Restoring OEM Seatbelts

[smupser]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Sounds good. Now that I did that big set of Blazer Belts, now I know what they look like. Just happened across a set. Can’t wait to do them.

Just remember the 73-75 front belt retractors are the really short style, shorter than the style on the trucks and 69-72 style

[LT7A]

I always like seeing the renewal. They look really good. What are you hearing back about durability of the dye? You get it through USA 1 correct?

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by LT7A

I always like seeing the renewal. They look really good. What are you hearing back about durability of the dye? You get it through USA 1 correct?

Can’t say I have heard from anyone. I have had a couple of repeat people, having me do other sets for them, that’s good news.
I have had my belts for about 4-5 years now. They were the very first set that I had ever done, and it was almost a couple years after that, that I started doing other belts. During that time in between, I did a lot of research on the belts themselves, just trying to learn different things and the do’s and dont’s. I’m still learning a lot, and I have certainly have expanded on the cleaning techniques since my set, and some of the very first sets that I did.
And USA1 is where I get all my supplies. They are literally the only place that has all the correct colors for our trucks interior. I do use SEM as far as the prep stages of dyeing. But when it comes to dye, SEM has discontinued a lot of our colors. And with so many different shades of one particular color, I gave up on SEM when it comes to finding the right color that matches. So USA1 it is!

[TKCR]

I’ve been making these color samples myself, because the color sample card sometimes doesn’t show the true color.
And of course there’s a lot of colors I have even had the opportunity to use yet.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Can’t say I have heard from anyone. I have had a couple of repeat people, having me do other sets for them, that’s good news.
I have had my belts for about 4-5 years now. They were the very first set that I had ever done, and it was almost a couple years after that, that I started doing other belts. During that time in between, I did a lot of research on the belts themselves, just trying to learn different things and the do’s and dont’s. I’m still learning a lot, and I have certainly have expanded on the cleaning techniques since my set, and some of the very first sets that I did.
And USA1 is where I get all my supplies. They are literally the only place that has all the correct colors for our trucks interior. I do use SEM as far as the prep stages of dyeing. But when it comes to dye, SEM has discontinued a lot of our colors. And with so many different shades of one particular color, I gave up on SEM when it comes to finding the right color that matches. So USA1 it is!

Oh my, that's a collection to dye for! Sorry, couldn't resist ; )
Thanks for the info!

[TKCR]

1987 Charcoal Black. These were restored for someone in Canada. The lap belts was cut pretty bad, so I was able to replace them with a better set. The set also needed the upper anchor caps. These got the usual of through cleaning of the retractor mechanisms and relubed. Disassembled the buckles for debris and rust removal.
Here are the Before pics

[TKCR]

After Pics

[TKCR]

Here is another set of 1987 Burgundy Belts that were restored for someone. These needed a lot of help. Someone had already tried dyeing these at some point, so there was old dye that needed cleaned off, plus the overspray. The retractors were locked up, and found that the webbings were twisted under the housing. So after I got that sorted out, they retract as they should. The buckles were disassembled for debris and rust removal. These had quite a bit of debris, lol. If you ever wonder why your buckle release button doesn’t work, this is why.
Here are the Before pics

[TKCR]

And After

[TKCR]

1981-1986 Blue. These were cleaned and restored for someone that needed belts for their truck. Here are some Before pics.

[TKCR]

And After

[Willowrun]

I hadn't paid much attention to the amount of things going on in a retractor until you just posted the blue set up......there's a lot going on in there. Great work as always, and the attention to detail is very impressive.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

I hadn't paid much attention to the amount of things going on in a retractor until you just posted the blue set up......there's a lot going on in there. Great work as always, and the attention to detail is very impressive.

I can’t remember if I had posted this part of the cleaning process on a Charcoal Black set I did previously. This is what is causing a lot of these retractors to slow down. Whether it’s from getting wet from the window being left down during its lifetime. Or something being spilled, or even someone attempting to clean them themselves. There are people that think laying them out in the driveway and spraying with a power washer is a way of cleaning them. But if the mechanisms get wet, that’s bad. And there is no way of drying them completely, without pulling up the casings and exposing the mechanisms. Those small springs get rusty and break, that’s bad! But here is another good example.

