Tweet
After some guess work and expirementation, I have come up with a cheap solution to get Dark gray manual seat belts into your Festiva! This is really helpful for those of us that A) Couldn't find any 88/9 Manual Belt Festivas in our Junkyards and B) Don't like the factory light grey color.
Here is the color difference, for comparison:
Now. here is where you can get these Belts from: First Gen (1988-1998) Chevy/Geo Trackers!
Yup, these little guys can be found in junkyards all across the US, typically much more commonly than a Festiva.
SO, what you will want to do is rip out the interior plastic of one of these Trackers to expose the Seat belts and the mounting hardware. There should be 3 main mounting locations:
The bottom, where the belt winder is. There is a Bolt on the bottom and a phillips screw on the top of the mechanism.
The very top, where the belt is bolted where your shoulder would be.
The very bottom, at the door sill, there is a bolt behind a rubber boot.
Take all of this out on both sides and bring it home.
In your Festiva, you are going to want to again remove the plastics and A-B pillar trim to remove your Auto-belts. I can add a guide for this if needed, but it is mostly self explanatory.
On your new belts, cut off the little belt guide, you wont need it.
Then, start by bolting in the bottom of the mechanism to the Festiva. The bolts it came with will already be the proper size and pitch to fit your Festiva. You will notice the little tab for the Philips screw isn't long enough. Instead, use a ziptie to hold it to the Festiva. This is not a safety concern, as the main force of the belt is supported by the big bolt on the bottom. The ziptie just keeps it from moving around.
Next, bolt in your top bolt and bottom bolt into the holes already in your Festiva, as shown.
On my set, I had to flip the buckle for it to be in the proper orientation for the Festiva. I just folded the belt and pulled it through.
The buckle plugs directly into the stock Festiva receiver.
And that's it, you know have a dark gray, easy-to-find manual belt!
I will update this thread with how to trim your Plastic Pillars to be pretty, but these are the basics.
Here is the color difference, for comparison:
Now. here is where you can get these Belts from: First Gen (1988-1998) Chevy/Geo Trackers!
Yup, these little guys can be found in junkyards all across the US, typically much more commonly than a Festiva.
SO, what you will want to do is rip out the interior plastic of one of these Trackers to expose the Seat belts and the mounting hardware. There should be 3 main mounting locations:
The bottom, where the belt winder is. There is a Bolt on the bottom and a phillips screw on the top of the mechanism.
The very top, where the belt is bolted where your shoulder would be.
The very bottom, at the door sill, there is a bolt behind a rubber boot.
Take all of this out on both sides and bring it home.
In your Festiva, you are going to want to again remove the plastics and A-B pillar trim to remove your Auto-belts. I can add a guide for this if needed, but it is mostly self explanatory.
On your new belts, cut off the little belt guide, you wont need it.
Then, start by bolting in the bottom of the mechanism to the Festiva. The bolts it came with will already be the proper size and pitch to fit your Festiva. You will notice the little tab for the Philips screw isn't long enough. Instead, use a ziptie to hold it to the Festiva. This is not a safety concern, as the main force of the belt is supported by the big bolt on the bottom. The ziptie just keeps it from moving around.
Next, bolt in your top bolt and bottom bolt into the holes already in your Festiva, as shown.
On my set, I had to flip the buckle for it to be in the proper orientation for the Festiva. I just folded the belt and pulled it through.
The buckle plugs directly into the stock Festiva receiver.
And that's it, you know have a dark gray, easy-to-find manual belt!
I will update this thread with how to trim your Plastic Pillars to be pretty, but these are the basics.
Comment