[68ragtop]

Well, the seat belts I thought were in good shape are in need of restoration too. several of the male inserts have some rust pitting in the chrome as well as some of the backsides of some of the buckles. not all of them, but half for sure. The black belts are in great shape as well as all the plastic covers & buttons, but the warning & identification labels are negligible. The only labels in good shape are the front retractible as they were probably retracted most of their life.

So, at first I am thinking just find a few new male & female ends for the belts & have them sewn on. but I would really like new labels if thats even possible? worse thing is, cleaning the labels kinda works, but it also breaks the labels down. They are very fragile I am finding out.

Thoughts?

[Gastiresandoil]

You are able to order the belt labels through either inline tube which offers them or from Sharon's Web, Inc. If you order them from Sharon, she will ask you for either a copy of the tag or information regarding where the car was built, what the lettering looks like, and date of mfgt. This way you can get them designed the way the provided from each factory.

FWIW, I believe Sharon quoted that one tag, mind you that each belt has two tags (two for the female side two for the male side, 4 tags per seatbelt set), would be about $15 each. It was hard to stomach $60 per belt set when there is 6 sets per car, with the included shoulder belts.

[68ragtop]

So if all tags where replaced that would be two fronts, three rears with 4 tags per belt set.

$300 for just the tags? Wow, that is hard to justify.

I was excited reading your post until I got to the pricing part.....

Here is what I have. Some tags look like this one. some a little better, some a little worse.

I also noticed they are sorta glued on also, & that breaks down when I clean them....

[charles bledsoe]

Go to the 70-73 firebird section and do a search on cleaning seat belts. It will take you to a thread by Njsteve. Very informative thread, it's on his 72 Trans Am, but he goes thru cleaning the belts and the tags. Very long thread, I believe it's 81 pages. You will have to scroll thru the thread to find out where he restores them as I don't remember which pages he discusses it on.

[68ragtop]

Does anyone know if these buckles were used in other models / years?

I might be better off purchasing some worn belts with rust free chrome rather than having them re-chromed. I'm just not sure what male & female parts are the same so I can broaden my searching. All my plastics are nice, so at least I don't need those.

Thanks!

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by charles bledsoe

Go to the 70-73 firebird section and do a search on cleaning seat belts. It will take you to a thread by Njsteve. Very informative thread, it's on his 72 Trans Am, but he goes thru cleaning the belts and the tags. Very long thread, I believe it's 81 pages. You will have to scroll thru the thread to find out where he restores them as I don't remember which pages he discusses it on.

I found the thread. Most of it was specific to the "blow up" buckles as I think they were calling them. Very interesting reading for sure. I didn't see anything on restoring the belts other than using some ford belts that used the same parts.

Or, I was in the wrong thread. it was the only one I could find.

[Gastiresandoil]

See page 165 in the Pontiac Inline tube catalog for their examples. Clearly cheaper than the other option.

http://online.flipbuilder.com/wmmk/tjaq/#p=167

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by Gastiresandoil

See page 165 in the Pontiac Inline tube catalog for their examples. Clearly cheaper than the other option.

http://online.flipbuilder.com/wmmk/tjaq/#p=167

Ooooh, I like that online book, lots of detail items. I see they have the plastic covers & the sew on tags, & very reasonable. Now I just have to figure out where to have the chrome parts re-done.

Thanks!

[68ragtop]

Just curious, were the seat belt type/style listed on the build sheet, or order sheet originally on the 68's?