I think the 90-93 seatbelt mechanism uses a slightly different mounting design inside the interior panel. It has an extra antirotation tab or something. The main plus is that it keeps slight tension on the belt, all the time. With the earlier belts, every time you lean forward in the car and then back, the belt is left loose hanging in front of you. I find this incredibly annoying. The 90-93 belts so not have this problem.
I also think that the 90-93 belt doesn't have the black plastic button for the door to push closed when the door is closed. When the door opens, this button is released, causing the belt to tighten up some. Since the 90-93 belts stay tensioned all the time, they didn't need this button. My memory of all of this is very hazy. I did switch my first 1987 LX to the 90-93 seatbelts and loved it.