Anyone know if you can take the top off a regular seat belt buckle and put on the stainless deluxe kind. Are the buckle parts the same and just the covers are different or is the whole buckle different?

 

I am pretty sure the guts on those are the same. Just different covers. Deluxe are the brushed metal covers. Some deluxe sets have smaller sized buckles for the front passenger lap belts and use the larger buckle for the shoulder belt and back seat occupants.

 

Really, smaller buckles for the front lap belts? Mine are all the same size.

 

I have only seen them on a few cars with Bucket seats. not sure what determined the smaller buckles. In the documentation I have for ordering it only shows deluxe it does not distinguish between small buckles and large buckles

 

I just changed out my original buckles and put them on some seat belts I bought from a fellow Olds guy on this forum. Nothing to it. If you need I'll post pictures of the process.

 

Did you change the whole buckle or just the cover?

 

Just the cover and the top part of the pressure plate. Very easy to do with a medium size screwdriver.

 

My camera battery died. I can get you pictures tonght. But if you want to work on it now you can take a medium flat tip screw driver and insert it between the base and the top in the rear (opposite the insertion side) and pop the corners. It will snap back together during reassembly.

 

Pictures of the seat belts. As you can see, a screw driver and a little pressure and the top pops right off. The interior mechanisms are a little more complex, but if I can do it you can too. Besides, you don't need to take them completely apart to change out the base/deluxe covers.

 

Thanks, I will give it a try.

 

I changed my covers over to the deluxe ones. I have the 2 smaller female buckles for the bucket seats. They also use a different narrow male end retractor which I have. My standard retractor covers don't fit. On a 70 do the covers that belong on the deluxe belts have the small doors on the back of the covers?

 

Mine did not have the door, I have seen those before but I can not remember what application those are from. Not sure why your covers do not fit. Mine fit fine. Hmm......

 

How did you get the covers off the larger male end retractor? I couldn't slip the covers off past the male buckle.