Show me your seats! (Please)

[Bay_Buster]

Hi everybody,

As you can see, sitting in my van right now is wonderfully comfortable...



It did have a couple of these seats in the front...



As part of the resto I'm leaning very heavily towards cutting out the passenger bulkhead and getting some captains seats, with the passengers on a swivel plate. Do any of you currently have this kind of setup? Or do you have some great looking original seats that could sway me away from chopping more metal out? I'm keen to see whatever kind of setup you have if you'd like to share!

 

[sparkywig]

If you're cutting the seat bulkheads out you'll need to add bracing.
Have a look at later Westfalias with the bulkheads removed for where the strengthening is required.

To be honest, original refurbed seats are the most comfortable seats I've found.

 

[Bay_Buster]

Aye I remember seeing one or two somewhere with a triangle bracing fitted to the inside of the B post, so I'm aware it's possible. I'm thinking being able to swivel the passenger seat round will make the van much more pleasurable to use camping and milling about (when eventually done). 1st I have to make my mind up, then if I am chopping I'll be researching more to make sure I get it right!

I'm presuming you can't fit original style seats on to a swivel? Happy to be proven wrong!

 

[sparkywig]

I don't think so, if you want to stay original(ish) get some swivel seats out of a late Westy conversion.

 

[Bay_Buster]

Re: chopping the bulkhead out, and strengthening...



Looks simple enough if it is indeed just that small triangle brace.

 

[sparkywig]

I think there's additional bracing at the back of the wheel tub under the seat as well.

 

[vinvan]

Hi
We have fitted these, they are from a Jag, had to make a couple of plates that bolted to the floor but they are soooooo comfortable especially on long journeys, i know they are not stock and some people may not like them but (our bus our rules)

 

[ozziedog]

I think that most people come to this solution when trying to reconfigure during an overhaul and rebuild. I’ll try not to put a dampener on things but this mod was only ever on Latebays which not only had additional bracing but also a different chassis configuration. And yes I know it’s just a little different here and a little different there etc etc, but the LateBay are much much stronger. The calculations etc used were also based on a new construction and not on one fifty years old. As it stands, the front crumple zone is your knee caps and shins and maybe your passengers legs too so these old beasties are a bit of a nightmare in head ons or in any front end collision. The side impact in the frontal area is these bulkheads and you can just imagine some one driving into the side of you with a B post only to contend with and a little angled bracket welded to it, it doesn’t bear thinking about but it wouldn’t take too much to make the passengers door touch the drivers door. But I’m guessing that’s the reasons most are reconsidering their options and very few just do it. But it’s your bus as said above and there’s no mot anymore either, and I can’t think that an mot tester would be qualified to guage if this was a significant change from standard. Sorry to put such a downer on this and in all likelihood we drive extra careful in our refurbed old busses.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,I know , I know, ,,,bloody old farts! :mrgreen:

 

[fallingoffalot]

These seats are surprisingly comfortable. I guess if you put them in a modern car they may not be, but a modern car isn't as involving to drive. The only issue I have is that there is no head/neck support should I suddenly need it. I've often thought of putting some MGF seats in - which seems to be a popular option due to the low height of the seat base - which must be similar to stock.

Vinvan, the Jag seats do look nice, but do they not make it too high (I guess it depends how long your legs are)?

 

[Bay_Buster]

Some nice looking seats there guys, thanks very much for indulging me. And thanks Sparkywig and Ozziedog for the words of caution. A mate happened to drop by the resto unit this afternoon with his T25, and after having a good gander at the swivel seat in that I'm sold. I know the T25's are a different beast, updated build design etc, but I'm now convinced sticking a swivel in will make the space so much more user friendly. Now I need to research just what extra strengthening needs to go in - they'll probably be space for beefing up the B post all the way up on the interior if needed. I'll have to do some more interweb digging and see! As the old van is getting so much new metal (including pretty much all of the chassis) I'm not too worried about it looking super original inside. Oh, and the bottom of the existing B-post is more like a tiramisu right now than a structural piece of steel...

 

[Bay_Buster]

Just a little update in case anybody is interested. I couldn't find any captains chairs that weren't ridiculous money, so for now I've settled with a pair of regular T25 seats. Should make good projects for reupholstering in the future, and if I do find any captains chairs later I can swap them out and flog these. And whilst I was running around the country sourcing seats and possibly the last curved Triplex glass ever (or so it seemed!) the metalwork had moved on quite a bit in the unit...





We did a lot of head scratching and umming about, took measurements with the seat out and roughly in, compared measurements with an existing swivel setup, and now I think we have a pretty good plan for beefing up the whole area.

I'll pop some more pics up when it's all done for your critiquing, again thanks for the advice and other pics!

 

[Bay_Buster]

Now this area is all done and primed up, I thought I should stick some photos up showing how it evolved...

So to start with we used a 25x25mm 1.5mm wall steel box section welded all the way across the rear to add the first bit of strength. This had been carefully measured to ensure the seat would clear when swivelled and extended out. This however meant that the rotating base of the swivel plate needed the corners rounding off to clear. Not a big problem.


Because I'm a picky bugger I knew I wanted both seats to sit at the same height. The new JK swivel base is designed to be bolted on to existing late bay/T25 seat runners, so the swivel'd chair would sit pretty high in those cases. By welding in the thick base plate instead it only raises the seat near as damnit 25mm. But I still wanted the seats to sit the same. So I used the Swivel as a Jig to help build a 25mm high frame for the Drivers side seat rails.



One original runner had survived in the van, so I scribed the angle it was set at into the metalwork and then set about removing it. Seems as the front of the bays are narrower in width than where the B-posts are, VW set the seats at a slight angle, presumably so when you adjust the drivers seat backwards/forwards you stay in line with the pedals and steering wheel as intended.


Spent a long while checking out the alignments for both sides, then opted to set the swivel at the same angle as the Driver's. Weld weld weld.


Re-test.


Now the clearance could be measured with the seat fitted, it was time to finish off the reinforcing. We decided 16x16mm box section with 1.2mm wall thickness was adequate here. The smaller size allowed tying in neatly with the B-post.


2mm steel was used for plating the "triangle" and also full width down to the top of the wheel arch bulge bit. Ground down and primed.



I'm really pleased with how this turned out, I think the area is stronger than the original now, unless you're getting side impacted primarily at shoulder height. But then in an old tin can with no airbags I think you're in for trouble anyway in that kind of scenario!

 

[Davydomes]

Vinvan, the Jag seats do look nice, but do they not make it too high (I guess it depends how long your legs are)?

Hi fallingoffalot
I also drive it and I'm 5'8" and there is no issue. Vinvan is slightly smaller than me and also has no problem at all. They can slide forward if necessary. I wish my daily driver seats were as comfortable as them in the bus.

 

[Bundy]

Bay-buster....I did something very similar to you but carried the box section across the walkthrough to the other tub as I've now filled the walkthrough with a leisure battery and electrics!
Swivel seat has to be one of the best mods I've done as it opens up the interior and just seems to make it more user friendly.
Good luck with the build.
Cheers
Al