Restoring OEM Seatbelts

[TKCR]

Dye will be delivered Sunday! So I’ll be getting to work on the Blazer belts. I always enjoy seeing new colors. Well, new colors for me
I’ve never seen this color before. Actually, I’ve never seen Blazer belts before! I get asked a lot about them. So now I can say I’ve seen them!

[TKCR]

Been working on these Black/Charcoal seatbelts for awhile now. Finally got them done this weekend.

[TKCR]

Speaking of dye, I have quite a collection adding up!

[TKCR]

So here are the Blazer belts after restoration.

[TKCR]

Just restored a set of Saddle Tan belts for a member, UKNOWME. Check out the Before and After pics.
Here are the Before

[TKCR]

And the After

[Greenlee]

Nice work! Those look great.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Nice work! Those look great.

Thank You!

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by TKCR

And the After

Awesome. If I ever get my old 83 cleaned up enough to warrant belts that nice I'll send mine to you!

[TKCR]

Just completed these 1987 Blue Seatbelts for someone.

[Hammered 77]

TK nice work as always. Is the latch on the Blazer set the same as the latch on a truck set? I know the 3 point unit mounts different on a Blazer vs a truck but can you use the latch from a Blazer with a truck 3 point unit?

Thanks
Rick

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Hammered 77

TK nice work as always. Is the latch on the Blazer set the same as the latch on a truck set? I know the 3 point unit mounts different on a Blazer vs a truck but can you use the latch from a Blazer with a truck 3 point unit?

Thanks
Rick

So when you say “latch”, the male end of the belt? The one in the 1st pic? It is the same, on both Blazer & Truck, sort of. This style, the latch, because it is longer & narrow. It will only mate with the plastic style “female” buckles. It will not latch if you have metal buckles, and vise versa. In the next 2 pics, you’ll notice that latch with the more narrow metal, the will only work with the plastic buckles.
The metal buckles will only accept a latch with the more short & wide latch.

[Hammered 77]

My thinking was since I have bucket seats I could use the blazer latch that stands next to the seat with a truck 3 point unit which might be easier than finding a set for a truck with bucket seats.

[Rich84]

Interesting..So narrow plastic buckle- fat gets metal buckle.

I have to check mine now. I have Suburban belts (gray) and buckles on the floor, but they lay on the floor. I have to bend it up to buckle. I would rather the blazer style that stand.

You might have just kept me from getting the wrong ones. Thanks TKCR

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Rich84

Interesting..So narrow plastic buckle- fat gets metal buckle.

I have to check mine now. I have Suburban belts (gray) and buckles on the floor, but they lay on the floor. I have to bend it up to buckle. I would rather the blazer style that stand.

You might have just kept me from getting the wrong ones. Thanks TKCR

yep, I have ran into a bunch of people that this has happened too. Especially when people sell just a part of set on Ebay and such. Like buckles, someone will buy metal buckles, but their retractor only accepts plastic buckles, because of the tongue size. Several people have sent me their seatbelts to get restored, and they are mix matched, and they didn't even realize it.

[Rich84]

Funny thing is that I don't even know which buckles I have. I gotta get home and check.

I think they are metal...Pretty sure. LoL. I guess I'll start by finding the Blazer buckles and then the right belts to match in gray or black.

[TKCR]

Just finished up a set of 87 Blue Seatbelts for someone. He sent these belts to be restored. I have to say, the center buckles and lap belt are some of the worst that I have seen. Even the webbing was too badly damaged. There was no saving these!!
I had several extra sets of centers, so we just opted to use those and threw out his. Here are a few before & after pics!

[TKCR]

These are beautiful! Just found a very nice set of 1987 Charcoal Black seatbelts. I don’t believe these were ever used. Virtually no fading on the webbing. Casings were a little dirty, but a good hot bath took care of that. Even the seatbelt tag was still white. Still cleaned up the mounts, retractor mechanisms and re-lubed those. Although the center buckle were in good shape, the plastic sleeves were cracked as usual. I have a couple of sets of NOS Center Buckles and Lap Belt. So I used one for this set.

[TKCR]

Working on another set of Black belts for a friend of mine. He has restored his truck, and went with Black & Orange, but has Burgundy belts. Had to put some parts together for a set. The black retractors I had, were to be mated with plastic buckles. The male latch on the retractors have the long narrow latch, which will only mate with plastic buckles, which I don’t have. So I’m switching out the latches on the retractors, that way we can use metal buckles. So here what I have done so far. And the mounts were really rusty, this was after sandblasting. I worked on them a bit more after this photo was taken. The retractors were also seized, but I got them going again!

[TKCR]

So here are the progress pics on the Black belts in the above post. Got them cleaned and dyed. The mounts, all got all the rust off, and then sprayed the with a rust inhibitor. It sprays on clear, but turns black as it drys. So after they thoroughly dried, I sprayed them with black epoxy paint. There is some pitting.
I got all the stitching removed, and the narrow latch off. Now I just need to sew on the new latches, so they will mate with metal buckles.
The last 2 pics, I showed the examples of the latch sizes and which buckles they mate with.

[TKCR]

First time sewing. With some more practice, I think I’ll be good to go.

[hatzie]

What model machine are you using to sew these seatbelts?

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by hatzie

What model machine are you using to sew these seatbelts?

It’s a Heavy Duty machine. Specifically for heavy fabrics, such as seat covers & belts.

[TKCR]

Finished up the Black belts for my friend here locally. They will going in his custom colored interior. This will be one of the last steps to finish off his interior. If you look at the photo closely, you can see the Burgundy belts.

[TKCR]

Also completed a set of Black belts, while working on my friends set. These got the usual treatment. Throughly cleaned and dyed the belts. Disassembled the buckles the throughly clean and remove debris, which you can see, had quite a bit. This keeps the buckles from functioning as they should. Retractors lubed to get them retracting freely again.