Has anyone changed out the original seat belts on a early,1976 308 gt4 for retractable ones? What year did they make the switch, if ever? Thanks, Bill
The driver's side seat belt in my '75 gt4 was starting to fray, so I replaced both front belts with these (Beams chrome lift retractable 3-point): http://www.gotbelts.com/retractable-lap-shoulder-belts/m.products/81/view/23 Same belt that Raricar linked to but from a different vendor. Couple of considerations: 1) You should measure this to be sure (I'm going off memory here), but I think that if I were to order them again I'd go with the 110" instead of the 140". The 140" is perfectly snug with an occupant in the seat, but I would prefer it to retract a little bit more when no one is in the seat (as it is now I just buckle the passenger seat if no one is in it). 2) One other thing to think about is the length of the receptacle end. From memory (again) the stock receptacle was about 7.5". Most universal seat belts out there that I found are 12". This might put the buckle in an uncomfortable spot on your hip while driving. The belt I linked to has the option of an adjustable receptacle end that can go as short as you need but it isn't rigid like the stock belts (so it takes two hands to latch). 3) Personally, I like the way the latch looks and don't think that it is out of place but it is definitely different than the stock belts and probably not for purists. -David
Hi Bill I would also look at http://julianos.com/ , they have a button style as well as the flap style releases mentioned int eh earlier posts. Perhaps closer to original while still providing the retraction. Re: when they added retractables, it is hard to tell. It is probably sometime during 1976 switch to Series 2. The 1976 parts manual had only the non-retractable (although for US there is a different part number but that might related to the seat belt warning system, US only). The 1979 parts manual only shows retractable. Strangely for once they do not mention serial number splits like they do with many other parts. Gerrit http://dino308gt4.com Have you hugged your car today?
Any time I can help spend money let me know... I ordered the lift latch belts for my car after trying to fix the original plastic latches. I haven't received them yet.
