[dreamn69]

I just bought a 72 Formula with the interior in pieces. The problem is the seat belts. I have a box of belts from what is likely several different years. I have searched but cannot find good pics of seat belts installed in cars. I do not see any retractors anywhere in the box. Can anyone post some pics or does anyone have something I could reference?

Thanks

[RicksGTO]

no retractors in '72 for early or late seat belts. What date was your car built and was it deluxe or standard belts? Here is a pic of my early '72 custom belts. The change date was legally Jan. 1, 1972 but from comparing cars here on the forum it was more likely the 3rd week of December 1971.

['ol Pinion head]

Has taken a lot of original car examination as well as cataloging of original '72 F-body seat belts, but have finally got my head around all of the multiple different types of '72 F-body seatbelts.

The early standards & custom belts are identical to '71 F-body seatbelts. The shoulder strap for early '72 belts mates with its own female belt, & that female buckle when not used hooks on the plastic tab off the console. On non console cars, the female belt for the shoulder belt just flops over next to the inboard of each bucket seat. The retractors for '71's & early '72's are of a very familiar short design with a snap on plastic cover. very unobtrusive style retractor.

Late '72 production seatbelts came along due to goverment seatbelt warning requirements. Mid to late Dec of 71 body builds is where the late style '72 belts first begin showing up. the molded retractors are very tall (tallest of any 2nd Gen retractor assembly), & include a wiring pigtail out of the bottom of each front belt retractor. The front seat belts utilize a long male tongue with a keyhole type hole where the round tab from shoulder belt tongue pops in.

Ck your build date on the cars cowl tag. Will post below a previous link to pics of a members car with late '72 design of standard belts, as well as my previous wanted ads for late '72 model retractors.

['ol Pinion head]

Not a very good picture of the late '72 seatbelt retractor, but here is a pic of a saddle colored late '72 F-body female set buckle.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...6&d=1520609856

Have better pics of some really cherry late '72 black belts as well as the tall style retractors. will hopefully can get pics up later today.

[dreamn69]

Thanks. I will get the build date this evening. I have some sleeved female receivers that are about 18" long covered in hard plastic? I saw a pic somewhere online where it looked like this was on the outside of seat next to door but I wasn't really sure where it goes.

[4birds]

Picture #1 - December 71 built Deluxe belts-No retactors
Pictures #2, 3, 4, and 5 - January-April built Deluxe belts - With retractors front and rear.

[4birds]

The Jan '72 and later belts are very unique as they were only used for 4 months. Also, look at the bottom of the speedometer. It will have 2 separate windows for the seat belt reminder and emergency brake lights for the late 72's. The early 72 cars will only have the larger BRAKE light only at the bottom.
To further complicate things they changed again to different belts for the '73 model year. (known as 'exploding belts')

[dreamn69]

Not original gauges. The belts I have look like the December belts in pic one 4Birds posted. I guess I should have said the they were male ends. The solid plastic sleeved ones mount on the outside of the seat? The ones in the top center of that picture. I also have the roof mount belts. Do they also go with that set or is that set lap only? sorry, thoroughly confused.

[necdb3]

Originally Posted by dreamn69

Not original gauges. The belts I have look like the December belts in pic one 4Birds posted. I guess I should have said the they were male ends. The solid plastic sleeved ones mount on the outside of the seat? The ones in the top center of that picture. I also have the roof mount belts. Do they also go with that set or is that set lap only? sorry, thoroughly confused.

Does the set on the roof have a long plastic sleeves?

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by 4birds

The Jan '72 and later belts are very unique as they were only used for 4 months. Also, look at the bottom of the speedometer. It will have 2 separate windows for the seat belt reminder and emergency brake lights for the late 72's. The early 72 cars will only have the larger BRAKE light only at the bottom.
To further complicate things they changed again to different belts for the '73 model year. (known as 'exploding belts')

4 months? How do you get 4 months? This same seat belt system was also used in 1973 Firebirds as well.. so Im wondering about the 4 months and which 4 months they were.

[Formulabruce]

Here is a 1973 set

[dreamn69]

Originally Posted by necdb3

Does the set on the roof have a long plastic sleeves?

I guess I should have said the car has the provisions for roof belts but nothing is installed so I have no idea what goes where.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by dreamn69

I guess I should have said the car has the provisions for roof belts but nothing is installed so I have no idea what goes where.

