Retractable Seat Belt Mounting Issue Options

[914dtla]

Hi everyone! I recently acquired a late 72 914 and I decided to install retractable inertia reel seat belts since I have already removed most of the interior to fix other issues.

I got these 914 seat belts from Seatbelt Planet but I have an unexpected fit issue. The adapter plates, which I think are used for taking shear loads, don't seem to fit properly.

The plates are circled in red:


The basic problem seems to be that the plates extend below the actual retractor and they interfere with the radius below the mounting hole. The radius is circled in red (not my car...I forgot to take pictures this weekend...):


This means the plates don't sit flush with the firewall keeping the mounting bolt from going in square. I went through a bunch of old seat belt threads and these are the most recommended aftermarket seat belts and no on else seems to have this problem. Is this a known issue with '72s? I'm thinking about just removing an 1/8" off the bottom of the adapter plates but I would prefer not to if there is a better solution.

[914dtla]

My 72 has provisions for retractable belts, but confirm your car looks exactly like the one pictured above. If there's any differences post a picture of what you see and we can tell you.

My '72 was delivered with the non-retracting belts (which I like) but will look at the body when I can. It is up on the lift, under a car cover, with the backpad installed so it not a quick peek. Hopefully my body has provisions for retracts so I can buy brand new belts.

I believe the late 72s have the provisions but the retractable belts weren't installed. The bolt hole was filled with RTV at the factory but it's easy enough to get off.

I finally got a chance to work on the car again and I took some pictures of the problem.

The mounting points for the retractable seat belts are a hole for a pin and a threaded hole for a screw. I've read that the threads are actually for an 11 mm screw (which seems weird since that's not a standard size) but a 7/16 is close enough that they are interchangeable.


The seat belts I bought come with plates which are too long to fit on this car. You can see a gap between the firewall and the plate because the plate bottoms out on the rounded portion of the firewall.


After talking to seatbelt planet and the folks here, I have decided to trim the plates to match the seat belt retractor. I'm hoping to get the plates cut and ready to go this week. I'll post before, after and installed pics whenever I finish.