Ok...

I just bought my car, an '83 T/A. It's in nearly mint condition, considering it's age, and the price I paid for it...

Anyway...

It's got a few promlems...
The one I feel I need to get to first is the seatbelt. The upper (or only..??) retractor on the driver's side doesn't work. I don't know if it's jammed up, or is broken. Is there any way I can get to it without pulling the headliner? That's really not the option I want to take, because the headliner is perfect...

 

well, unless you take the headliner out, the only option i see is to cut the roof open....so maybe the taking the headliner out is the better option....it's actually pretty easy to do....

 

LOL...thanks.

The only reason I asked if it had to be done was it LOOKS like I can just take the rear trin off around the hatch and get access to it, but I hadn't investigated further.

So basically...It's possible to remove the headliner without damaging it?

 

I'd be more worried about the plastic retainer clips than the headliner itself if I were you.

 

Ok,

I'll give you a serious answer.

The seat belt retractors are well known for giving up well ahead of time. You can replace them without taking out the entire head lining. (Although if your head lining is anything less than good, you might consider doing both at the same time.)

You'll need to undo the interior rear headlining trim at the hatch, and also prise off the trim above each of the doors. You will also need to remove the trim where the door jamb and sail panel meet.

Just try not to bust up the headlining too much when unbolting and re-inserting the seat belt mechanism. The headliner is very fragile at the seatbelt points!!!

 

I've had the upper retractors give out on me before. You can get to them without pulling the entire headliner. Just remove all of the plastic trim pieces from the area and you can get in from the edge of the headliner. Actually, this is on T-top cars. It might be harder to get to on hard tops. Anyway, it seems like the springs tend to be the part that goes bad. They are very long metal strips coiled up inside plastic cups. The plastic cups attach to the main assembly through three small nubs/rivet type things that don't hold all that well. So, when the nubs stop holding, the cup comes off and lets the spring come unwound. It can be rewound, stuck back into the cup, and put back together with some epoxy or such to hold the cup to the assembly.