Scarebird

Late to the game on this one unfortunately. I put a L84 5.3 in my 71 Lemans, so a lot of simular stuff. 2 things I noted, first being the shoulder belts. I am a firm believer in them from aviation and made up a set as shown here. They hide better than your setup but require cutting of the interior panel. Top boot can be used. Retractor is mounted on the convertible folding frame as GM did.





Second item was the carb-type throttle body - I wish more would make these as using stock type cold air setups would be a hell of a lot easier - not sure on the MAF or IAT though...

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

It's from Street Rod Garage, in Alabama. https://www.streetrodgarage.com/frame-chassis
I looked at other options but they are quasi-local and I can go pick it up when it's ready. There are more expensive options, but I've been to their shop a couple times and for the price I'm sure it'll be better than stock.

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

Those look pretty good, but I'm not sure I would want them that low personally, might be kind of a spine-crunching angle if hitting something and your body gets pushed forward. It's certainly clean though.

Scarebird

It is same angle as newer cars, ie my until recently 98 Camaro ragtop did the same thing. No spine crunching.

The "model" here is my 6'-3" stepson.



The only issue is the belt slides out of the seat guide at times. This is what GM had in mind in the day (no guide and 2 belts).

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

I don't recall if I mentioned it here or not, but for the longest time my driver's door has been stuck shut. Getting the Fesler door panel off with the door closed was a pain, but even with it out of the way and full access to the lock/latch mechanism itself it just wouldn't open. Taking the passenger door panel off so I could compare them, it looked like the lock/unlock part on the driver's side was only traveling about 80% as far as it should.

I read about 10,000 different posts about "my Chevelle door is stuck closed", with most of the solutions being to either spray it with PB Blaster or have two people pushing and pulling. In my case, what finally worked, was to get the door lock tumbler out and then stick a bent screwdriver into the little slot shown in the picture. While pushing down on the screwdriver and pushing the outer door button in, the door magically unlocked and opened. From there the next thing to do was fight the 50 year old painted-over bolts that held the latches in place, which ultimately meant using reverse drill bits to drill out 4 of the 6. Such a long day full of dumb stuff, but it's done and both latches are replaced.

With that out of the way, I started work on getting the power window and lock wiring laid out. I ordered some repro wire conduit from inline tube (I think?), and as soon as I figure out a good way to drill the holes for it I'll get this stuff in. I'd rather not take the doors off, and I'm thinking I can get it done with a knockout punch, but I'm not certain there is room.

I have to take the glass out to do the Nu-Relics anyway, so it might be a good time to rebuild or replace the worn door hinges and know the doors are good to go for a while. Hood Hinge Willie isn't really doing rebuilds too much anymore so I might have to get new ones. (If anyone knows where to buy rebuilt originals let me know)

The harness for both the windows and doors are from A-1 electric, and the door lock solenoid brackets are from Modo Innovations. The brackets are designed for the pistol-looking solenoids, but all it will take is drilling a hole or two and it'll be fine with these MES solenoids. Their harness makes it pretty simple, but I'm not 100% how to integrate both the physical switch and the lock/unlock signals from the Avital.

It's been a lot of time spent with not much to show for it.