Another way to "repair" the seatbelt guide

[sdmike1]

I can't believe this actually seems to be working, but so far so good. I was intrigued by the fact that glue sort of held, but there needed to be some reinforcement. I saw another post where someone had fashioned some strap device, so I thought I would go down that path. Here are my results.

First, I started with these velstraps from Velcro. They are nice and wide, which is what's needed for the application. They're also 3 feet long with a guide loop on the end for lashing down stuff, so scissors were going to be a must. Here's the box... under $5 from Home Depot.



You can see from this picture that the hooks and loops are on the same side, which is fine if you're running through a loop and lashing something down, but for this application we needed to make a small sleeve. The hooks and loops had to be facing opposite directions.



The answer? Cutting the strap so I could reverse the hooks



Here are the two pieces at this point


Now, just flip over the hooks and place them on the loops like so. Tada! Now they are facing opposite directions like we want.



Now you can fold it over into a small strap like we need for the guide.

[MCoupeVet]

interesting - thanks

[sdmike1]

Ok, now let's go out to the car. I have fixed the break with Crazy Glue and let it set. My break is all the way through, right where the lower extension make the turn into the base of the guide...right there at the fat part. Both the top 3/4 and the bottom 1/4 are still attached to the backing plate, and both sill spin. I need to attach them and keep them in place. Here it is after being glued and after slipping the seat belt into place.



Now for some fun. The key is keeping the upper and lower pieces together, so we're going with a strap across the gap. Here's the new velcro strap slid into place. Notice why we did the cut-and-switch. Now the loops are facing out, and you can see that the hooks will marry up with them nicely.



Little further along, pressing the loop piece flat into place, and wrapping the hood part around the front



And here we go. It seems to want to stay in place, plus it's black and looks like seatbelt material, so it doesn't stand out. I will keep you posted on how it performs.

[Jeremy]

Nice job. Hopefully that'll keep 'em together now...

[tincan96]

Thanx for shariong that tip / fix

[GB5416]

I think something like that's been done but yours looks good because the fabric is a close match to the belt material. A lot of people won't even notice it.

[Markl006]

yeah, nice match!

[Edmel89]

Holy blue seats batman!


It looks good


I'm gonna try this, my damn driver side belt guide is the same..

[TexaZ3]

Somebody suggested large diameter shrink wrap to use along the same lines. You'll need to cut it and re-shrink new piece every time you need to get the belt out, but I'd imagine it looks cleaner.

[hankster1988]

Put this into practice today. Looks clean enough for me. Great idea! Thanks for posting!

The Hankster

[luciano136]

Yep, a very similar fix exists like that. I would still like to see it wrapped in matching leather; I think that would look nice.

[sdmike1]

Put this into practice today. Looks clean enough for me. Great idea! Thanks for posting!

The Hankster

You're welcome. It's good enough for me too.

Somebody suggested large diameter shrink wrap to use along the same lines. You'll need to cut it and re-shrink new piece every time you need to get the belt out, but I'd imagine it looks cleaner.

That's plan "b" if this doesn't hold. A big piece of heat shrink tubing.

[sumguy]

heat shrink fix with pic

[sdmike1]

heat shrink fix with pic

Looks great. How well does the belt slide? Any leftover tubing?

[sumguy]

doesn't interfere with the belt operation at all. i got it at an electrical supply store, 1 inch tubing @ $1 a foot. cheaper to buy than mail, just keeping the excess for when I pull the seat.