Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:32:27 EDT
Reply-To: SyncroHead@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Davis <SyncroHead@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Seating Question
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 6/13/2006 12:07:51 AM Pacific Standard Time,
JordanVw@AOL.COM writes:
In a message dated 6/12/06 10:16:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
skp@ONSHAKYGROUND.COM writes:
>
> If one has a regular 7 passenger Vanagon and wants to convert it to one
with
> a table and rear facing seats. Is it possible? Has anyone done it? What
is
> involved
yes its a popular convesion. i did it to my passenger van..and have pics. i
have a complete carat interior if your interested..
chris
se PA
Here's what I wrote when I converted mine:
Jim
------------------------------------------------------------------
Vanagonuts,
I've had a couple of inquiries about what it took to accomplish a seating
conversion I recently completed in my 1987 Vanagon GL Syncro. I think that
this conversion could be done to any year of Vanagon. Here it is:
A brief history (AKA What the heck is "Wolfsburg Seating")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
In the mid 1987 model year VW introduced its line-up of Wolfsburg Limited
Edition cars that included a version of the Vanagon GL. Most of the
distinguishing things that make up any Wolfsburg edition are cosmetic changes
(like special paint colors) and certain options becoming standard on the
Wolfsburg (like alloy wheels). With the 1987 Vanagon, VW put a little twist
on its normal offerings and included a special interior arrangement that (for
lack of a better name) I call Wolfsburg seating. This included a rear bench
that folds to a bed, a fold-up table on the driver's side wall and two
rear-facing bucket seats, in place of the 2-passenger front-facing center
bench. These seats are located direclty behind the driver and front seat
passenger and have fold-up bottom cushions like theater seats. Upholstery on
these seats was light gray pinstripe velour. Between the cushions of the
front seats & the rear-facing seats, a little storage tray snaps in. For
maximum versatility, each of these seats can easily be removed by pulling up
on a little knob and lifting the seat out.
The 1987 Wolfsburg was popular enough (by Vanagon terms) to do it again in
1988. The 1988 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Limited Edition was nearly identical to
the 1987. Upholstery on these seats was again, light gray pinstripe velour.
Customers from all around flocked to VW showrooms (well 3 or 4 came anyway)
and in 1989 VW introduced the Vanagon Carat, a model that had this seating
style all model year long. Upholstery on these seats was again, light gray
pinstripe velour. Also in 1989 VW had a Wolfsburg edition Vanagon - it had a
bold diagonal stripe upholstery pattern. Other Vanagons with this seating
style included the 90 & 91 Multivan & Carat with medium gray velour
upholstery with pinstripes & little squares and basic Vanagon that had a
course tweed gray upholstery.
My struggle
--------------------------------------------
I liked the Wolfsburg seating arrangement so much that I wanted to convert my
1987 Vanagon GL Syncro to this style. I searched many wrecking yards, and
called many more and found that a couple of yards that had the seats thought
that they were made of either gold or unobtainium. They wanted as much as
$300 per seat plus $100 for each pair of seat belts! That's $800 for the
seats PLUS shipping!! The places that didn't have any had very reasonable
prices, hmmm. I finally found a wrecker that had one seat at a reasonable
price. For $150 I got one seat, 2 sets of seat brackets and 2 sets of
seatbelts. I did also have to buy an engine for $1,750 to get this price on
the seat parts. During my search, I looked into what it would cost to buy
some of the parts at VW and I found that the "cup" shaped brackets that mount
to the floor were reasonable, about $40 for a set of 4 if I remember right.
The two brackets that mount to the battery box were not too awfully high
either at about $45. each - I'm going from months old memory here. But the
seatbelts!! VW wanted something like $150/pair ($300 for a complete set) for
the seatbelts! If you plan to buy these seating conversion parts at a
wrecker, MAKE SURE THE SEATBELTS ARE INCLUDED in the deal.
Converting to Wolfsburg seating
-------------------------------------------------------------
To do the conversion you first remove the door sill from the slinding door &
remove (or roll back) the carpeting. Then unbolt the middle bench seat by
removing 4 bolts with 13mm heads. Slid the seat out the side door (don't
strain your back!). Remove the bench seat mounting rails that are bolted to
the floor & reinstall the bolts to seal up the holes in the floor. I made
filler strips out of plywood to fill void under the carpeting left by the
removal of the mounting rails. Remove the front section of carpet
padding/insulation to get direct access to the floor in near the battery
boxes. Here's where the floor brackets are installed.
These brackets look like a short length of 3/4" pipe welded to a piece of
flat steel. Mine came from the wrecker with the surrounding section of floor
still attached. I had to start the process by grinding off the welds that
held the floor to the bracket. There are one each of 2 part numbers and 2 of
a third part number to make a complete set of 4 brackets. I can't give
specific directions as to where to install the brackets, since I had a handy
88 Wolfsburg nearby to tranfser dimensions from. These four floor brackets
are arc-welded to the floor. A friend welded mine for me. The floor sheet
metal is relatively thin compared to the brackets, and this makes for a
tricky welding job. My friend "welded" a hole through my floor in several
spots - so be careful. Some wiring & hoses run underneath the van near a
couple of the brackets. These should be shielded from the bottom of the
floor during welding to prevent melting. Cut holes in the carpet padding
when re-installing to allow the top of these brackets to come through the
pad.
Next mount the battery box brackets to the back side of the battery boxes.
There are two of these brackets, a right and a left. Don't get them
mixed-up. These normally mount to the battery boxes with bolts that thread
into nuts that are welded in place. In a Vanagon that did not come with this
seating originally, you'll need to use loose nuts. Drill the holes through
the back side of the battery box. There are two at each end of each seat's
bracket - eight in all. For each bracket, two of the bolts go through into
the battery box near the aisle between the front seats - REMOVE THE
BATTERY(S) - you don't want to drill into it(them). The other two bolts end
up in the wheel well, accessable from outside the van. Be careful not to
drill into anything in the wheel well. To give this mounting area a little
additional support, I made up some little support braces to go undet the
nuts. These are about 1" wide and 2.5" long and have two holes through them
where the bolts go through - kind of like a washer built for two bolts.
Install the seatbelt brackets between the bolt heads and the seat brackest &
tighten these bolts up snuggly, but leave a little flexibility for
adjustment. Test fit the seat and adjust the bracket position as required.
Finish tightening the bolts.
Cut yourself a new piece of carpeting that won't have a cut-out for the
middle bench seat and will have four little cutouts for the new seat's floor
mounts.
Well, there you have it, Wolfsburg seating!
Jim Davis
87 GL Syncro
88 GL Wolfsburg