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by TKCR

I can’t remember if I had posted this part of the cleaning process on a Charcoal Black set I did previously. This is what is causing a lot of these retractors to slow down. Whether it’s from getting wet from the window being left down during its lifetime. Or something being spilled, or even someone attempting to clean them themselves. There are people that think laying them out in the driveway and spraying with a power washer is a way of cleaning them. But if the mechanisms get wet, that’s bad. And there is no way of drying them completely, without pulling up the casings and exposing the mechanisms. Those small springs get rusty and break, that’s bad! But here is another good example.

So are you able to source replacement parts like the little springs, etc, new?

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

So are you able to source replacement parts like the little springs, etc, new?

No, not new parts. They don’t make new parts for these belts. There have been a few belts, that I specifically use for parts. Like this part, I had 2 different belts where this was broken. So I was able to swap this part out with my spares.

[LT7A]

Great work TKCR. The male part of the buckle that has the grippy coating on it made me think of something. Griot's garage has a plastic cleaner that is actually a chemical based cleaner rather than abrasive. I remember them saying that it showed to be particularly effective on like the yellowed back windows of convertibles, the non-glass ones. I know you use griot's stuff to detail your truck and I thought I might mention it. I don't think leaving them as is takes anything away from the work you're doing, but it might be able to remove a little bit of that yellowing if you wanted to try it. I don't want to sound like I'm nitpicking your work, that's not the case at all. But you offer many of us helpful hints and ideas and thought I would try to return the favor.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Great work TKCR. The male part of the buckle that has the grippy coating on it made me think of something. Griot's garage has a plastic cleaner that is actually a chemical based cleaner rather than abrasive. I remember them saying that it showed to be particularly effective on like the yellowed back windows of convertibles, the non-glass ones. I know you use griot's stuff to detail your truck and I thought I might mention it. I don't think leaving them as is takes anything away from the work you're doing, but it might be able to remove a little bit of that yellowing if you wanted to try it. I don't want to sound like I'm nitpicking your work, that's not the case at all. But you offer many of us helpful hints and ideas and thought I would try to return the favor.

I didn’t take it like that at all. I know what your talking about. I have been able to get a lot of them clean with an SOS pad, when in using it on the Chrome. But some haven’t come clean. But it seems like the ones I can’t seem to get all that yellowing off, it’s actually on the underside of the rubbery material. But I have some of that stuff from Griots, so I will certainly give it a shot. Thank you!

[TKCR]

Here is a set of 1977, 1st Style 3pt belts, Saddle. These were restored for someone, and boy did they need some work. Very dirty!
Throughly cleaned, rust removed from the mounts & chrome pieces, buckles disassembled for debris removal. The buckles received new emblems also.
Before Pics

[TKCR]

After Pics

[TKCR]

More after pics. I also did a set of Hinge Garnishes for his seat. So many upholstery shops don’t do the little extras, like I do. So on his seat, they just left them off, so I restored a set for him.
This is the truck everything is going in.

[TKCR]

These are a set of 1977 Blue, 1st Style 3pt belts.
A couple of the plastic buckles were sun baked, but overall not into bad of shape. The lap belt was frayed pretty bad, but I found the correct color and was able to replace it.
So they got a through cleaning and dye, to bring back the color. Check out the Before Pics

[TKCR]

And the After Pics

[TKCR]

These were restored for a board member. 1968 Chevelle SS. I’ve only done 1 other set for a Chevelle. But I love doing these, they are my favorite buckles! Overall, they weren’t in too bad of shape. 2 of the chrome latches were pretty rusty & pitted. Got lucky, and there’s someone on EBay that sells Chevelle belts, and he is only 10 minutes away. So I was able to get a couple of replacements right away.
So everything was throughly cleaned, and rust removed from the chrome pieces. Buckles disassembled for that same reason. The caps were cleaned and freshened up with black, and the emblems polished up.
These are the Before Pics.

[TKCR]

And here are the After pics.

[TKCR]

Received someone’s 1987 Belts in the Mail. This is frustrating. 2 things happened here.
1) The seatbelts were packed in the box with no protection. That’s not a good idea. Please! I hate to see someone’s belts get damaged like this. If you send me belts, please protect them in the box.
2) The Post Office likes to play soccer with the boxes. So again, protect the belts by adding protection.
So moving on. I did have a spare housing to replace the one that got broken. These are being sent to get new webbing. So I did my normal rust removal, throughly cleaning and lubing the mechanisms. So I did try my hand at some plastic welding. Thought I would practice on the broken housing. I’m surprised at how well it turned out. Not bad for a first timer!
Tomorrow they will be sent to get new webbing.