Well, my expeirnce(s) with auto atlanta's customer service continue to be painful. No one there seems to know what they are doing. I know they are celebaring 25 years of excellence - I'm sorry I msssed them all.

The 'Set' of seat belts is really just two passenger sides - and now they tell me that there are no more new driver side retractable seat belts.

They do tell me it is possible to mount a passenger side bele on the drivers side, and after looking things over I think that I can with a simple modifcation. The chrome 'loop' has a bracket that is hidden by a cover - and this is the only visible part of the seat belt that I may need to swap. I can pry it off and reverse it (I will practive the procedure and a 914 seat belt I already have).

Has anyone tried putting a passenger belt on the drivers side? Do I just worry to much?

Marc...

Before you start, make sure the reel will fit in the drivers side. THe fatter sides (springs) point toward the middle of the car. Clearance IS tight and it may not fit.

Establish the direction that the belt unwinds, you will need to know this if you manage to unwind the reel. Pull the belt all the way out to the very end, you will see that it is attached to the retractor by a loop in the belt pushed through a slot and retained by a pin. If you CAREFULLY secure the retractor with a small screwdriver and remove the belt, You can reverse the belt. I am hazy on the details as I did this about 8 years ago. Be very careful and you can do it. I don't remember how much disassembly on the retractor is required, but it can be taken apart and put together again safely. If the spring unwinds because you failled with step one, it can be rewound by turning the the shaft in the correct direction and using screwdrivers. If you need to remove the side covers, RELEASE the spring tension or the spring will leap out at you and KILL YOU. Seriously the spring can do serious harm to you, wear eye and face protection.

If you practice on a old one you will see how it all goes together. A true CW will make sure the "chrome loop" matches the car year, use the old one if necessary (after polishing it !). Also, make sure the belt goes through the tang correctly, shoulder belt "over", lap belt "under".

Eight years ago AA did not have same year sets (they did still have L/R's) so I am not surprised they shipped what they did. However they should have told you up front. They didn't tell me either, so I went through the "Monkey Drill" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) to get the loops right.

HTH

i got my new sets from P.E.P. parts. ill have to look it up. work great!

I had issue with AA on this as well. I ordered a "set" of belts for my 72. Before they shipped the belts, they said that I should specify the year of car. Of course I assumed this meant they would send a set that was for a 72. The pair I got was a 73 and 74. Problem was the later model belt did not fit. Unfortunately, I did not figure this out until the backpad was off and the old belt was out. The mounting holes on the 74 style belt were smaller, and I had to spend an eternity drilling them to a larger size to fit. Plus, the 74 had a chrome guide piece where the 73 had a rubber coated black piece. So--they don't match!

I just didn't feel like the hassle of dealing with AA on it, so I just went with what I got. They work great, but a close eye will catch that they don't match each other.

I try to stay away from AA now. They just seem to have a sloppy operation. I am sure they know it, but they don't care. At least this site has made me aware of other options on buying parts!

Thanks for all the info.

The guide piece is black on my vehicle, but crome on the replacments. So the 'unwinding' the belt and swapping parts makes good sense to get the look correct.

I believe that the sales person at AA lied to me, and when I asked this same question on on AA's Dr. 914 tech site, his response was:

"the belts are left and right the 181 the drivers side and th 182 the pass side. both are available and sold as a set. Please call the sales desk and get this corrected."

So - either they are no longer and stock and he does not realize this - or the salesman lied. I've called twice to get this corrected - and even when they promise they will, then nothing happens. How do they stay in business?

Marc...

They apparently don't know shit. This is in reponse to asking a question about a "set" they currently have on the bay...

Me: Is this a true set, i.e. driver and passenger side, or two passenger
belts?

Parker: Two passenger belts. There are no more NOS driver's belts in existence.
Will work on both sides however.

Gotta love these guys. NOT! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif)

www.peparts.com don't deal with Lucas the owner....he's an asshole extreme. Anybody else that answers the phone is OK.....

Send the AA ones back....hope you used a credit card. I wouldn't buy oxygen on the moon from those dickwads.

John, All,

I unwound the belt from a used passenger unit following your instructions (I seen to have a gult of them at the moment). It turns out that the slot thru the center of the shaft on the seatbelt recoilier (hows that for a name?) is 'V' shaped, and there is a loop of the end of the seatbelt with a metal pin in it. If you push to loop out with a flat screwdriver, then slide the pin out the whole belt comes off easy.

I left the screwdriver in the unit with a piece of duct tape to hold it in place (duct tape - the handyman's secret weapon). Now that I have tried it with the used one, it will be easy enough to swap out the retainers and reverse the loop on the new one.

Another 914 club member got this same 'set' from AA a few weeks before me - and he informs me that the passenger side does indeed fit just fine into the drivers side mount.

So - for anyone else in this situation - I would get them from P.E.P. first - but if you have parts you can swap the belts around make an exact match for the concourse participants in our ranks.

Thanks again for everyones advice!

Marc...

it was me! hey marc, hope i was of some help to you. i personally have had no bad experiences with aa yet, the belts i won on ebay are indeed two nos passenger belts. both installed fine on my car. your mileage may differ though.

too bad aa didn't state in the auction that they were two passenger belt sets. that's a little dishonest imho. but as i'm hearing time and again on this bbs, that's not unusual for them.

anyone have a link or phone # for p.e.p. parts?

I cut my old belts, shipped them my old hardware and received back great belts that work wonderful...No hassle, no pain, took one week...I recommend them...

Alot easier than dancing with that loose spring, trying to re-wind, re-load, re-tension...Aghhhh...forget it just order from: www.peparts.com

2-OH!

2-OH who did you send them to?

Sean:

Don't remember the guys name but he was a young sounding type...I just called them on the phone, he told me my options. I send the hardware, he calls me three days later and says it's ready to ship and the price is...Give him your credit card # and the new reel shows up four days later...

I cut the old belt to get the hardware off so they could re-use. That way it matches the old style with the turning D-ring on the side post, the t-buckle for the latch and the attachment fiting at the bottom. Also I included the Chrome guide bracket that mounts on behind the assembly as you bolt it to the firewall. I did not have to change the receiver mounted to the center tunnel.

The reel and webbing is all that is new and it does look a little different than the old original style but mounts either side and is covered by the backboard anyway. That way the concours folks will have to remove the backboard to tell if it's original or not, for those who are worried about that sort of thing.

$139.00 each plus shipping

A little steep maybe, but I farted around with the dead spring for two days trying to get more tension...to no avail...

2-OH!

i had no problems w/ PEP parts. quick turnaround.

I found a set of belts in a 79 or 80 Mercedes. Not sure what model but it was a big car. The rears were in perfect shape. They are REPAS and fit perfectly. $10.00 at the bone yard.