4thG Rear Seat - Belt Harness - '82
 

TGO Guys,

We recently installed 4th gen seats into our early ThirdGen ('82). The early ThirdGen does not have rear shoulder restraints. Has anyone removed the harness brackets and done something creative? When the brackets are removed a large "UGLY" remains. Any ideas? We thought about cutting the original bracket down or fabricating a small cover plate just large enough to cover the "Ugly". Thoughts? Ideas?

Sincerely,

that's a very good question! I am redoing my interior right now and have the same issue, only with a later 3rd gen back seat. I do want to go with 4th gen seats at some point though. Aside from welding in the bracket and converting to shoulder belts, a cover plate is the only solution I can think of. Aftermarket seat covers would be another solution, but expensive. (I'm not suggesting the cheap autozone ones, I mean ones made to replace the factory material)

Hey again! A little bit off topic, but did you happen to notice that those torques have lock-tight on them? LOL, I was going at those puppies for almost a half an hour trying not to strip the inside.

I did notice that it leaves an ugly mess underneath. It also leaves an indentation a few inches around, so maybe you can match the fabric and sort of patch it up?

I'm sure you guys will find something that satisfies you. You've made it through many worse situations in the past!

Mark

OMG yes I pulled out my rear seats and was having an incredibly hard time with the bolts. when i finally got one out I was PISSED OFF to see the factory had put blue lock-tite on the fricking bolts.

I recarpeted teh bac of the back seat to match the rest of my interior when I put in my 4th Gen seats. So I removed the brackets ( with an air ratchet ) and recarpeted the back of the seat, can't even tell they were there. The only pic I really have of the back of the seat:

http://home.comcast.net/~mnformula350/Trunk.JPG

Dave84Bird,
That interior looks F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C ! ! ! Hopefully, once we accumulate all the mssing little pieces and replace a couple sun-faded parts we can get something CLOSE to that quality! Darn that look good!!! Great Darn Job!!!

I made a couple little cover plates today at the plant. They are just 1/4" Aluminum Plate Drilled and Counter Bored and then Bead-Blasted to look a little "rough". I though the Aluminum's color would match the gray a little better and hopefully blend in a "LITTLE". We're not sure this is the final answer but it's more cosmetically pleasing than the "Batman Wings" without any belting in them.

Sincerely,

I'd get shoulder belts from an 89+ car and throw 'em in

"Throw em in" is kinda misleading. You have to cut a set of brackets out of an 89-92 car (they're spot-welded to the body) and weld them into the 82. Then you have to get the later-model seatbelts and retractors... AND you have to change out both sides of the rear interior plastics with 89-92's that have the accomodation for the rear shoulder belts.

I know this because that's what I'm doing with my '83.

Firebird 383,
Thanks for the response. We had initially considered the idea but after looking over the requirements decided against it (atleast until we can find the proper gear). It's a pretty major undertaking because of a couple unused brackets. The occupants of the rear seats would be much safer with the upgrade, but these rear seat will be rarely (if ever) used. It's more likely these rear seats will carry luggage rather than people.

One item you left off the list was that all of these upgraded items will have to be a "Color Match" as well. Lately, We've noticed a significant reduction in the number of F-Bodies in the local J.Yards finding all proper and necessary parts will be very difficult. We'll keep my eyes open for the gear required, but until then we'll try to make the seat look better without the stock 4th Gen brackets.

We gather from the responses we've received that A.) not too many people with early ThirdGen's have made the 4th Gen Seat Upgrade, and/or B.) not too many people have found an easy way of covering up the ugly spot when they do.

Thanks,
Kurt & Derek

Another early 3rdGen -->>4th Gen Rear Seat Issue
 

TGO Guys,
Another Item I hadn't noticed posted or mentioned was the lack of a post for the Driver's side on the rear seat. The Early 3rd Gen only has one on the Passenger Side.

I removed one from a J.Yard Donor Car..... Time to break out the welder AGAIN.... Major time consumer to remove and get ready for a proper installation.

Kurt

actually, my 84 T/A has a post on both sides. My theory is that early cars with split rears had 2 posts and if they had one piece, just one post. Then eventually GM realized that it's worth it to have one on both sides for better support.

So aside from that, it turns out that I am going to convert to shoulder belts in my Trans Am after all. I found absolutely mint condition black rear plastics and they were from a car with shoulder belts. I couldn't pass them up. I already have a full set of 4th gen belts including the rears, so the only part I still need is the bracket to weld into place.

One more question I had though... where does the bottom of the seatbelt anchor to with the shoulder belts? I noticed that it doesn't mount in the same place as the retractor did on the lap belts. I'll probably have to use the old retractor location to anchor the shoulder belts in my car though.

I think GM started using both posts on all 3rdgens in 89 when the rear shoulder belts were standard, so that the rear seat had some more support in a crash.