willvette70

Hi Everyone,

I am restoring some of my interior carpets, trim parts, and the seats.

After looking at the shoulder belts they are very corroded.

Has anyone repaired them? or tried to restore them?

I am just looking for some guidance.
(and if some one tell me how to upload pictures that would be GREAT)
Thanks!

7T1vette

Set up a [free] account on Photobucket. Figure out how to upload photos to that site. With Photobucket site opened, open another window, sign in to Corvette Forum, and go to the thread where you want to post photos. Begin a post in that thread and, when you want to insert a photo, jump over to Photobucket and find the photo you want to insert. Click on the IMG tag (bottom of the 4 listed modes) and then a "CTRL-C" (for copy). Go back to Corvette Forum site and do a "CTRL-V" (paste). The IMG tag info should have pasted into the post you are creating. When you finish with your post, click on "Submit Reply" and your new post will show up with the photo imbedded in it.

If you have the seatbelt and shoulder belt hardware and it is functional, you can refurbish them. Your options are: 1) spend big buck$ and send them off to a belt restorer; or 2) buy some new belt webbing material (shoulder belt material is a bit thinner than seatbelt webbing...but you can use the thicker stuff if that's all you can find) and take your present stuff to someone who can sew the new material onto a 'stub' of the original stuff [about 6"] at the retractor spool {upholstery place, leather repair shop, shoe repair shop, racing seatbelt manufacturer, etc.]. You will have to clean the metal stuff up yourself if you go with #2.

1974ta

If you are keeping the car may I suggest Snake Oyl. They did the shoulder harnesses on my 70 Convertible and they look and function as new plus they resewed the original labels on the new webbing/belts.

My originals were just completely frayed and otherwise in decent shape. Still not cheap but they are as good as new.

Bill

LeMans Pete

I agree, I used Ssnake-Oyl as well. Expensive, but excellent quality.

68/70Vette

Ssnake-Oyl for my 68 and 70. They restored the 70 seat and shoulder belts. They restored my 68 lap belts and built factory duplicate shoulder belts. Everything looks factory new original. They are expensive. I think my total belt work came to just a little under $2000!!! If all you want is a simple re-webbing, they are very low cost. Re-chroming the male clips, rebuilding the reels, providing new female seat belt fixtures, etc gets the price up.

Expensive,but their factory support is EXCELLENT. (Or at least is was the last time, 5 years ago that I had business with them). Before they re-web you're belts, they send samples to make sure you agree to the exact color. Also, I had a question about my belts and they very quickly transferred the call to the woman who was going to be sewing the belts!

Reviewing the pricey quote to rebuild my 68 belts, I noticed a significant charge to restore my lap retractor reels....ah-ha, I thought..caught them now. I was sure the 68 lap belts didn't have retractor reels...challenged them about this and they were adamant the 68 lap belts did have retractor reels. Yes, on checking this out, the large plastic coated plastic cylindrical thing, about 3 inches wide and two 1/2 inches tall was a retractor reel! When I purchased the car in 1973, it didn't work and I always assumed there was no retractor reel.
It was only after receiving my lap belts back from Ssnake-Oyl that, after 40 years, that I had retractor reels on the lap belts.

7T1vette

$2K for seat belts????

Dip the metal stuff in CLR overnight; then flush, dry and buff with #0000 steel wool. Wax or polish them to keep corrosion down. Find seat belt webbing at some fabric wearhouse for 20 bucks and take everything to someone with a heavy-duty stitching machine. For about $100, you will have servicible belts with fresh, new webbing.

willvette70

Thanks 7t1vette! I figured out the imagine problem!!!

And thanks to everyone else I don't know if I want to drop that kinda of money... my lap belts are still in great shape... so buying a new set that doesn't even look like the originals is out of question! I will ask my corvette guy what he thinks as well. (probably should have done that first) lol

My dad own a machine shop (and I'm a machinist there) so maybe we could manufacture the right parts if you cant buy them...

Thanks again this has been a lot of help!

68/70Vette

As stated this was to restore the 70 lap and shoulder belts, the 68 lap belts, the retainer reels, the male and female clips and also.....DUPLICATE the 68 shoulder belts. My C3 Convertible did not come with shoulder belts. Duplicating the 68 shoulder belts was a big price driver. Only 35 1968 Corvette Convertibles were sold with shoulder belts.
From what little I know, the 68 shoulder belts were a carry over from the 67 shoulder belts and I don't think many 67's came with shoulder belts.

Anyhow...I got'em. 68 Shoulder belts with the factory duplicate fittings. This includes the little two slot plastic color correct receptacles that fit against the passenger/driver rear firewall. These receptacles are where you place the shoulderbelt clips if you don't want to use the shoulder belts. The two slot color correct...medium bright blue..was NOS and bought from Dr. Rxxxxx...he said it was the last one he had, only wanted $70 (!!!!). This fitting will also fit, and was stock with the 67's.

7T1vette

Well, that shows you what 40 years does to the price of things. When the car was ordered, the optional shoulder belts likely cost less than $20.

mk's78

Go with S-Snake Oyl...They did my 78 belts which turned out very good and their service department was excellent. The only I noticed was that the belt length itself was a little on the short side......and that was not their fault..they did just what they said they would with no problems......Total cost was 173.00 to replace the retractor assemblies.

mk's78

7T1vette

If the shoulder belt was "short", SnakeOyl used thicker webbing on the shoulder belts than what the factory used. (probably the same stuff they used for seat belts)

If you pay that kind of money, the belts should be RIGHT.