[V8] Seat Belt Woes

[urq]

... when I was adding the wiring for the 10 disc changer on one of my cars I
had the interior pretty much ripped out so I tried to see if I couldn't
increase the tension on the retractor to get it to pull the belt fully
taught when it was stowed.  The first retractor I removed was the driver's
side, and I found it was a fairly simple matter to completely disassemble
the thing, increase the tension and reassemble.  Of course there's a very
thin line between keeping the retraction spring engaged to the belt reel
while increasing the tension, but that was the biggest problem.  I'm
probably mistaken, but ISTR that I could even disengage the ProconTen cable.
When I went to do the same thing on the other side I found the retractor to
be designed differently and sufficiently more difficult to disassemble that
I decided to just put it back together as is.  AFAIK my car has the original
belts, so there must be a difference between the two parts.  

Anyway, the point was that It was a pretty simple matter to unbolt the
retractor from the B pillar, and then adjust it so that the latch is
disengaged.  While writing this note I realized that it is probably a much
simpler matter to find the *other* end of the strap and unscrew it (DUH!).
This should allow you the slack you need to release the latch and get it
working again ... then you can reattach the end of the strap after you have
repositioned the adjustable mount.  

It does sound like the latch mechanism is worn out and it may be time to
look into replacing the retractor.  The car has a driver's airbag anyway,
not so big a loss for the seatbelt tensioning of the ProconTen.  

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----


My '90 is giving me seat belt nightmares. It has done a lot of sitting in
the past couple of years (wife in a wheelchair is the primary cause of
that-the V8 is not a wheelchair friendly car unless you have a fold up
wheelchair.. I digress) - Anyways the driver's seat belt has been geeing
stuck so I can't pull it out. I have to lower the shoulder anchor point,
which allows it to retract an inch, then I can pull it back out. I had a
friend doing detail work on the car for me and he neglected to put the
shoulder point back up, so now there's no more down to relieve the belt and
we CANNOT get it out. Even removing the panel and fiddling with the catches
on the retractor will not allow it to come out.