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Posted by: mike_the_man Jul 23 2004, 11:31 AM

After a few beers the other night, I decided to take apart my passenger side seat belt to see if I could make it pull out easier. After removing it from the fire wall and removing the one end cap to look at the mechanism, I decided it would be a good idea to remove the other end cap. In retrospect, maybe not such a good idea. After I pulled the plastic cover off, the spring shot out across the car. I've tried to put it back in, but it only seems to roll up about 2 inches of seat belt. Am I screwed? Does anybody know how it goes back together? Any suggestions? The moral of the story, after a few beers, if it seems like a good idea to take something apart, it probably isn't.

Posted by: porsche914blue Jul 23 2004, 12:45 PM

I did this sober so don't feel too bad. I'm surprised I didn't lose an eye or an ear or something when the spring exploded in my face. Took about 2 hours to put back together.

Sounds like you didn't wind up the spring before putting the seat belt back on the reel. Remove the seat belt itself from the reel, wind the spring up until it doesn't wind any more then put the belt back on. Easiest way to wind up the spring is to use two screw drivers through the slot in the reel. Use one screwdriver to turn the reel, then the other to hold it in place while you flip the screwdriver to the other side and do it again, until it doesn't turn any more.

Posted by: SirAndy Jul 23 2004, 01:35 PM

Posted by: mikester Jul 23 2004, 05:15 PM

Sproing!