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Date:         Tue, 9 Apr 1996 19:12:24 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         SyncroHead@aol.com
Subject:      87 Wolfsburg Seating Conversion

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


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