Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Now for the AFTER.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Great work on those!!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Once you've been at it for a while all those little bits and pieces you keep in bins start to come in handy.
Very nice work as usual

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Thanks!

You are correct. I can kick myself, because early on I did pitch a few items, thinking I would never use or need it. Not anymore! I’m saving everything, you just never know. Just like that buckle, I had a replacement thankfully!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

That someone would be me haha. Thanks again, far exceeded my expectations now they’re to nice to install in my truck. Seat will be next. Thanks Tina!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Cool, I didn’t know you were over here on the forum. Glad you like them.

Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

TK, your sig says that you are from Ohio, but I would have guessed Las Vegas as you are certainly a magician!

Now I definitely want to get a small sand blast cabinet and hope that my belts come out half as good as yours!

Great Job!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

The only thing I sandblast on the belts, is the mounting tab. It takes a lot more than that to make the belts look good, mostly soaking & scrubbing and more soaking & scrubbing and more soaking & scrubbing, lol.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Restored a set of Charcoal seatbelts for someone. These were filthy, and the left side retractor was cracked in several places. First time at fixing these, but I used epoxy to the cracks, from underneath the retractor casing. They will definitely hold tight, but I will have to master hiding the cracks better. But they turned out a whole lot better than what we started with. Also took the buckles apart for through cleaning & lubing, to get the buckle buttons functioning properly again. Also replaces the buckle covers with used & better looking ones. Webbing has the usual fading.
Before pics.

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During the repair of the cracks and buckles.

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After Pics. Like I said earlier, I need to master the covering of the crack better. This was my first time repairing cracks this bad on the retractor casings.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

These 81-83 CarmineRed belts were done for a board member, 1981_c10. They had a little bit of drys spots on the very top of the retractor casings. Belts were pretty filthy and some rust on the buckles. Took the buckles apart for through cleaning & lubing. The lap belt buckle was pretty rusted, so it was swapped out with a nicer used buckle. So here are the Before pics.

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After Restoration.

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TKCR, i have sent a pm to you....;)

thanks!!:metal:
rodstored-72 (Jake)

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

I haven’t received one.

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hhmm.. well anyways I resent ya one please let me know if this one fails too...;)

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These look incredible! So stoked to put them on however it will be after christmas as my truck is headed to paint next week!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

Got that one and responded:metal:

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I can’t wait to see your truck completed. I bet you are excited.

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First time at restoring Blazer belts. Customer wants all these to match his 81-83 Blazer Gray. So some of the plastic parts are the darker 84-87 Blazer, so those will have to be dyed to match. Got everything taken apart and cleaned at this point.
Pics #1 & #2 are before.
Pics #3-#5 are after a good cleaning. Stay tuned for updates. I had to order dye, so I won’t be able to do any of that until it arrives.
And I’m also working on a set of Black/Charcoal belts. Those are hanging to dry also, in the last pic.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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:lol:
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!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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

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

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So here are the Blazer belts after restoration.

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

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And the After

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Nice work! Those look great.

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Thank You!

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

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Just completed these 1987 Blue Seatbelts for someone.

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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

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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.

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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

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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.

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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.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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.

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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!

Re: Restoring OEM Seatbelts
 

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.