Red Seat Belt upgrade Question..
 

I have a '98 with the original seatbelts and would like to convert to the red belts. Retractors were made for 1997-2001 under one PN; and, made for 2002-present under a second part number.

When I look at the Suncoast site ( http://www.****************************************************.com/product/BoxsterBeltSet.html?Category_Code=986seat)

they sell the retractors with red belts for 2002-, the earlier years are not shown.

Does this mean there is a compatibility issue here ? Perhaps someone has done this on a pre 2002 Boxster.

Followup: Went over to Einmalig Porsche today and looked at various retractors. When I pulled the webbing all the way out, I could see the end of the webbing is held in place just like the 914 retractors. This means I can make the color change by changing out the webbing and have the hardware resewed at an approved place.
Each side had 10' of webbing. Seat Belt Pros
( http://www.gotbelts.com/colorchart.html)

sell it by the yard in a variety of colors.

Did this with my 914, and it worked well.

beat me to the punch... I have been doing the same thing.

Have you completed the re-webbing ?

not yet i need to get the webbing. I will sew it myself. (probably) with the biggest and strongest nylon thread I can get and use in my machine.

Update: Finished the conversion to the Red Belts yesterday. Bought 8 yards of Flame Red 2" webbing from seatbelt pros.com ; then took the webbing to local upholstery shop. Took 2 hours of shop time to complete the job. My total cost was $50 for the webbing and $120 in labor, about 1/2 the price of the new belts in the retractors. Had I just taken the belts/retractors to upholsterer, would have cost $70

Will post a pic when the sun comes out... :)

so after a brief trial period hows it going with the new belts? still happy?


any pics!? :troll:

FYI, the reason for the different PNs is that from '02 onward, the seatbelts had pyrotechnic retractors to 'cinch' up the belts if the airbags were deployed. These will not work in earlier cars because the wiring harness is missing and the DME is different.

The early cars used an inertia reel to 'lock' the seatbelts when significant force was applied to the belts (such as the weight of a passenger thrust forward). But, they only 'lock' and don't actually retract to snug the occupant in.

If you tried using the pyro type retractors without the wiring and brain to fire the charge on impact, they would not retain you at all and you go flying into the airbag, dash and windshield before you ran out of excess belt - as in wearing no seatbelt at all.

Cheers!

My apologies, I'll get a pic tomorrow. The change to the red webbing was easier than anticipated and they work fine. I'll get a pic up tomorrow, we've had crappy weather with fog....not the best for pics.

The retractors looked just like the one on the 914.... :)

The sun came out and I finaaly got some pics of the red seat belts:

Nuther...from the side

And lastly...

Great job! ...and at a much better price than what Porsche charges.

Pretty darn cool :cheers:

To keep the thread alive: Attached is a pic of my red belts

Hi, when I ordered red seat belts for my 99 I got the later model with the pyro retractors. I asked about this, and was told that this part supersedes the older model and that it would just install without the wiring. When I pull hard on it, it does retain. It just don't have a working retractor to pull you back - so in effect operate like the original one.

Atle
My car and mods: http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26067

just ordered my fabric today from GotBelts I got the normal red, flame red looked tempting but it was a risk. Also ordered the two plastic button things that keep the male end from going all the way to floor.

im excited total price 49 bones for 7 yards and the two stops shipped. :cheers:

Can this process be done for the 02+ models? If so, does it require any changes in retrofitting procedure?

Its actually easy to do I believe on any model. Essentially once you unwind the belt all the way you will see that there is a spindle. the belt goes through the middle of the spindle and has a loop with a plastic rod in it. what this does is keep the belt from being pulled from the spindle. so you can stick a screw driver in there( worked for me) or anthing to keep it from retracting. once you have done that you just push the belt instead of pull and you will be able to pull the little rod out of the loop in the belt. from there you can just pull the belt out since there is nothing to stop it. it sounds complicated but once you see it you will be like " well no **************** that was easy" if you have the new belts already sewn you just put on the old hardware (anchor buckle etc) and feed the new belt where the old one came replace the rod remove your stopper (screwdriver) and let it wind back up. :cheers: ill be doing this in a few days and ill do a step by step.

one thing that will make it easy for me is i have a free set of belts so I can prep all the hardware and belt fabric so when I go to put it in my car i wont even have to remove the spindle (best case scenario) and if its a little cramped ill pull it out and do it real quick and put it back in.

Just FINALLY got everything all sorted received my fabric and had it sewn. Tomorrow Ill be putting it all in the car with a nice tidy DIY with some good pics to boot.

just a lil bit of teaser info. for the belts shipped to my place from suncoast it would have been 535 dollars. for me it cost me 73 dollars in the car! :cheers:

Awesome!!!

Thanks for starting this thread Jim. I have done the both my Boxster and 993. The local shoe repair shop did the sewing for $10 a belt. Total for a pair of belts for the 993 was under $70. The Boxster was a tad more due to the additional length.

Also, the regular red is closer than the flame red to OEM.

Any updates/pics there Lobo? I'd love to get on this mod as well.. Did you get the regular red?

No actually, I got the Flame red. I ordered normal red but when it came I was not happy with the shade. it was more burgandy or blood red then just plane jane red. So I sent it back and got flame red a little brighter than I wanted but with an all black interior it looks great just the same.


once I get my blackberry cord....somwhere around here... Ill get this DIY started.

I agree. I put the flame red in the Boxster and the regular red in the 993. I took the pieces to the local Porsche dealer and the regular red (despite it looking more burgandy) was almost a perfect match to OME.

Regular on left..... Flame on right.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D720/ry%3D480/

my other reasoning even tho the OEM is darker. I feel that If I were to paint my calipers red or upgrade to brembos or what have you. the flame red will match a lil better. if not ill pay and have my belts re-done in normal red. and I could do this 5 or 6 times and still be cheaper than buying one pair of OEM red lol

Chuck, first your car is immaculate and second, your garage is awesome! Do you have a bar in there too?

Thanks on both. No bar, but I do have a refrigerator full of beer!

If I double stack the Mini S and Boxster S I can fit four cars in there.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D720/ry%3D480/

Glad to hear this mod got traction. I originally did my 914 and thought it would work on the Boxster-plus save a ton of money :)