Seat belt cleaning

[Toby Erkson <Toby_Erkson@ccm2.hf.intel.com>]

Cleaned my front seat belts and lubed the spring in the retractors in hopes 
of getting more pull.  It helped, but not by much.  I used normal cloth 
detergent (Tide, non-fragrent, in case you're wondering) and just by 
sitting in the warm, soapy water I could see the water getting dirty after 
just slight agitation.  I wouldn't recommend keeping the seat belt assembly 
in the washer during the spin cycle too long as it really makes a lot of 
noise -- Ha, just kidding!!  Relax, I hand washed them in the kitchen sink 
and rinsed them *thoroughly* in warm water.  Don't submerge the retractor 
assembly!

Use channel locks (Vise-Grips(TM)) to clamp and hold the belt spindle from 
taking up all the slack once you fully unwind the belt (keep it attached to 
the spindle!).  I used a soft bristle brush to scrub both sides of the 
belt.  After the rinse cycle :) I draped them over the shower curtain rod 
with the heater going and the door 4/5 of the way closed.  They were dry in 
about 2 hours.

Once dry I *carefully* removed the spring-side cover (look at the two 
plastic covers on the retractor assembly, the spring-side is the thinner 
one) and sprayed a silicon lubricant onto the wound spring (although, do 
you think I should've used a graphite compound, like what's used in key 
tumblers?).  On the passenger side I wrapped the spring around one turn to 
increase the pull -- the driver's side was as tight as it would go.  
Replace the cover, remove the channel lock and let the belt wind itself 
home.  Done and clean!

     Toby Erkson
     air_cooled_nut@pobox.com
     '72 VW Squareback 1.6L modified to 2.0L
     '75 Porsche 914 stock 1.8L

P.S.  I did try to see if the rear 914 disc hub will fit on a T3 rear hub 
but other stuff happened and I couldn't finish the job.  From what I saw, 
the T3 brake drum plate *must* be removed and it looks like the two hub 
retaining holes in the 914 hub won't match with the T3 holes.  Two holes 
will need to be drilled in the T3 (no biggie).  It looks as though there 
will be minimal, if any, wheel offset and there's plenty of room for the 
calipers.