C2 1967 seat belt removal and cleaning

[Jimmy B.]

Anyone know what size the allen head screw is that you take out to remove your outer seat belts and where can you obtain one of these (my set doesn't have 1 this big in it)?

Second question: Once the seatbelts are removed what would you clean them with? Would you submerge the buckle and all into a cleaning solution and let them soak? My seatbelts have not been used in a long time and they do not move freely through the buckle for adjustment, any ideas on this?

Thanks for your help.

[Jimmy B.]

Re: C2 1967 seat belt removal and cleaning

I guess technically you would call that an allen head bolt vs a screw. Anyway how do you get it out without using vice grips and destroying it?

[Stephen P.]

Re: C2 1967 seat belt removal and cleaning

Jimmy, you should be able to find the bolt in most of the Corvette catalogs. As far as removing the existing bolt, check the archives on bolt removal for the outer seat belt. The plate the bolt screws into is probably rusted and not readily accessible. Even after soaking with a penetrant fluid it may be difficult to get out without damaging the plate. Some people have ground the bolt head into a square in order to use a wrench. I don't think there is any easy way.

I don't know about the 67 buckles, but I was able to get my 65 buckles off the belts. I found a pretty dirty set of used belts and was able to clean them up by soaking in dishwashing liquid and scrubbing them. Just get the metal parts dried off quickly after removing from the water. There is information on the archives related to cleaning seat belts as well. Good Luck.

[Eugene B.]

Re: C2 1967 seat belt removal

Jimmy,
Assuming that the seat belt fastner is the same as my '65, the hex wrench size is 5/16 inch. I would not buy a regular L shaped wrench for this job because you probably will not have enough leverage to loosen the fastner.

I would go to Sears and buy a Craftsman 5/16" hex wrench that is designed to be used with a 3/8" square drive socket. This will give you a way to turn it with a breakover bar, etc. I suggest Sears because if you break the wrench, they will replace it for free.

Expect the bolt to be tight and use penetrant from the bottom side if you can. Sorry that I can't help with the cleaning question.

Good luck,
Gene

[Gary B.]

8mm works better than 5/16

Jimmy,

This is one case where a metric size can work better than the correct english size. When removing the seat belts from my 66, I found that an 8 mm allen tool attached to a 1/2" drive rachet worked better than the 5/16" allen size. The 8mm size is 2.5 thousands larger than 5/16 and it just fit the original allen head bolt much more snugly than the 5/16 did.

Gary

[Eugene B.]

Re: Thanks, Gary - Good Tip *NM*

[kenrobb]

Re: Thanks, Gary - Good Tip

You can actually take the buckle apart to get the webbing out. If you look at the side of the buckle, the pin that goes across has a wedge driven into it on the side. If you work at it, you can get the wedge out and then disassemble the buckle. Tha way you can paint the buckle top if you want. At least that is what I think I did to clean up my 65 belts/buckles.

[Jimmy B.]

Re: Thanks, Gary - Good Tip

Thanks everyone for your response. Now I just have to locate the correct part I need to remove that allen head bolt.