Hey i just recently found out that my seat belts dont restrain anymore, i mean at ALL, such as if we were to be in an accident they would do nothing. What can i do to fix them, and if not should i replace the WHOLE seat belt set up, or could i even take it to any auto body shop and get it fixed, what should i do??

 

there was a seatbelt recall i believe on these cars...i think theres a sticky thread on it

it says the camaros got recalled and it didnt say anything about firebirds but mine have no restrectiveness left either

 

The recall only covers the red buttons IIRC, there are no more new seat belts to be had for our cars. You need to either go to the JY and pull a good set or place an ad looking for seat belts in the parts wanted section. You might consider 4th gen belts, do a search and you will find out all the info you could ever need about your car

 

I had the same problem, I just bought a used set from the classifieds section, or you could try the 4th gen swap like iron duke said. But no-one will fix seatbelts because of the liability.

 

Would Fourth gen seat belts fit?

 

yes, heres tutorial https://www.thirdgen.org/4thgenbelts

 

Could you post a URL link to the thread?

 

sorry, its not a thread its a tutorial, https://www.thirdgen.org/4thgenbelts

 

Not entirely true.

I am looking into having these guys re-web my belts in black since they are gray and nasty dirty now.

Here;

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

 

if you end up letting them re-web your seatbelts let us know how it goes.

 

i ended up going to a junkyard, and pulled them from two different T/A s , i also saw a decent dashboard but i wasnt sure if firebird and camaro had the same size so i didnt take it

 

Forget it... They want $600.00 to restore them and change the color. I can get 2 new generic seat belts for $78.00, and the rears for less than that.

 

600 bucks!? thats crazy

 

I have the same problem. My seatbelts don't restrain worth ****. I just orderd a replacement set from www.car-stuff.com for about $100/pair ($200 for whole car). I will post after I have them installed.
6/9/07:
I tried installing these. Don't bother. Nothing fits, not even the mounting bolts (the holes are too small for the GM bolts). The latches are too long for the rear seats. You can't use the stock guides in the seats, etc. After lots of time with my dremel tool, I finally did get them installed, but they didn't work well.

So, I went to a junk yard and found some seat belts from a 4th gen. Turns out they don't restrain either, tried all four of them. None restrained AT ALL, just like on my 92.

Now this is really weird. Every F-body seatbelt I have tried (8 total) does not restrain at all when I yank on it, even those that haven't been used much, like the ones in my rear seats.

So I checked the originals I had taken out of the car, and noticed they restrained now when I yanked on them. All 4 of them. I tried putting one back in. No restrain. I took it back out. Started restraining again. WTF?

I checked back on thirdgen.org again, and found another post where someone said the restrainers are designed to restrain in a crash or under heavy braking, and won't do it if yanked on. It seems the little pendulum thingie inside the restrainer activates it. If you hold your restrainer perfectly level, it won't restrain. If you hold it at an angle, it will.

Your seatbelts are probably fine You can probably also test it by parking on a steep hill and seeing if it restrains then.

 

The tutorial is wrong BTW (unless there was a change between '87 and '88), it's a T-50 Torx bit. It might seem like it's the smaller bit, but the socket is quite deep on those bolts and the T50 fits all the way in nice and snug once you line it up correctly.

 

The 4th gen belt tech article is incomplete. The author never solved the problem of how to cover up the huge hole left in the sill plate after removing the lower retractor. I have found a solution to this by using 82 sill plates. I'm linking pics to show the finished install on my car with the 82 style plates and a 4th gen belt, and a comparison of the 82 stlye and newer style sill plates.

I've went through many stock seat belts and all have ended up failing me after a short time. They are just worn out after so many years of use. The 4th gen parts aren't worn as much, and they are still available new. I found the retractor for $51, and the buckle side for $16 on gampartsdirect.com if I wanted to buy new ones. I just picked up another selt of 4thgen belts used for $30 this evening for a buddy that's doing the belt swap. He liked the way mine came out and just how nice the newer style belts work, he wanted to do the upgrade.

Hope this info helps all of you out.

 

Good job, and yes the 4th gen belts are a DIRECT bolt in for the early Camaro and Pontiac belts. Those lower sills are even harder to find than a good set of used belts though.

 

Yes they are extremely hard to find. I got lucky found a set of black ones for my car, and have a set of tans ones on ebay now for sale. In all the time I've been looking I've only found two sets of these plates that are in acceptable condition. But with how the upgrade comes out with the 82 style plates, it's well worth spending the time do find them and do the 4th gen belt upgrade. They work so much better than my old belts did.

Also one small tip about 4th gen belts. Even though they physically interchange side to side, they are diffferent. The upper mount is at an angle, and inside the retractor is a small pendulum that when it senses more than normal g-force it locks up the retractor machinism. The retractors have a built in angle for the pendulum to match the mount and keep the pendulum level. If you swap them side to side, the belts won't come out since the pendulum not level and is trying to lock up the belt. Ask me how I know this

 

It seems there are 2 kinds of seat belt restrainers.

1. Those that work by the belt motion (when you yank on the seat belt)
2. Those which work by the car motion (when it slows suddenly or hits something).

Camaros have the 2nd kind. If you look inside of a Camaro restrainer , you will see a little pendulum which swings and locks the restrainer. If you take the retrainer out of the car, it will restrain if it is not level (the pendulum swinging), but will not if it is.

Here is an article about how restrainers work: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/seatbelt3.htm

Your seat belts are probably fine. Just park on a steep hill and test them, or take one of the rear ones out and tilt it a little. It will restrain, but wont if it is perfictly level. Looking inside the rear ones, you can see the little pendulum.

 

well me and my friend pulled a new set out a few months ago from a savlavge yd. and put them in the day, i knew about the pendulum but i tested it priar to posting my issue by driving then breaking hard, plus they didnt retract either but the set i pulled worked perfectly