How to Restore a 71-73 Lap belt/shoulder harness connector?

[Henrius]

On my 1972 Newport, as well as I think the years before and after, the shoulder belt was detachable from the lap belt. The shoulder belt buckle was held in place on the lap belt male by a peg with a white nylon insert.

(The same system was used on my 1973 Pinto, and perhaps other makes of cars.)

When the white nylon breaks out, the lap belts detach too easily when driving. All the cars I have seen in the junkyard have the same problem.

I cannot find any reproduction of these male belt parts with inserts. Neither can I punch the peg out, even if I could find the white nylon insert. Seatbelt Solutions cannot help with this either. I wanted to preserve the detachability of the shoulder harness.

How have other car owners of these years dealt with this problem?

 

[LeBaron1973]

A quick google search revealed:

Andover restraints www.andoauto.com.

Beams seatbelts seatbelts.net

Julianos (hot rod place but may be able to assist)Julianos.com

One of these places should be able to assist or else update to a modern retractable belt in your original colour- no car show judge will fault you for updating safety.

Hope you find something.

 

[Henrius]

Thanks for the leads. So far it does not appear that anyone manufactures a replica of the original. I really wanted a detachable shoulder harness like the original. Perhaps liability issues prevent reproduction of a part which is inherently less safe than modern systems.

 

[1970cat]

some gm cars had solid metal buttons. my 73 pontiac does.

 

[jet1969]

Hi Henrius

A message from Amsterdam. I have a Chrysler imperial 2 door 1971. I am also looking for original green seatbelt buckles. The plastic has become brittle and 3 buckles don’t even have the plastic cover at all. They are very nice green with a white line.

I am wondering, did you succeed in finding replacement buckles as nice as the original ones? Everything to do with interieur plastic ( in my case green) is hard to find. I thought of 3D printing . Printing is not the problem but making the drawing is very hard to do….

Do you have any leads for a replacement?

 

[Big_John]

Do you have any leads for a replacement?

Try here: All Mopar Seat Belts - Bill and Robin Edwards - Upholstery Mods and More

Those may be hard to come by and expensive as the deluxe belts (what you have) were also optional on E-Bodies.

 

[Henrius]

Sorry I missed your post, Jet. I am in more trouble than ever. The guy I sent my belts to for overhaul has disappeared. Now I am minus the belts.

Someone on the Pinto forum was soliciting intact plastic pieces to scan to reproduce via 3D printing. I can understand how this could be done on smaller pieces. But finding the plastic that bends like the original? Or big pieces? How could that be done.

 

[jet1969]

Sorry I missed your post, Jet. I am in more trouble than ever. The guy I sent my belts to for overhaul has disappeared. Now I am minus the belts.

Someone on the Pinto forum was soliciting intact plastic pieces to scan to reproduce via 3D printing. I can understand how this could be done on smaller pieces. But finding the plastic that bends like the original? Or big pieces? How could that be done.

 

[jet1969]

Sorry to hear your belts have disappeared. Would like to help but I think parts over here are more hard to find than in the US.

About 3D printing. I think it is actually an option if you have the 3D image. Printing can be done in PP, PE, ABS, Nylon and more mixtures of plastics. What I have seen not all colors can be made at specification but you never know.

What my experience till now is, The difficulty and the cost is making the 3D image. I haven’t seen complex ( curved objects with cavities, square holes, oval shaped, reliefs skin etc etc) 3Dscanned images done by 3D lasers scanners which are exact and accurate for a fair price. So you have to print them and adjust them a lot of times so even the simple models ( what I have seen)have to be modeled on the computer by hand and it takes many hours to make them. So it is not cost efficient but when you have the drawings you can make endless copies …. But who needs zillion seatbuckle covers. For very simple objects it is an option cause it doesn’t take much work to make an image. By hand or 3D laser scanners.

For example the cams for the headlight motor cost 50 dollars plus shipment. I was trying to find someone to make a 3D drawing of the cam and let it print in Nylon or other strong plastic. Well it was not cost effective to do so ( till now) . Even if you succeed in having the 3 D drawing it is quite expensive ( until now) to have it printed, maybe for us in Europe it is an option cause the cam will eventually cost 100 dollar when we have to buy and import it from US

Hope someone knows the most recent 3D scanning techniques and costs for parts?

 

[Big_John]

or example the cams for the headlight motor cost 50 dollars plus shipment. I was trying to find someone to make a 3D drawing of the cam and let it print in Nylon or other strong plastic.

@Xavi3r

3D and reproduction thread

 

[jet1969]

@Xavi3r

3D and reproduction thread

 

[jet1969]

Fantastic!!! I was 9 years behind

 

[Xavi3r]

Hi if you want the drawing for the cam i have to find my former laptop. In fact i started the topic during covid during confinment but i kind of forget it after.
I want to do it again but i have very few free time.

 

[jet1969]

Try here: All Mopar Seat Belts - Bill and Robin Edwards - Upholstery Mods and More

Those may be hard to come by and expensive as the deluxe belts (what you have) were also optional on E-Bodies.

Hi Big John

I had contact with Bill and Robin Edwards about seatbelt covers for E type. He had them but after a few emails the conversation stopped. The webside is off line as well. He wrote he had some serious health issues but dont know what happened. You have more information to contact them?

 

[Big_John]

Hi Big John

I had contact with Bill and Robin Edwards about seatbelt covers for E type. He had them but after a few emails the conversation stopped. The webside is off line as well. He wrote he had some serious health issues but dont know what happened. You have more information to contact them?

@dart4forte was working with them. He may know what's up.

 

[jet1969]

@dart4forte was working with them. He may know what's up.

Wanted to ask him but his inbox in private conversations has reached the limit of messages…

 

[Big_John]

Wanted to ask him but his inbox in private conversations has reached the limit of messages…

When you send a message, he should be getting a message that his in-box is full, so don't give up... He just posted an "I'm back" thread the other day... Ask him there.

 

[jet1969]

Still no sign of Bill and Robin Edwards about seatbelt buckle covers for a E type. Maybe you can help me out? Also no reply from dart4forte so far. Maybe another suggestion for a source where to get the searbelt buckle covers?

 

[Big_John]

Still no sign of Bill and Robin Edwards about seatbelt buckle covers for a E type. Maybe you can help me out? Also no reply from dart4forte so far. Maybe another suggestion for a source where to get the searbelt buckle covers?

From what I gather, they have retired and closed the business.

 

[jet1969]

What a pity. Hope somebody will continue the business or will buy the stock.
Any other source of seatbeltbuckle covers?