Hello out there.....I had out of town guests today who used Lyft to get around and we wanted to go to another place.....all three of us piled in to my 914 and it was a blast!! Lots of fun but not so much room. Is there a third passenger seat belt option available? It makes sense to be able to have two passengers if necessary. I have a '73 with center console removed and nice center cushion in place. Also, who is the tranny expert on the board? Dr. Evil maybe? My question for him is when I hit reverse by accident just how bad am I hurting my tranny? What goes on in there? Thank you very much.
gg

There is a stock 3rd passenger seat belt for the center "seat". I had one for a bit but sold it because without a shoulder harness, it would have been very dangerous for one of my children to ride in the center. A short stop would have them eating the gearshift lever. No thanks.

Porsche did have a center seatbelt available as has been said, and I would certainly feel good with Dr. Evil for trans questions.

It depends where the tranny was when you hit reverse. Was he behind you?
Who was in the middle at that time?
Dr Evil should know a lot about trannies and how much it hurts when you go backwards.

There is a sticker on the expansion tank in the front trunk, it indicates the seating arrangement.
My ‘72 has 2 passenger, but my ‘70 has 2 + 1 and had the center seatbelt.

Don't be in such a hurry if you hit R going to second. With a good shift lever, detent plate and clean springs the linkage should jump out of 1st when you are at the neutral plane of the shift pattern.

As stated - there was a factory center lapbelt, & you could probably put in an aftermarket lapbelt in there too.

Probably better to put an adult there in the middle, & 3 across isn't too tight,as they were marketed as a 2+1 with the center belt option. Your 4 across is pick-em-up truck action! LOL

.... unless they were 2-3 with a nice looking gal in the middle next to you, to share shifting duties with you, & serve as an armrest!
Click to view attachment

Hitting Reverse by mistake - well not so bad if you're stopped - but never good in motion!
... think meat grinder on metal gears!

Get your shifter adjusted & make sure that the "Reverse Lock" is intact & working properly. That reverse lock should require enough pressure that you'd have really push extra hard to get it into R instead of 2nd!

These 901 transmissions with the dog-leg 1st were specifically designed by Porsche for their race cars, because they only used 1st to leave the pits, & that pattern left the 4 most used 2nd - 4th gears in the traditional "H" pattern for easiest access to those 4 gears in a race.

If you're hitting R instead of 2nd or 3rd, then either your reverse lock is shot/missing/mis-adjusted, or else you're really forcing it, instead of letting the shift find the gates in a more normal way.

A shifting mental trick which an old school SCCA 914 racer told me about back in the 70's, is to push 1st to 2nd toward the center-to-right side of heater sliders, & 3rd to 4th towards the left radio knob (or the spot where the cut-out is if no radio).

Take some time to practice up on the shifting action, if the reverse lock & shifter/bushings/etc. are properly operating/adjusted & you're still having issues.

Cheers!
Tom
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I'm pretty sure the 3rd seatbelt setup was officially only an option on earlier cars ...

Correct. The 3rd seatbelt mounting holes went away with the retractable belts.

I would skip the seatbelt if I were riding in the middle of a 914.

When you bounce off R going from 1st->2nd, and you get that RRRRRRRR noise, that is the teeth on the slider sliding on and bouncing off of the dog-teeth on the gear. This wears the teeth, turning them from > shape into ) shape.

How much are you doing? Probably not a lot for a single instance. Over time it can add up, though.

--DD

Not exactly factory, but I've had this third seat belt in my -6 for about 40 years. Not long after I got the car, I had a couple girls who were friends (not girlfriends) and the three of us would go places all the time. One of them was pretty thin and she always got the center cushion/seat, but we all fit.
Since I've been married (not to either one of them..), I think I've had a third passenger a couple times.

Nothing fancy, I just took out the middle bolts for the driver and passenger belts, and doubled up with the center one. Click to view attachment

Never realized the center belts were an early car thing only, but I think that is right. Expansion tank stickers through 73-only indicate them, not the later cars.

That said I have had them mounted in my 1974 cars before. Just bolt them to the regular belt mount bolts.

A friend of mine was an HS cheerleader (long before I knew her). One of the other girls on the squad had a 914. They would drive around with three cheerleaders across on the seats, and three more on the roll bar....

Evidently guys aren't the only ones who are lucky to survive HS.

--DD

Early cars actually have dedicated threaded mounting holes for them, no need to double up on the regular seat mounting.

Later cars do not have the threaded holes to mount them separately ...

the early cars have plastic screws in the 3rd seat belt location. the belts had a 45 bend at the mounting plate.

What about the rare center seater?

Oh, now there's a hideous idea. Use a VW bus vent as an intake vent in the rear quarter panel.

Anyone read "The World According to Garp" or see the 1982 movie (Robin Williams)? Mark's comment above reminded me of a tragic scene in which Garp's son was injured by the floor shift lever. Good book, pretty good movie.

The worst part about the design of this car, and I'm using that term loosely, is while he moved the steering he didn't move the shifter so you would look like you're jerking off the whole race!