Seatbelt tip

I discovered something about the lap belts in the 348/355 that I didn't know, and didn't see in prior threads - want to leave it here to help those searching in the future.

My 348 came without lap belts (go figure.) I had temporary racing lap belts installed, with the goal of finding originals.

i located an original on eBay, with all mounting hardware to install under the seat. The belt was fully retracted, and would not budge. This unit is shared with the Testarossa/512, and I found a number of folks who had this problem. All searches here showed people who had disassembled or replaced their belts. I did nothing to mine, leaving that as something on the eventual "things to do" list.

Recently, I found another lap belt, this time a new old stock unit from Algar Ferrari. When it arrived, it, too, was fully retracted and wouldn't budge. Hmm...what are the odds of TWO lap belts not moving, along with others with the same complaint?

I called the parts department of Algar to describe my quandry, and was told that these belts are tricky...they will remain stuck in the locked, retracted position unless they are held in precisely the proper angle as they would be when mounted in the vehicle. Tried moving each of mine a fraction of an inch at a time (held against a flat surface) and voila! Each moved...and in every case, if I moved the unit a fraction of an inch away from optimal, they wouldn't move at all.

So there you go...if your lap belts are stuck, try slightly changing their angle until they free up again!