Seat belts - how to make retract in '80?

[Discseven]

To retract my seat belts they have to be hand-fed. Or, they can be left unspooled. Time to fix this but have never dealt with these before. Can they be accessed behind that panel and removed? Is there a spring that can be tensioned? What to do?? Car's an '80.
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[David Inc.]

They can be replaced. You have to pull the upholstery panel they feed through to access the bolts but it's not hard--just a few trim pieces to unscrew and remove.

[dannobee]

Try cleaning the webbing first. Years of dirt and sweat get in the webbing and cause them to stick. Pull the seat belt out as far as you can, hold it in place with a big paper clip, then pull it outside and close the door on it. Mild laundry detergent (or one of the specialized seat belt cleaners) and warm water. Rinse thoroughly and let air dry.

[Discseven]

Thank you David and Danno. Will have a go at cleaning to see what comes of that --- fine idea.
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[skinnerd]

If that doesn’t work, specialty seat belt companies like Seat Belt Planet can rebuild your retractors to like new condition.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by skinnerd

If that doesn’t work, specialty seat belt companies like Seat Belt Planet can rebuild your retractors to like new condition.

This!

They are located just a few miles from my house. I was replacing the carpet in my 86 El Camino, and rebuilding the seat belts was a "while I am in there" add on project.

They can replace the webbing and springs and they return full DOT approved seat belts. You can even get custom color webbing. If you want color matching to your interior, or special stitching they can do it. Even other custom things to the belts. They do the seat belts for Singer and other high end clients. Check out their web site.

They are a bunch of car guys and gals. Since my El Camino had no interior at the time, I drove them over in my 85 911. Several of them came out the get pictures of my car and asked questions about it.

It was obvious they do 99.8% of the business via mail order. They had to get a lady from the back to take my order. They had car photos on the wall in the front office.

Very nice folks. Oh, and they did my seat belts in 24 hours. I have no idea if that is normal of just because I was a walk in. They had to mark my order do not ship, customer will pickup.

[spuggy]

Hmm. If race belts age out at 5 years old, how long are you comfortable to keep using the factory belts for?

That was exactly the question I didn't really have a good answer for ten years ago and just kept kicking the can down the road while trying not to think about irt...

I looked for a spare set of belts to install while I got mine re-webbed. Most were either very expensive, or looked even older/more tired than my 250,000 mile originals...

Then I found this; a new Repa set listed specifically for the 911. Complete with retractors, bolts/washers/covers and receivers, ran me $198 on Flea Bay, plus $20 shipping. They're E-coded and I should have fitted them already, TBH...





They look like 3.2 receivers - but given how often passengers have to ask how to release the belt on the early style, that's probably a safety feature right there, lol.

[dannobee]

Race belts are replaced at 5 yr intervals in response to the death of drag racer Lee Shepard in 1985.

FWIW, race belts are technically not legal for use in street cars.

[TeeJayHoward]

I had a 1991 3000GT VR-4. Takata made the seatbelts for Mitsubishi back then. Woven into the belt underneath the plastic was a cloth/vinyl strip which stated that the seatbelts were only good for 10 years.

[Schulisco]

I bought new universal seat belts incl new locks from "Fasching Salzburg", no. 3002, with 30cm/1ft anchor wires, for roundabout 100 bucks for a set of two...they fit pretty well. Only the wire of the locks is round instead of flat as the original ones. No problem for me, just a minor design issue. Safety first.
The safety belt warning light still works as this is a timed warning light. Even without the switch from passenger seat.

Thomas

[ahh911]

Seatbelt Planet was excellent. I kept the female receptacle (buckle?) attached to the floor and asked them to re-use the male (latch) replacing only the webb and mechanism.

Extra work was to drill a hole in the side pillar, but really easy to do.

Phil

[booyah911]

I've had to address this on a few cars. Clean the belt with all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber towel. After clean, spray the entire length of belt with silicone spray on both sides. Wind it back up, then wind it out and wipe clean. Should spring right back onto the spool. It's magic.

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by booyah911

I've had to address this on a few cars. Clean the belt with all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber towel. After clean, spray the entire length of belt with silicone spray on both sides. Wind it back up, then wind it out and wipe clean. Should spring right back onto the spool. It's magic.

Having a go at that Booyah.

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by booyah911

I've had to address this on a few cars. Clean the belt with all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber towel. After clean, spray the entire length of belt with silicone spray on both sides. Wind it back up, then wind it out and wipe clean. Should spring right back onto the spool. It's magic.

Magic indeed. Works well. Thank you Booyah.



Silicone applied.




Had a look inside case. Didn't go further thinking I might be winding that coil back in place. Looking at pic now I missed the thought of spraying some wd40 in there.
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