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Although I'm no pro at installing seatbelts... I did take my original ones out when I was doing body work (along with the interior). The did not retract when out of the car because there is a ball bearing that has to sit a certain way for the seat belt to retract. It would be very difficult to mount Camaro belts in a corvette (especially from fbodies) because they don't sit the same way (I believe). Your best bet would be a used seat belt set of craigslist from a C3 (and re dye it to your interior color), or 3 point harness from a seat company (roughly $85ea). If you choose to go with the new 3 point harnesses, I believe they'd look great with C5 sport seats, and since you're fabbing the floor pans you'd be able to install them easy. Although I would think a 3 pt harness would mount at the same 3 pts the OEM belts do.
Maybe we can plan for Woodward
I heard on here that one of the more common seat belt upgrades/replacements was rear seat 98-02 Camaro belts. Like you said, they do have to be mounted just right to be able to retract correctly. OEM belts have dual retractors, but mine only have one. I looked at Craigslist, but there's no C3 part cars currently, so I think I'll look at eBay and the CF classifieds and buy original belts.
It's gonna be a little bit before my car is ready for Woodward...
I heard on here that one of the more common seat belt upgrades/replacements was rear seat 98-02 Camaro belts. Like you said, they do have to be mounted just right to be able to retract correctly. OEM belts have dual retractors, but mine only have one. I looked at Craigslist, but there's no C3 part cars currently, so I think I'll look at eBay and the CF classifieds and buy original belts.
It's gonna be a little bit before my car is ready for Woodward...
If you're doing quite a bit to your car then start up a build thread like what I have. Even if it's not super in depth it gives you a place to ask questions without flooding the forums with threads.
I went with the Camaro belts. The previous owner had carpeted over the holes, but I was able to find them and install the belts right. They work better than I thought they would. Really cheap too; I think I paid about $45 for the set.
Changed my screen name from 'CorvetteJoshua' to 'Cynical'. Just keeping things more uniform because I am on various sites and this was the only one without that screen name. Hope I don't confuse anyone.
Ordering brake hoses for the entire car... the ones on it right know are clogged up from sitting forever and I can't trust that they are road worthy. Aside from that, the new pads (front) and rebuild kit arrived today. Also went out yesterday to purchase a new hood for my DD, and found a small antique shop in southern Toldeo, OH. We told the owner (it was me and my Dad) that we were interested in anything automotive & tool related. This business had 12 buildings full of a bunch of stuff. Picked myself up a '74 and '68 Ohio plates for $5 each and a set of boxes for the back of the 'Vette. Need to check if the rounds, highs, and lows work but I might just swap the faces out and place my 6x9s in the boxes and mount them.
Have a stupidly hard time removing the rubber brake lines. Frustraited beyond belief... broke the rear right caliper line and front left line near the fittings. Just great.
Ordering new lines online... they aren't that expensive but still.
Realized I've spent almost $30 in shipping because I haven't been thinking out my purchases... decided to pull the trigger on a rear left caliper line just in case that one goes south too. Slowly but surely learning through my mistakes, and that's the good thing!
Finally was able to get some pictures. Everything from the beginning of Feb to about now.
First things first, i've mentioned progress has been real slow. Really slow on the brakes. Got 2/3 lines today in the mail. Third one should arrive sometime tomorrow or Monday because it had to ship from an alternate location.
As for the pictures, I don't want to bore anyone to death. I have a question about the connection plug (will be pictured) that looks like it hasn't been attached in years. Other than that none of what I've been doing is really impressive or captivating. Just rebuilt the one leaky caliper and have been removing soft brakes lines.
Hope to have the brakes done this weekend and then see how it goes from there. I need to polish up the four brake lights I plan to use (thanks again to 929Nitro for the second set of lenses). Bought some Meguiar's Plas-X compound and hope that will do the trick. From there I have to repaint the large plastic piece in the back of the interior, finish up the rear speakers (those boxes I bought do work... great!), and finish up the ttop and mirror paint. I'm sure there is A LOT more that I'm forgetting but we all know how that goes. Plan to have the car on the road at the end of March... hopefully I can do it!
The end that I need help figuring out what and where it goes... near the firewall.
Rotor with no caliper. Look practically new besides the years of no use.
Gauges finally to up to speed. Tach doesn't respond to the distributor (shot board), but it resets to zero when I turn the car on. Happy with that.
The new seat backs I got for X-Mas. How do they look? Should I keep them black or try to paint them silver. They will match perfect with the ttop headliners should I choose not to paint them. (ABS Plastic)
Coming along nicely!
Some of the less glamorous projects may seem a little tedious to you at times, but keep your eye on the goal...this spring and summer is going to be incredible for you. Cruising around in a Corvette that you, yourself fixed up...it is an incredible feeling! That first drive too, when you fire it up, you will laugh and feel like Dr. Frankenstein..."IT'S ALIVE...ALIVE, I TELL YOU!!!!"
As for the large plastic seatback pieces, I personally would paint them if it were me, but ONLY after confirming that I found the proper shade of silver/grey. The wrong shade will cheapen the look and make it look awful...even worse than leaving it in black.
Doing great...keep it up!!!!
Last edited by LANDSHARK1; 02-26-2015 at 05:40 PM.
Black is okay though...it's just that in a silver/grey interior, it really stands out and looks like a replacement piece that has yet to be refinished to match. As always, either way it's good...just comes down to personal preference.
Black is okay though...it's just that in a silver/grey interior, it really stands out and looks like a replacement piece that has yet to be refinished to match. As always, either way it's good...just comes down to personal preference.
The interior was originally black... dash and everything. The PO decided to buy parts for an oyster/silver interior. The dash was the only 'blue' piece. Still can't place why it was in there. Eitherway the PO also bought a cover for the dash and we painted it black and fitted it great. Decided to keep the silver seats and paint some of the trim silver/black to match. It's not exactly 'custom' but more or less what I could do on a budget and make it look how I wanted it. Example being I could have cared less for the oyster carpet and decided to dye it black.
Realizing that if I can make it through this week then I will have so much time to work on the car I might actually have it running, driving, and stopping by the end of next week.
This week I have the ACT test, which is the biggest state test when you're in high school. Along with a college research essay due, math homework, and exams before college spring break. Fingers crossed everything falls into place!
As for an update on the car, I have all the brake lines that I broke out of the car. All of the new brake lines are here (hard and soft), along with some clips and two washers for the line-to-caliper front soft lines. Told myself I will install the hard lines and clip them into place, then have my dad go behind me and re-tighten anything. He will also be doing the soft brake lines because I REALLY do not want to bend/break more of the hard brake lines.
Happy March everyone, seems spring is coming closer every day (as it is). Today me and my Dad are doing some more work to the car.
Things to check off today are moving it to the 'workable' side of the garage (not the storage side where it has been all winter). Also finishing the brakes (bleeding them). Looks like I may need to purchase the rubber piece that goes on top of the reservoir.
We agreed that the next things on the list are to install the door panels (we have to cut them since they are 'new' from the previous owner). We also will be finishing and spraying a majority of what is left in the upcoming weeks.
THE BIG NEWS IS THAT THE ENGINE IS MATCHING NUMBERS TO THE CAR!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^
Big releif that we finally figure that out. It was really easy to but I was afraid to touch anything on the engine and remove that pain from the VIN area but my dad told me to do it anyways. It matches!
Ok pictures soon of our progress and I'll be at the Detroit Autorama tomorrow (Saturday) wearing my white shirt that reads 'MidshiftMedia' on it! If anyone spots me feel free to say hi, I don't bite
02-17-2015, 05:15 PM
