I need to replace my front seat belts and I'm having difficulty finding good replacements. I have found lots of 4th gen seatbelts and I was wondering if any body knows if it is a straight swap or not. I don't want to modify any thing if I don't have to.

 

It has been done I'm told they work but never tried it, I have mint black, full set with rear shoulders. $150.00 shipped in U.S.
Ray

 

they are a direct fit. but you will have a gap around the door sills where there used to be a retractor. 4th gens have no lap retractor. try a search for pics, been covered many times

 

i know i've discussed my experience with the rear seatbelts before. The fronts are a very easy swap. The only trick is that the 3rd gen lower retractor bolt is vertical. This bolt is actually going into a 90* bracket, not into the body itself. You can remove this bracket from the body with the same Torx bit that the retractors are bolted in with. Now you can install the lower mount on the 4th gen belts with the bolt going into the body horizontally.
For rear belts, the retractors are taller and will interfere with the covers. They also have a slightly different tab that indexes the retractor's direction when bolted down. I won't go into detail on that since it sounds like you're just concernted about the front belts.

 

I dont see much need to replace the rear belts. They usually work fine due to not being used much at all. Unless you need to match the color or something..

But anyway, on the fronts, its an easy swap like everyone has mentioned. However...I did mine alittle differently. I took the retractor covers off my thirdgen belts. There is alittle window that normally faces towards the rear of the car. So I mounted the right cover on the left side, and the left cover on the right side. So, the lower part of the 4th gen belt sits inside the cover. Looks nicer than before when I didnt have anything and there was a large gap.

I dont have pics of it in my 87...but Im about to do the swap on my 86, so Ill try to snap pics.

J.

 

Great info I'm still not sure if I want to change them to the 4th gen style yet or not. Mine are not in to bad of shape shape. Its the drivers front seat belt receptacle. The plastic is all cracked and broken I might just wait to see if I can find a used grey one somewhere.

 

fourth gen recievers will work with the third gen belts too, no mods required

 

heres a pic of the gap incase anyones wondering how big it is. I did the swap a couple months ago, it was pretty easy. just don't put the passenger side belt in the drivers side, or vise verse... (guess how I realized that one. haha)

 

Will the fourth gen belts work with the '82 door sills that don't have the large opening for a retractor?

 

yeah, thats what I need is the 82 door sills to finish my conversion. need to find some money first though

 

you have to be more specific saying that. I've had LT1 year (1995) and LS1 year (2001) seatbelt sets, and the key/retractors are different. Which one matched? From the looks of them, I'd guess it was the LT1s, but I've never tested it.

As for the 1982 door sills, they do work well with it. However, I broke the tab on my 82 door sills forcing the plastic boot through the opening. I got a new set and I plan to remove the plastic boot on the bottom so only the cloth goes through the slit in the door sill trim piece.