Seat Belts -- 1962 Buick Special Deluxe

BradleyMiller · 07-16-2003, 07:00 PM

I've got a sweetheart of an old 1962 Buick Special Deluxe (http://viper.accesszone.com/buick) that I need to install some new lap belts in. Is there any way to install them in the front seats? How does the rear seat come out? I've got four lap belts, but haven't figured exactly how I'm going to put them in. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!

61special · 07-17-2003, 04:55 AM

I have a 61 Special, which i put new belts into the front. I mounted them into the floor with some big washers and lock nuts. I was able to feed them thru the bench seat, but i don't know how they did it as a factory option. I guess the seat was modified a bit to fit them thru easily.

The back seat just pulls up real hard from the front. It has some funny metal snap-like things that really hold it into place. It only took me a few days to figure it out how to get it out. So just grab on to the front of the seat and rip it up real hard. Once the front of the seat is loose, the back will slip out.

Hope this helps you...
61Special

**rcfryer** · 07-17-2003, 06:19 AM

The '62 Buicks have nuts welded to the underside of the floor pan so seat belts can be added without drilling holes. Seat belts were a factory option that year, and the factory needed to accomidate the dealer installations. You can locate them from under the car and push an awl through the carpet from underneath the car and mark the carpet where to cut the holes. Standard seat belt bolts should screw right into the nuts. If your car is a four door, there were slots cut through the upholstery and plastic escutchions were added and screwed into the cardboard under the upholstery. The location of the seat belts can be found by removing the rear flap of the upholstery to reveal the cardboard piece underneath. The cardboard has the holes precut and they will give you the correct locations. You will need to cut through the front seat cushion upholstery to allow passage of the seat belts through to the topside of the seat. You may have to remove the front seat backrest to do this. There are two bolts on each end of the backrest which, when removed, will allow you to lift the entire backrest assembly off of the seat bottom and allow access to the area of the upholstery that needs to be slit. If your car is a two door, you can merely fold the backrests forward to acccess this area. The cardboard is the same on the two door cars, and the process is basically the same.
The rear seat bottom comes out a lot easier if you push the bottom of the frame towards the rear of the car, then push upward while maintaining rearward pressure. Just ripping the seat out may damage the retaining brackets. Once the rear cushion is removed, you will see the mounting holes for the seat belts.
Best of luck with your project. Installing seat belts is something that should be done correctly; your life may depend on it.