Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:41:36 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Installing Volvo Front Seats
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fwiw,
I have installed a Volvo 740 leather seat in the driver's position of a
vanagon. ( I'd even sell that setup I think, for the driver's side )
What I found is that ...
like many seats, thye are 'taller' on the bottom, compared to Vanagon seats.
Vanagon seats are unusally close to the floor, compared to many cars.
I got this seat fabricated onto vanagon seat tracks, but it was not easy.
Took me a LOT of work to reduce the 'bottom height' of the volvo 740 seat
enough. Lots of cutting and welding.
What I ended up with is acceptable.
When Im sitting in the seat, my eyeballs are about 1 1/2 inches higher than
would be normal, and I sorta like that.
I'm 5 foot 11 1/2 inches tall, with slender medium build.....
clearance from top of thighs is adequate, but not overly generous - what was
with a manual steering , steering whee - with PS would be h better.
There was no way the seat would ever fit on top of a seat swivel.
I never want one of those for the driver's seat anyway - don't like the
sligtly loose feeling, or the weight - seat swivel is very unneeded on
driver's side in my opinion - unless you want to seat two kids facing each
other in front, with the small table between them, which is what Westfahlia
had in mind, pretty sure.
I had heated Audi leather seats in a Vanagon once. Got all the switches and
wiring harness for it right out of the donor Audi car.
They're 'kinda cool' ....
but I don't think I would spend hours engineering them in again, ....not for
practical reasons, for 'bling' reasons yes ...
way cool. I'd invest more energy into making the cabin heating system
better, for really cold temperature operation.
I almost felt heated seats are distracting. At first I was waiting and
waiting for the heat to be there....
and sorta forget they were on.........then after a while it was 'why does my
butt feel funny?" ....
'oh right - my seat heater is on.'
And maybe I didn't like wires with electricity going through them so close
to my body,
as one might feel about an electric blanket on your bed at home.
and for sure ......re volvo 740 seats ( I'm so burnt out on Volvo 240's
having work on a million of those tanks I don't even like sitting in one
anymore ....) but ....a Volvo 740 leather seat, is about FIVE TIMES as much
seat as a Vanagon is..
I noticed immediately when I got my first vanagon ( my 'good car' at the
time was a mercedes benz ) ....that the seats are undersized a little - less
under-thigh support than would be normal. 'Almost' a bit mushy too.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "BenT Syncro" <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 7:16 PM
Subject: Re: Installing Volvo Front Seats
> On Feb 21, 2010, at 6:39 PM, C B <cunegonde.van.westfalia@GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
>> I have found the needed seat slider tracks, so it's time to install
>> the
>> new-to-Cunegonde Volvo 240 manual adjust seats - with bun warmers.
>> Anyone have some suggestions on best practices for mounting the
>> salvaged
>> sliders onto the Volvo seat supports, and any potential problems
>> with my
>> passenger side swivel base? I assume the driver's seat won't swivel,
>> because
>> the much larger Volvo seat interferes with the kitchen cabinet and
>> steering
>> wheel.
>> Also, can I re-use the Volvo bun warmer switches, and suggestions on
>> how to
>> wire? Perhaps with a relay and direct wire to aux battery?
>> --
>> Bretts
>
>
> I am not familiar with the Volvo tracks but if you have swivels on
> both sides, that's the best place to install your sliders. The
> installation would be reversible then should you wish to at a later
> date.
>
> The seat warmers are tricky if you retain the seat swivels. You will
> need to have enough slack in the wires so they don't break when
> swivelling the seat. You might consider buying a heated seat switch
> designed for the Vanagon to simplify installation. IIRC, they are
> still available new from VW or used from a couple of vendors in Europe
> who sell on TheSamba and Ebay.
>
>
> BenT
> Sent from my mobile device
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