72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

After getting the console finished, I cleaned up the factory 8-track player. I disassembled the front of the deck and soaked the brackets and the 8-track door in the www.safestrustremover.com stuff. As usual, it came out amazing considering what they looked like to begin with. I also repainted the upper mounting face plate and reinstalled the entire unit in the console. The 2 pound console now weighs about 12 pounds with that giant stereo unit bolted in.

[njsteve]

And looky what I just found to put into that tape player:

[njsteve]

I took on the seatbelt project over the weekend. This car has the deluxe seatbelts with the satin chrome covers on it. Since it is an early (12A built) 1972, it has the 1971 style shoulder belts that have the bizarre little plastic retainer that screws into the headliner. They employed a 7" section of black elastic that, over the years stretches out to 20" and no longer holds the shoulder belts above your head. Only recently have the unique plastic retainers been reproduced. (Though some guy on ebay has been selling them as "NOS" for $90 for 2 years now )

I spent a day cleaning the belts after removing the covers and push buttons. I soaked the whole set in a solution of 10% Purple Stuff and 90% hot water. I let them soak for about a half hour and then gently scrubbed with a plastic bristle brush and rinsed them in hot water. I then hung them out to dry in the 95 degree sun. They came out squeeky clean and even the labels looked a whole lot better (I was extra careful using the brush on those).

Here's the unique seatbelt drying rack I have patented:



And here is the full set after drying. As you can see the shoulder harnesses have a whole bunch of stretched out elastic that needs to be replaced:



Here's the labels:

[njsteve]

Here is the strange shoulder harness mounting system used on the 71's and early 72's:




The male buckle end clips onto an extremely fragile, clear plastic, do-hicky. This one actually survived 35 years in one piece. Normally you only find the screw left and no plastic do-hicky. This piece is now reproduced for about $32 a pair.





Here is the extremely stretched out elastic that once was 7" in length and is now 20" with a shortening knot halfway through it:

[njsteve]

All of the release buttons were missing their paint from years of pressing. There were relatively easy to redo. I just sprayed the entire button with flat black paint, let it dry and then flipped them over and gently sanded them on 600 grit sand paper. It took the paint right off the high spots on the logo and looked brand new.

[njsteve]

I then tackled the elastic issue. I went to my local Michaels Craft Store and bought a 48" package of 1/2" elastic from the sewing aisle. It only comes in white, so I had to also buy a small bottle of black fabric paint. Cost: about $7 total. I then soaked the whole strip of elastic in the fabric paint and let it dry on the rack outside in the sun.

Here is the shoulder belt in it's original state. As you can see the 7" long section of 1/2" elastic stretched out to 20" of 1/4" elastic over 35 years:



I gently trimmed the factory stitching from the elastic and removed it after marking the area with some chalk. (There is a left and right belt and the elastics go on opposite sides). I then cut a section slightly longer than the original distance between the two mounting points, folded the ends and hand sewed them onto the belts. Here is the finished product:





The whole set is now all finished and ready to go. Though I could use a couple nicer satin finish covers in case anyone has an extra few just lieing around the garage somewhere taking up space.

[BARN FIND]

These are the same kind of belts that I had in my 72 SS when I bought it. I took them out and put in belts from a 73 because they were easier to use. The originals have followed me everywhere I have lived the last 20 years. Now I am kinda glad I kept them. After seeing what you did with yours I may just have to to put them back in one of these days!

[BARN FIND]

After looking at your console I have a question. The 72 Camaros had a place in the console to put the 2 buckles for each seat, did the Firebird have anything like that?

RAY

[SS427]

As usual, very nice work Steve. I think I may be sending you a box of seat belts to do.......

[mockingbird812]

I'm gonna have to cry foul here. Have you guys noticed that when you check "who's on line" that every other anonymous viewer is checking out "RE: 72 T/A progress". I think this MacGyver fellow is paying friends and associates to check out his thread in order to secure the highest visit count ever for an sYc thread .

Come clean MacGyver! You'll sleep better.


Oh and by the way, thanks for the awesome tutorial on restoring a muscle car with just a swiss army knife, a ball of string, and some chewing gum (and that de-rusting stuff) !!!!!!