Seat belt replacement 83 Pininfarina Spider

[derekgale]

Hi all from the UK,

Went for a spin yesterday and was rather surprised to find two serious tears/frays in the passenger seat belt of my 1983 Pininfarina Spider Europa. They are about one third of the way across the belt, about 6 inches apart, and are in the part of the belt that gets retracted away. They are on the passenger's chest area when in use - clearly I can't now carry passengers. The tears/frays may have been caused by an evil death mouse; I can't see how it got damaged otherwise.

Some questions...

1. How do I get at the belt to change it? I don't have the "smoking legless children seats" in my car (think Spider Azzura) and the belt retracting mechnism is hidden behind the big panel at the back of the interior "luggage area". The belt comes through a slot in this panel.

2. Where's the best place to get a new belt in the UK/rest of Europe? Do belts for any other FIAT models fit?

Advice welcomed!

Cheers,

Derek.

[ga.spyder]

Derek,I just replaced my belts with new ones from http://www.gotbelts.com here in the USA.That plastic panel should come out easily,and the mechanism underneath is held on by 2 bolts.Very easy job,an hour total for both sides.Get 120'' belts,and I used the 12'' molded reciever end,so it sticks up always.I am not familiar with the 83 panel,but someone here will chime in.
Good luck,Craig

[Darsella1]

Spider Point, they are out of Germany:

http://www.spider-point.com/

They have both new & old styles.

[derekgale]

Belt is now sorted.

Got a second-hand (but tested) belt from DTR in London. Very helpful guy there called Paul de Turris advised about panel removal. Now have lots of mouse traps round my lock-up garage!

Here's what the mouse did to the belt...



Here's how it got out...



And here's the car at the May 10th 09 Wallingford (a small British town) Classic vehicle rally and parade...



Note the rather untypical British weather!!

[rlux4]

Very pretty Derek, the weather and the car.
But I don't see anyone wearing shorts though.
Ron