I working on my 81's interior and need to clean up or replace the seat belts. All the mechanisms are fine and in good working order, however the belt material is faded and has grease spots.

My question is, can I just purchase just the belt material and reuse all the other parts? Or can I clean the belts and re-dye them? The belt color is gray.

Thanks for ya'll help.

 

I would like to know the same thing. im guessing color isnt an issue?

 

My answer is going to be a bit brief: YES. I have not personally purchased them but the previous owner of my car did replace the belt without any of the mechanisms. I believe the company he got it from was Snake Oil or something to that effect.

 

You could try getting the material (or having your belts reconditioned) from either http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/ or http://www.seatbeltsolutions.com. I'm pretty sure that dying them wouldn't cause any problems either.

 

Yes you can buy the webbing. But finding someone who will sew the hardware back on won't be easy. "Liability"
http://www.andoauto.com/Corvette1.htm

 

I've run into the same thing. The upholstery shops in my area won't touch it because of liability. Some have said they outsource seatbelts to SSnake-Oyl when they are doing a restoration job. My understanding is that Ssnake-Oyl does a good job but it aint cheap and it aint quick. With that said, I bought a set off of fleabay that were much better than mine. I'll put them in the car hopefully in the next few days, and then send my originals off to Ssnake-Oyl to get redone. That way I can still use the car while they repair the seatbelts. Once I get the original ones back and installed, I'll sell the other set. Safety equipment is 1 area that I don't mind spending the money on to get it done right.

 

Yes. You can buy new seatbelt webbing material at fabric supply warehouses. Just look some up in your local phone directory and call to see if they have any and what colors are available. Also, the original shoulder belts were a thinner material than the seat belts (they had normal belt thickness as almost all other cars). The fabric outlets may not have the thinner webbing material, but the seat belt thick material WILL work in the shoulder areas. They will not roll up completely in the rear retractor mechanisms, but you have a good 18" of material fed out and through the seat back, anyway.

When you've bought the webbing material you want, just call around to some car upholstery places and ask if they can change out the webbing. I did mine front & rear for $80 [belt rebuild] and $10 for webbing. The correct rebuild approach is for them to cut the metal "insert clip" off the belt and sew it on the new material in the exact same manner, roll the belt all the way out of the retractor, cut the belt so there is about 4-6" of original material left on the retractor, then sew the new material onto the old "stub". Do same for all four belts. You also need to consider what thread material you want them sewn with. The shop will probably have white or black treads. If you want the thread to match your belts, you might also buy that thread at the fabric outlet store. Just get a heavy grade of polyester thread or some made for light leather application. Take a belt with you to the fabric store and someone there can probably help you get all that you need.

Being as "****" as I am, I even came up with a way to reproduce the original ID tags on all the belts. It was some work to come up with a good process to make them, but it worked quite well. Good luck with your project.