On a pre say March car, it gets the normal bow headliner, after that it gets the 1 piece hardboard liner, NO shoulder harness retractor in the roof though. A 1/2 year item actually. The roof mounts were used in '74 and up.

[necdb3]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

On a pre say March car, it gets the normal bow headliner, after that it gets the 1 piece hardboard liner, NO shoulder harness retractor in the roof though. A 1/2 year item actually. The roof mounts were used in '74 and up.

I have never seen a 72 with a hardboard headliner.

[dreamn69]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

On a pre say March car, it gets the normal bow headliner, after that it gets the 1 piece hardboard liner, NO shoulder harness retractor in the roof though. A 1/2 year item actually. The roof mounts were used in '74 and up.

Mine has the bow liner with the clips installed down both sides.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by necdb3

I have never seen a 72 with a hardboard headliner.

Because the seatbelts were used in '73, I guess my brain went to '73 as well. the scenario I mentioned was for '73 only. All '72 had traditional bow headliner and some batting mat in the ceiling.

[unruhjonny]

just checking:

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

...
The early standards & custom belts are identical to '71 F-body seatbelts. ... The retractors for '71's & early '72's are of a very familiar short design with a snap on plastic cover. very unobtrusive style retractor.

...

is this correct?

I understood that 1970 male end (front) seat belts had retractors, while 1971 male end (again front) seat belts used NO retractor - but were in a vinyl sleeve.
So the 1971 male end (front) seat belts were a fixed length.

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Because the seatbelts were used in '73, I guess my brain went to '73 as well. the scenario I mentioned was for '73 only. All '72 had traditional bow headliner and some batting mat in the ceiling.

the bow headliner was used for early 1973 cars as well.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

just checking:

is this correct?

I understood that 1970 male end (front) seat belts had retractors, while 1971 male end (again front) seat belts used NO retractor - but were in a vinyl sleeve.
So the 1971 male end (front) seat belts were a fixed length...

The main difference between the '70 front seatbelts and the '71-early '72 F-body front seatbelts is the '70 belts used specific one model year flexible molded small retractor assembly. The total height of the '70 F retractor from the bottom to the top edge of the male tongue was a little over 7". The '71 & early '72 Fbody front belts did use a long stiff but flexible molded sleeve type covering which rotated & held up the fixed length male belt. Some I've dealt with have referred to this type of male belt as a "stalk". The total length of the '71-early 72 front male belts from the bottom to of the top edge of the male "tongue" is 20 1/2".

Have dragged in & parted quite a few '71 Esprits & early '72 Firebirds, & have yet to see a notable difference in early '72 F-body front belts & same style previous '71 style belts. In parts tubs, have quite a few pieces as far as belts go from early '72 F models that I've parted. also have a full set of '71 F-body std belts, & yet to be unboxed, a set of '71 custom black belts (which are also noted as Deluxe in the master parts books).


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Am still searching for a fairly nice pair of front seat belt retractors from a late production '72 F-body. Years ago, pulled the original belts out of my '72 T/A in anticipation of its restoration. The usable partial set of black belts that I have will be locally restored/rewebbed with perfect used webbing, as soon as I can come up with a decent pair of late '72 F-body front seat retractors. Nice condition tall plastic (late '72) retractor shells is the sticking point. Rust pitted male buckles on these retractors or frayed belts going down to the spool assembly is no problem.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Because the seatbelts were used in '73, I guess my brain went to '73 as well. the scenario I mentioned was for '73 only. All '72 had traditional bow headliner and some batting mat in the ceiling.

working on multiple long time projects, it does get confusing at times. in my first post in this thread, I mistakenly credited early '72 F-body's with small plastic shell tpe front seatbelt retractors... def too much time spent lately on two early '72 LeMans.

Thanks Bruce for putting up the '73 seatbelt pics. Am sure that will help future readers. Am also gathering the last pieces seatbelt for a late '73 T/A restoration. From what I've examined from my '73's exploding seatbelt set, the d darn retractor covers are also an issue... scraped up From what I've been able to gather is '73 & 74 F-body front seatbelt retractors are the same.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by dreamn69

Mine has the bow liner with the clips installed down both sides.

dreamn69, from everything you have noted, the partial set of belts you have, as well as clues from the car, its a early '72 model Firebird. Might make an inventory of what seatbelts you have by tag model number. typically the male end shoulder belts on early 2nd Gen parts cars are very faded out, if not frayed. Hopefully someone here on PY will have the missing pieces you need.