Third Generation F-Body Message Boards - Classic Industries Reporduction Seat Belts

If you take a look at Classic Industries you will find that they offer reproduction seat belts for our cars. The interesting thing is that the reproduction belts ditch the OEM 83-92 dual belt retractors for a single retractor. This is one of the big advantages of going to 4th gen belts.

I had an interesting discussion with Ray from Classic Industries in this thread about the implications of going to a single retractor and what are the differences between the 3rd gen reproduction belts and the 4th gen belts.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...n-3rd-gen.html

Rather than continue the discussion buried in that thread, I figured this product deserved its own thread.

In that thread I decided that going with used 4th gen belts was the way to go for me since the Classic Industries reproduction belts do not have the lower door sill belt sleeve like the 4th gen belts have. This sleeve really finishes the look of the belts when used with '82 door sills.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...4737cbefa0.jpg

Well as always seems to happen, used parts never live up to expectations. So now I have purchased and received the 3rd gen reproduction belts from Classic Industries and wanted to provide more detail on the actual product than what is on the Classic Industries website. Some of my assumption in that other thread were incorrect.

Here is what you get with the kit.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...98b7cc6744.jpg

As you will note, these belts only have an upper, roof mounted retractor. The belts seem to be produced by Seatbelt Solutions and are made in the USA. Good stuff.

Some detailed pictures:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...1b7d24a3d9.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...32d3fb8120.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...01c7f00de3.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...c4f046005f.jpg

Now from discussions with Ray, I was concerned that this product would look out of place with the factory 83-92 sill plates which have the large cutout for the factory lower retractor. In reality, these reproduction belts are intended to be used with the factory 83-92 lower retractor plastic so the outward appearance is no different than OEM. The belts come with adapter brackets to mount to the lower retractor plastic to make it fit.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...0c7688e4cc.jpg

And the instructions explain exactly what need to be done.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...92bc38728f.jpg

In my case, I am not that interested in keeping an original look and think that the factory lower retractors are ugly. So I like the 4th gen solution as shown in the first picture. So in my case I was not interested in using the brackets shown above. So I decided to remove the lower door sill belt sleeve from my used 4th gen belts and use them with my new reproduction belts. See picture below.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...e139a2a6cc.jpg

In order to remove sleeve from the 4th gen belts, the thread on the right side of the sleeve needs to be cut and removed, then the sleeve slides right off the old belts. The sleeves then fit tightly on the new belts. You could choose to stitch the sleeves to the belt like the factory 4th gen belts, but I do not see the point.

I have not installed these belts yet, but will be sure to update this thread later when I do.

John