MakoShark72

In the process of changing my 72 saddle interior to black, I swapped my original saddle seats for black leather C5 seats.

My saddle seat belts had to go, and the C5 seats have no slot for the belts, so I opted to modify and install Gen 4 Camaro/Firebird belts.

Found numerous ebay listings for the belts, and I purchased a full set of belts from a late 90's Camaro for around $40. You can get just the rears, but I purchased the full set to use a couple of the front parts..They are a dark gray (which I re-dyed to black), but I have read the Firebird belts come in black.



The large triangular piece mounts to the B pillar or the seat, I don't know which, but I removed and tossed them, by cutting a slit thru the loop and sliding the belt out..They are made of very hard plastic. I used a sawzall.. I also removed the little slotted rectangular trim pieces, you won't reuse them..





Next I had to remove the plastic buckle trim, in order to clean up and polish the chrome buckles... I broke the corners off each one, so I am not sure of the trick to remove them, someone will chime in...I glued the pieces back..



That left the two naked buckles, and to remove the belting, the center "bar" must be pried out...To do this I used two vice grips and gasped each of the raised wings with the slots and pried them outwards, until the cross bar would come out...



I then lightly dyed the belts with black interior dye. Most guys say to use RIT dye, I was going to, but decided to try it with the spray dye. I only very lightly misted it..



I decided to remove the Camaro retractor housings, and use the Corvette ones..The housings are pop riveted to the retractors, and you must simply drill out the rivets then pull the entire belt through the rear of the plastic housing...

NOTE...the buckles will not fit through the opening in the housing, hence they need to be removed..

ANOTHER NOTE!!!...If you want to use the Camaro housings (instead of modifying your Vette housings), AND you can clean up your chrome buckles sufficiently without removing the little black plastic trim caps, you can slide the buckles all the way to the end of the belt, dye the main body of the belt (the part of it that will show), paint the plastic bits, and install the whole system..JUST LIKE THAT..If I had to do it again, that is exactly what I would do!! MUCH SIMPLER THAN WHAT I DID!!!



Here's the rivet that you drill out to remove the retractor from the housing..



The retractor has a small metal tab that faces downwards. Since the retractor must mount flat on the wheel well behind the seat, you must remove the tab...dremel cut off wheel works great..







The advantage of using the Camaro housings, is that the retractors are slightly larger than the Corvette ones, and dont exactly fit inside the Vette housings. I had to slightly enlarge the opening of my Corvette retractor housings to get them to fit..I used a dremel to slightly widen the housings and also to trim a small amount off the bottom of the opening..





NOTE... the retractors MUST mount horizontally for the little pendulum to lock the belts in a deceleration. On my 72 the original retractors mount horizontally on the top of the wheel well. I have read that on 68-69 models, the retractors mount on the side of the wheel well. You must fabricate a L-shaped mounting bracket to use these in the later mounted cars, so the retractor is horizontal.. I believe there is an old thread on doing this..

The end of the belt simply bolts under the seat, in the same position as our original retractors...The mount tab has a slight bend, the wrong way, so I put it in the vice and straightened it so the belt would mount flat. You only need to cut a small X in the carpet, or you could run the belt UNDER the carpet and have it emerge beside the floor mounted belt guide..

Now all thats left is to mount the receivers. For this I used the front receiver sleeves. They are extra long in the Camaro, so I just trimmed them to the length of the receiver belt..Here's the long front receiver belt and sleeve, and the short rear receiver belt...



Here's the short rear receiver belt laying on top of the long sleeve..



I cut off the bottom of the sleeve to fit the length of the belt. You must cut the bottom because the top is slightly flared to accommodate the buckle..drill a hole in the "new" sleeve for the mounting bolt..



Here's the new receiver ready to bolt into the side of the console..



Finished...







I would estimate it took me maybe 4-5 hours (painting, dying, and repairing the broken buckle trim) and around $50-$75 to do this project. Of course my interior was already out.. The belts are more comfortable than the stock Vette belts, and you only have ONE retractor to deal with! I didn't want to drill a hole into the B pillar interior trim, so I opted not to use a B pillar loop. I'm not even sure there is a place to attach it, at least in my 72 coupe, maybe on later models...?

Hope this helps!!

If anybody has any questions, email me at rdphil@comcast.net..

Go Vette Go

Terrific write up Rob! Thanks for all the detailed info and PIX. I purchased a complete GEN 4 set of belts from a forum member and plan this install for my 78.

You took a bunch of the guess work out for all of us!

Thanks!

John

Stroh

Wow, Rob, the interior looks great. It's a lot of work, I know.

I need to get the retractor "housing" covers to complete my interiror resto... What did you do with your old vette retractor covers? If you're looking to get rid of them, I could help you with that. Otherwise, I'll follow your lead and look for the camero cover.

Love the way it's all coming together. Nice work!

~Stingray

Great job. My seat belts ever break, I know where to do.

MakoShark72

I actually used the Vette covers... I chose NOT to use the Camaro ones..

Here's another picture..



These are the Camaro covers...



Thanks for the compliments!

Stroh

Right on. The finished product is great. Good stuff.

Sully1882

awesome write up and pics, thank you so much! The car is looking great!

Sully

MakoShark72

Thanks Sully, wanted to get this up before you put your seats back in!!

kortensi

Great write up.
This is going into my bookmarks for when I get this far.

Thanks!
KO

brady5885

Would this work on an 82??

brady5885

anyone know if they would work on a 79-82 setup???

GPGG70

Great job. Thanks for sharing.

wydglydrydr

Sorry to OP, not trying to hijack this thread. Stroh, PM me. I believe I have a set. If I still have them, one side has some chips. I'll send you pix and you can decide.

brady5885

Anyone? or know of other alternatives?

kdf1986

Thanks for the write up and the photos. I have a set of these in my garage waiting to put them in my 73 when I redo the interior. I have your posting saved to use for reference. thanks.

kdf

SuperBuickGuy

excellent job and excellent result - wish I'd have thought of that when I started mine (it's got harnesses now).

question - as you took the buckles off, why didn't you put the Corvette buckles back on the belts thus retaining the Corvette latch mechanism?

Steve C.

Thanks for reposting the pics Rob, VERY MUCH appreciated.