Fitted a set of new shoulder belts to my 82 firebird. Got them from 95 Trans AM. My old ones wouldn't recoil great. I fitted the new belts yesterday and they recoil great. I have a question though, on the cars here in Europe when you snap the belts they lock. On the belts I fitted and on the old belts they won't lock when I pull them hard, is this normal?. When the belts are out of the car they lock great but when they are fitted to the roof they won't lock.

When you are driving and either accelerate or brake, the mechanism will lock. I believe there is a counterweight inside the retractor.

yea.. there is a weight, so whenever you break hard, accell hard, or turn really hard, they should lock..... othwise they should roll in and out smoothly.


if you break hard enough that it locks and hold the pressure on the belt even after you stop, they should remain locked until you take the pressure off...

and if they dont do all that is described above then they are faulty
and i would be weary of them

good luck

What did you do to swap in the new belts into your 82? I know there is an tech article on this site how to swap in 4th gen belts, but the guy has an 88 car and 82's had a different setup than the later years. Was it hard? I'm really interested because my belts just don't like retracting either and are really faded. I have found some decent belts in the yards out of other third gens but I'm weary because those seatbelts are also old as well...so if I could get newer 4th gen seatbelts I think that would be ideal.

The 82 is almost like the 4th gens, at least my friends 82 is.
He only has one retractor and that is on the ceiling of the car.
My 86 and 88 have 2 retractors, one on the floor and one on the ceiling.

Thanks Zepher....I've seen your friends 82 and I love that car. I want to do the LT-1 swap he has done, with my 82. I PMed him and he gave me his number to contact him, but I just haven't had the opportunity to call, mainly because of the time difference me being on the west coast. I'm glad to hear that the seatbelt works on my car though, now I have to locate them, but I'd still like a little more info so I don't run into any problems =) Oh, on a side note did you decide to keep your T/A or not?

I am still undecided on the T/A. but I will continue to work on it till it's done or sold. Everything is for sale if the price is right.

For the guy asking about the seat belts. The 4th gen belts are a perfect fit for the 82 Firebird. I needed a set in Tan and found the below website. Gave the guy a call and got them sent over. I found him very nice to deal with. One thing I will mention is that you may also need to change the holder that the buckle fits into as some of the 4th Gen cars use a thicker buckle than on the 82 Birds. Hope this helps.

http://www.billygrahamscamaro.com/

So it was a direct bolt on then? No modifications at all? Wow...nice to know, thanks a lot.

Yes a direct bolt on. The 4th gen mechanism on the roof is practically identical to that used on the early 3gen Firebirds