seat belt very hard to pull out (But not bob weight lock up)

[caproader]

Guys,

The inertial reel seat belts on my 73s take immense effort to unwind. Not talking about bob weight lock up here. Talking about how it feels as if I am in a tug of war with someone. I took the belt/reel out of the car for bench testing and found that maybe 5% of the time the belt comes out smoothly (as designed) but most of the time it takes much effort to make it come out very sloooooowly. I am concerned about taking the side covers off for inspection for fear of launching various parts into the next county.

Porsche says that the part number is NLA. Is there a place to get these rebuilt? Probably wouldn't hurt to replace the old webbing.

Thanks for any help

Caproader
73 S with Sporto
69 912

[stretch]

I wouldn't attempt to remove the spring loaded cover. I have attempted to repair several sets of these but the internal coil springs have been in service for over 40 years. I have improved them, but they are better off in the trash. I would replace with new inertia reels. I regularly make and sell sets on this board. There are various options open to you. If you wish to attempt a repair, i can supply the correct webbing.

Here : http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...hlight=webbing

Dave

[caproader]

Dave,

Not sure that I understand your post. Do supply just the webbing material and then I need to attach it to my existing inertial reel? Or do you supply the entire inertial reel assembly, ready for bolt in to the car? If you can supply the assembled unit, I am ready to buy. If so, how do I order? Thanks

John

[stretch]

John,

i offer both options. Unfortunately it is difficult to re-chrome the male tongue on the 72-73 belts as the stripping process melts the plastic. I only make these if i have good condition chrome tongues, which is very seldom. This is the only set i have at the moment. If you have a nice set of chrome male tongues i can make you a set with the US Black webbing as pictured earlier.

Dave

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...epa#post998653

[caproader]

Guys,

Turns out that the solution was a spray of silicon lubricant. I extended the belt to the maximum, shot a bit silicon spray onto both sides of the axle shaft to free up 46 years of congealed grease and things are now back to as new. I suspect replacing the belt webbing might be a good idea, but with only 62k miles, this 73 S with Sporto is more of a show car than a daily driver and certainly not a track car. So originality figures high in the equation

John, aka Caproader

[Florio]

Hi, I successfully used technique posted elsewhere: place in a bucket with warm, soapy water. Patiently work the reel back and forth. At a certain point, the grime gives up and the reel works smoothly! Work it a bit more, then pull the belt all the way out and let it hang to dry. I did both my belts and they are working again.

good luck,

[caproader]

Florio,

Thanks for the idea. I have a couple surplus belts taken from a couple parts cars. Will experiment on them.

John

[62S-R-S]

Hi, I successfully used technique posted elsewhere: place in a bucket with warm, soapy water. Patiently work the reel back and forth. At a certain point, the grime gives up and the reel works smoothly! Work it a bit more, then pull the belt all the way out and let it hang to dry.

One downside to H2 is if ferrous metal is in there, you risk some corrosion. Mineral spirits, with some sloshing around should loosen stuff also.

[Florio]

Not to mention that hydrogen is explosive! It's a good point, though, and I would take care to dry things well right after the cleaning in case the zinc plating is not what it used to be, not leaving the wet belts rolled up inside. Solvents have their drawbacks as well, they tend to leach out the plasticizers and make plastics more brittle-not what you want for your seat belts. Cleaning is always good, so I'm sure any way is better than no way.