Ghia Retractable Seatbelt Question

bmstreeter · Samba Member Joined: July 10, 2006 Posts: 78

My stock VW retractable seatbelts in my 67 Ghia Coupe have lost the spring tension and don't retract like they should anymore. Does anyone know of a place to send these into and have them cleaned and refurbished so I can keep the correct color vs going to a diferent replacemnt setup?

Gary · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:50 am Post subject:

VW didn't have retractible seat belts until the 1972 model. Sounds like someone added them to your car in its past life.
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Rome · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject:

no icy, BM is talking about the stock factory-installed US-market LAP belts that were in a long plastic housing. They really were retractable. '67 Beetles had them too.

VW did start with the retractable lap+shoulder belts in for most of the the '72 models.

Gary · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject:

keifernet · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:27 pm Post subject:

I have some fugly pairs like these...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=346944

bmstreeter · Samba Member Joined: July 10, 2006 Posts: 78

Here they are installed. The driver one is the worst (middle pic). Takes a while at times to get it to retrach if at all.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

keifernet · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:

saw this the other day in a thread it may be of some help...

http://coccinellebleu.blogspot.com/

SkrapMetal · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject:

Yup, my 67 also had that retractable style lap belt. It was gray in color like those and it clipped onto the bar in the middle.

Did you try to oil them?
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bmstreeter · Samba Member Joined: July 10, 2006 Posts: 78

Thanks for the link. I have not had any luck finding replacement belts with these same ends that clip onto the chrome ring in the center as of yet. I would like to keep it that way. Looks like at some point I will just have to take a crack at taking them apart and trying to put them back together myself. Hopefully I can get the spring tension higher again so they retract better.

Gary · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject:

Plantman · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:43 pm Post subject:

If they are not oriented for left and right, you could temporarily(sp) swap sides so the driver side is the best one. It's a bitch when the belt end hangs on the door and chips the paint when you close it.
A good cleaning and relubricating may help if not solve the problem. I'm sure 35+ years of dirt and stuff have helped gum up the works.
Good luck, David
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bmstreeter · Samba Member Joined: July 10, 2006 Posts: 78

They are left and right oriented based on the shape of the bulge I think. Good point on the cleaning. I will shoot for that first. Thanks for everyone's help. This site has been very helpful with all my questions as I figure this stuff out.

KGCoupe · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject:

Here are a couple more pictures of '67 Ghia seat belts that I took a little while back to help someone mount them back on the car correctly.

Mine still retract quite nicely, but I'm missing the black plastic housing that covers the latch mechanism on the driver's side.

Did VW actually make these in more than one color. I know interior color choices included at least black and brown (depending on exterior color), but the seat belt housings for my brown interior appear to be more of a khacki or olive color. Of course, if I scrubbed the years of accumulated dirt off of them, I may be surprised to find they are really a completely different color. Very Happy

Rome · Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:33 pm Post subject:

Icy, the ones in keifernet's first response ("for sale") are the ones I mentioned.

Were also installed in '67 US Beetles.

kingkarmann · Samba Member Joined: November 05, 2003 Posts: 4111

The plastic housing unscrews. I took my apart to paint them. The plastic gets brittle over 40 years. To add a thought. Will 40 year old seatbelt webbing actually restrain us ?
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