouldn't budge even after that with impact gun and breaker bar and in the process I stripped the head.
I ended up getting a local shop to put heat via an acetalyne torch and with a few good whacks with a chisel it finally broke free. It sounds like yours might need the same treatment.

Where in houston do you live?

 

[paulcleek]

Seat Belt Bolts

Hi, Thanks, I did manage to get the passenger side bolts out. Didn't have a breaker bar handy so I used the box end of a 15/16 end wrench over my ratchet handle. While doing this I was thinking "Man if this sucker slips I'm going to whack myself pretty good." Nanoseconds after that thought the wrench slipped and a punched myself in the eye - never knew I had such a good right jab. Managed to put a 1/4" scratch in my glasses.

Lesson learned; after bringing my glasses for repair I went out & invested $6.99 in a pipe. Going out now to try and remove the bolts on the drivers side - without smacking myself.

I live on the West side of Houston; about 3 miles west of Hwy 6 & Westheimer.

Paul

 

[White75]

Hi, Thanks, I did manage to get the passenger side bolts out. Didn't have a breaker bar handy so I used the box end of a 15/16 end wrench over my ratchet handle. While doing this I was thinking "Man if this sucker slips I'm going to whack myself pretty good." Nanoseconds after that thought the wrench slipped and a punched myself in the eye - never knew I had such a good right jab. Managed to put a 1/4" scratch in my glasses.

Lesson learned; after bringing my glasses for repair I went out & invested $6.99 in a pipe. Going out now to try and remove the bolts on the drivers side - without smacking myself.

I live on the West side of Houston; about 3 miles west of Hwy 6 & Westheimer.

Paul

I've busted a few knuckles when working on these old cars. Goes with the territory. Think of them as battle scars and take pride in them

I'm up on the northside in the Kingwood area by IAH

 

[Hamese]

Ironically, I am in the Houston area too, Spring. I have a 79 that I am replacing the carpet in and found my way here while figuring out the right size torx to have on hand for the seat belt removal. All the carpet is out but these anchor bolts are something else. I know that I will want to replace them when I get them out but I cannot find where to buy any. Where were you able to locate them?

The best I could find, which I might be willing to bet they are the same GM part is from Ecklers Camaro, Camaro Seat Belt Anchor Bolt, 1982-1992

Hopefully, over the weekend I'll be able to work on them and get them out, so I can continue on with the install.

Thanks,

 

[paulcleek]

Hi, I didn't have to replace the seat belt anchor bolts, it just took a breaker bar and they broke free. I think the carpet was replaced once or twice before so it wasn't that difficult. Good luck & a Happy New Year.

Paul

 

[Hamese]

Thanks for the reply. I know the carpet in mine hasn't been replaced and the breaker bar just made the bit fail before the bolt did and both became striped. I have two and half removed because I ended up drilling through the bolts and using an extractor to pull them out. The first two came out faily easy after using left handed drill bits to get through; however, the third bolt broke in half before breaking loose, so I'm probably going to half to re-tap that hole. Hopefully the fourth will come out like the first two.

And as an FYI, the anchor bolts I purchased from the Camero place are the exact bolts needed for my 79 vette.