Gordon:
The late MGB seat belt is inertia and gravity sensitive. To release
the belt you must allow some slack to go back into the reel, that will reset
the latch mechanism. It is imperative that when you do this the belt is in
the same position it is when mounted. Otherwise the gravity portion of the
latch mechanism thinks it is in a crash mode.
Unfortunately if you are not aware of the gravity mechanism, then
the belt tends to get fully retracted and bound up on the reel before the
mechanism has a chance to release. In this case, pull off the thin plastic
cover that is over the wound belt. Then carefully use some kind of
implement to rotate the reel just a touch more, being carefull to keep the
retractor upright. That should be enough to release the mechanism.
We had a terrible time here with Securon belts with this mechanism.
Many would be returned fully retracted and locked as defective. All they
required was to be convinced that they were not in a crashing car, and then
have the belt forced back a touch by hand, as the spring could no longer
revolve the bound reel.
There should normally be no reason to open the side cover that
protects the latching ball mechanism. If the mechanism is actually
defective throw the unit away and get a new one. It is feasible to clean a
corroded unit and reweb, but not something I would recomend.
Good luck
Kelvin.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordon Bird [mailto:gb@the-bdc.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 12:42 PM
> To: list MG (E-mail)
> Subject: 80 B seat belt retractor
>
>
> It won't release the belt. Catches whenever trying to pull
> out to use.
> Anybody opened one of these? "Do not remove cover" is written
> plainly on one
> side, but I see screws on the other side with no such
> warning. Can I open
> this without having it explode all over the garage?
> Thanks,
> Safety Fast!
> Gordie Bird
> 62 MGA
> 80 MGB
> 86 Audi 4kq
>
|