I was blessed to have purchased Thorsen's 1989 XJS coupe. At the time of purchase, I had no clue as to the extent of work put into this vehicle.

The car is in overall fantastic mechanical condition but does have a couple first world issues. The first is the passenger-side motorized passive seat belt has stopped mid-travel. This thing worked for a couple of days then stopped. Funny thing is that when my son first looked at the car, he predicted the first part to fail would be the crazy seat belt travelling around on that rail.

Anyway, I'd like to pull the travelling latch down into the closed position, then remove the fuses so it remains locked in place. Going forward, I'll just manually attach the seat belt each time I sit in it - no big deal, easy solution. However, I cannot physically move that latch, so with Thorsen's guidance, I removed the rear seat and door panel to access the assembly. The motor had been continuing to try to cycle that travelling latch for about an hour so I burned my hand on that biatch when I touched it. Going forward, I'll need to either unplug the motor or continue to pull that battery power each time I exit the car.

So my Plan A question.: The motor is exposed, is it possible to take the housing off of the cable winder component, then manually wind the travelling latch into the locked position? I've removed what remained of the screws and was about to remove the housing, then I pictured a pandora's box of springs and cables jumping out that would be too much for one skinny accountant to shove back into place;

Plan B - purchase a reman assembly, take to it mechanic to install, then pull fuse so I don't have to roll the dice on this happening again. I like these first altenatives as it keeps the car relatively original;

Plan C - retrofit a three point retractable seat belt.

 

I vote for option three.

 

So do I. I am very glad Thorsen's car has an appreciative owner. He did a wonderful job on it.

 

Lawrence,

Congrats on the purchase of the car. You've got a huge amount of dedication, innovation and quality workmanship from Thorsen there!

As a Brit from the land that gave you the XJS, you'll appreciate that I would also vote for option 3, the way that Jaguar dedigned and built it without the additional US legislation.

Whilst you're at it do the drivers side as well!

Good luck

Paul

 

I concur - option 3 - get rid of that ridiculous setup - never understood those or the need for them - but it's like 'pedestrian friendly' bumpers to prevent damage to idiots that walk in the road or US locomotives that have bells clanging and horns bellowing because trains are apparently difficult to see .... or 'warning this coffee is hot' ...

 

OK, thank you for the input. For practicality purposes, it does make sense to retrofit. One less thing to think about. This leads to a couple more questions:
1) where do I source the trim pieces to replace those now covering the railroad track and will they fit?
2) could someone please post a picture of an 89 XJS with traditional seat belts just so I know what I am working towards in terms of trim and anchor points?
3) how do I get that old trim off - it must be something obvious but everything seems like a Chinese puzzle to me right now?

I don't want this vehicle turning into a Franken-car which will be the outcome if I just take it to a mechanic and give him free reign on the retrofit.

Based on my level of practical mechanical knowledge and the elementary nature of my questions, I'm wondering why I didn't choose a more descriptive username like "Polar-Opposite-Thorsen".

 

I can take some pics tomorrow but it is too dark right now. Perhaps if you get some pics of your install we to the East may be able to provide a list - I suspect it would be new cant rails and roof lining but I'm not seeing anything that would confirm, my parts book does show the different belts though. In addition you'd need the belts of course, I don't think you would need the belt clasp in the centre of the car and there are several trims so the trim code of the car would help. When I replaced my roof lining I got all the sundries as a package so the cant rails, rear pillars ('C' pillar) all came with the lining - I think the A pillars did also but can't remember.

You would need the rail that mounts at the bottom of the car nr the floor too.

 

Wow - Thank you.

The hunt for pirate treasure begins.

 

OK, I now have the A and B post finishers, the cantrails, the seat belts, the coat hooks for the B pillars.

If possible, please post a picture of the lower anchor point in the lower back seat wall. I've looked around online but found no decent photos. My suspicion is that I need some kind of rear trim piece that hides the retraction mechanism that gets attached to the lower B post which has a slot from which the seat belt feeds.

 

I am not terribly sure what you mean by the rear back seat wall. I wouldn't have expected the lower mounts of your belt to be significantly different - I don't know if these help.



B Pillar into the rear trim. There will be the autolock spool in there retained by one large bolt, there should also be a spacer - there should be a spacer on the bolt for the B pillar too.

This is where the lower brace bolts to the floor, it too has a large spacer under it

This is said bolt and spacer. There is no rear bolt, the bar just slides into a hole beneath the seat - I can't easily get in there presently but if that's what you need to see let me know ( I've destroyed one too many decent shirts grovelling around this car )

 

Perfect and thank you for taking the time to post pictures.

It looks like I continue the search for parts as my back seat armrest panels do not have that finished chrome piece from which the seat belt spools. I may just source that chrome slot and cut the holes in my existing panels (since they are still in great shape). Finding panels in their conditions would be tough.

 

At some point I'll pull that side panel and get a pic behind it but I'm not planning that until the car is back on its wheels - I didn't expect that part to be so different in the USA - I thought that powered part of it changed only the upper mounts.

I'd actually wonder now if the panels were the same depth to allow for the spool - I see these panels for sale all the time on EBay in my region and for not much coin.