My son is now two years old and we recently welcomed our newborn daughter. It is difficult to find time for anything extra, so I took on the disassembly in the middle of the night while they slept. Dad life.
Started by taking out the rear seats, rear door panels, and b-pillars to allow access to the front seat belts. The seat belt winder is tucked really low, and the bolt for it is behind a foam block. I tried pulling up the block but didn't realize there is a hidden screw underneath the carpet that is holding it in. I ended up popping some of the door sill trim clips and peeling back the carpet to allow access. Pesky screw!
Front seat belts out. Interestingly, the passenger's side belt had a foam insulation around it, but the driver's side didn't. Anyone know if this is correct or know the part number for the driver's side?
Prior to removing them, I marked the belts with tape designating where the stripes should be. If you look at the modern cars, the orientation of the stripes changes depending on where the belt is in the car. For the rear seats, the red stripe is towards the outsides of the car. For the front seats, the red stripe is towards the front of the car. I wanted to make sure my seat belts followed the factory orientation.
Midway through, front seat belts are done.
Onto the rears. I took out the c-pillars, through loading trim, seat belt outlets, and the parcel shelf to allow access to the rear seat belts.
Rear seat belts were removed and marked just like the fronts.
While they were out, I deleted the center lapbelt. I always hated how sloppy it looked in the rear seat, even when it was wrapped up. I used my seat belt cutter to remove the lapbelt/buckle.
As I was working on the seat belts, I contemplated removing the disintegrating sound insulation under the rear bench. The center portion of it was a total loss, but the sides were still in good condition. Ultimately, I committed to removing most of it. I stole one of my wife's surgical scalpels and cut a clean line around the edges.
Thought this one was kind of a cool find.
The driver's side came off really cleanly. When I got to the passenger's side, I uncovered a huge sticky mess of what I am assuming is old melted adhesive? At that point that I thought, "Why the hell did I commit to this?" Immediately followed by, "Why did I not put gloves on?"
Many moons later it was all cleaned up. I used Carpro Tarx and a ton of paper towels to loosen and soak up the mess. I threw the whole lot in a trash bag and was surprised by just how much it all weighed, I get why the CSL ditched it.
Here is everything removed from the rear. Something satisfying about seeing it all out and organized. Now the seat belts are getting sent off to get redone as I wait for shipment from Karbonius.
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