[sco1035]

Hi guys, recently bought my first Camaro, a 69, and when it turned up it only had seat belts in the front. Quite possibly the cheapest ones you could find as well. So I bit the bullet and bought a brand new set of belts, front and back.
I bought GM OER replacements. The rear belts and the latch belt in the front are fine, but I'm not real happy with the retractable part of the front belts.
The belt roll basically pulls out of the plastic cover when they are put on and you need to push it back in to have it retract when you get out.
I had a 69 Chevelle which had retractable belts in the front also, which worked like a dream, but I suspect that they were the original belts from the factory.
My question is this- were the original Camaro belts also in a plastic case like the repros and were they also poor quality, or is this that the repros are poor quality, or, have I just got 2 dud retractable belts?

Thanks for any help on this long winded post!

[Vintage 68]

While they do tend to get weak as the years progress, the OEM retractor(s) should at least pull nearly the full length of the belt section back into holder fairly easily.
So - it sounds like you've received a less-than-acceptable "OER" quality of unit.
First, I would contact the vendor and advise them of problem and request a return authorization and/or replacement of the units with acceptable ones.
If that doesn't give you a quality result you may be left with trying to refurbish your (or replacement) original units with new belt webbing offered by several vendors.

There's loads of info in this link - http://www.camaros.org/seatbelt.shtml

[Fred Ficarra]

Can't imagine original GM belts not retracting as intended. Mine still retract like a slingshot. I try not to let it snap free because it's denting the door upholstery.

[Unreal]

I had to take my original GM ones apart and wind the spring one rev to get mine to fully retract.

[77thor]

Yeah, I had those lap belts on my Camaro and had the same issue.
I finally got rid of them and bought the Morris 3-point shoulder & lap belts.
The retractors are way better and the shoulder belts give more sense of security.

[Steptoe]

Like Fred, I still have my orginals front and back...extra set in the middle at the rear.
And the orginal shouder belts too
Never had an issue with retracting, and the car has knocked up near on 300, 000 miles mostly short 2 mile trips.
I did have an issue with crap in my drivers ...a clean out fixed.
And for a while , the way the passenger one was mounted, when pulled right out the sewn end would catch on the outter plastic cover...(which maybe the problem with the replacements??) a hair dryer and reshaped the plastic cover a couple mm fixed.