I'm restoring / super cleaning a set of deluxe belts for my Rallye. The ones I got were in great shape, but the interior of the buckles are completely corroded, and after cleaning the belts, the cinch bar will leave fresh rust stains on the black surface. So I disassembled everything and I have the interior pieces soaking in evaporust. The question regards coating them once the rust is removed. Originally the parts that touch the belt were cad plated. I don't need to drive across town and wait a week for a plater to restore these bits if there is another coating or paint I can use on them. Would Boeshield work? Regular spray paint? While the belts don't get used THAT often, they will rub directly across these parts when they are. Any thoughts or related experiences are appreciated!

 

You could wrap them with adhesive clear PTFE film.

 

Not a bad idea if I can ensure the tape would stay put. I'll look into it.

 

Surprisingly, ILT sells almost all the internal components of the seat belts. For $9 they have the pieces in question, so I ordered new. One thing I can’t find, however, is new push buttons for the deluxe belts. They make the shiny blue GM ones, but the deluxe belts have black. ILT shows a replacement button, but no GM logo. Anyone have a source for these? If not, I’ll get out the tiny paint brushes…

 

you might want to try Stewart at Python Restorations. They redo belts and May have or know of a source

 

Bob,

Ssnake-Oyl in Tyler TX did my belts and they replaced those pieces on two belts that had lain in water under the third seat.

Their work was perfect, the only niggle was the quality of the repro labels on the webbing.

Python will probably be less money, but if Stewart doesn't come through, call the nice Tyler folks at 903.526.4500.

Good luck.

Gary

 

Check out SafetyRestore up in Westfield MA. They also redo belts.
www.safetyrestore.com

 

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I've sent several emails off today to see if these are available. In the meantime, I've taken the current buttons I have and I'm experimenting with different paints and such to see if I can at least keep the ones I have as spares, if not use them if I need to. I got the internal parts cleaned and working perfectly, put the buffer wheel on the chrome, and cleaned the belts as good as I can. I'm short a couple belts, but I may be able to reuse one or more of the belts currently in the car once I get them out and take a good look at them. Always great to learn something new, and I've now learned how to disassemble and reassemble these belts!


EDIT: I did find a version of the larger button at OPGI, but it's not quite right.

 

I’ve sure learned a lot with everyone responding and PMs I’ve received. Even about the non-hardening putty that’s on the belt anchors. I finished the deluxe belts for the Rallye but never found a supplier of the correct black button inserts. The repros are indented on the top while Olds used a flat metal tab. Taking belts apart is easier than I thought, and cleaning and restoring isn’t too bad. Boeshield after Evaporust does a great job on the internal parts. I decided to clean up my old belts and will probably just sell what I don’t need. Here are a few pics of the progress:




Testors semi-gloss black matches the sheen of the original paint - a small sprayer would have helped here. I may invest a little bit in getting one for future projects




Simple cleaning with a scrub brush, soaking rusty parts, polishing the chrome - easy to take apart and reassemble - these are the pieces from my old belts





Deluxe belts look great against a black interior. I’m still waiting for a couple pieces to complete the front pairs

And finally I have a set of belts that match each other in length and appearance (and date).

 

Nice job. I was also surprised to when I recently took mine apart how simple they were. Now I know how they work so if an issue comes up in the future I’ll be able to handle it. I had so many needs including new webbing that I sent mine to Python to redo.

 

Just reassembled the old belts, and I’m super happy with the way they came out. I stripped the old paint layers off the covers, primed, and used SEM Landau Black as a finish. Then they just snap together!

 

Your thread has inspired me. My car has saddle interior and black belts. I have a complete set of saddle belts that I am going to pull out and get to work on. Thanks to all for the info.

 

Awesome! I'm not sure if anyone has put together a step by step on how to take apart and reassemble the belts. I have a couple extra I may do a thread on to make sure. They're really simple but there are a couple things to know when taking them apart and putting back together. Anyone can figure it out, but sometimes it's nice to just see it first.