1964 Skylark Shoulder Belt Installation: Trim Question

[Machine Gun 237]

I want to install front shoulder belts in my Skylark. It will involve cutting a hole in the B pillar in order to slide in the bracket. The problem I have is that the Skylark doesn't have any trim on the B pillars that would hide the work, it's only painted metal. I guess I could glue some headliner-like material to the pillar but I'm not sure how that will look. Before I go that route, I'm looking for any alternate suggestions that the more creative among us may have to offer.

 

[JohnD1956 6,131]

Since your seat back is fixed can you put a floor mounted belt where the harness comes up the back and over your shoulder. Probably requires a clip ti hold it there, which would have to be attached through the seat upholstery. If I recall correctly my 95 Riviera had something like that.

[Machine Gun 237]

Thanx for the suggestion John, I'll look into that option. I got another idea from one of the seat belt vendors that involves using a painted metal plug to cover the hole where the backing plate goes in. As with most things I do, I'll analyze it to death before taking any action.

[Machine Gun 237]

I finally got around to installing shoulder belts in my Skylark. I did the installation yesterday, and it went very smoothly once I got up the courage to take a drill and hole saw to my B-pillars.

 

I went with a set of three point retractable belts that I got from Juliano's in CT. The set came with very thick steel anchor plates for the floors and the pillar anchor bolts. My car has factory anchor points in the floor, so I only had to add the pivot anchor in the B-pillar.

 

Installation of the pillar anchor plate required a 1-5/8" hole to slip the somewhat wide plate into and up the pillar. Cutting that hole was the most cringeworthy part of the job. A Milwaukee Hole Dozer made a nice clean hole, and from there the rest of the job was easy. The only thing  I need to do to complete the job is get hole plugs. I'll look for a paint color to match the pillar as best I can to minimize the visual impact of the hole plug. Fortunately the seat belts pretty much hide the holes as you can see from the photos.