Date:         Sat, 16 May 1998 09:15:08 EDT
Reply-To:     KENWILFY <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         KENWILFY <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Of Seat Recovering, and homemade bumpers
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Well I got a weekender rear seat from Ron the other day and yesterday I
removed the coverings (it was that corduroy and was very nasty).  So now we
are going to be doing some reupholstery as well as making our own curtains.  I
have also considered making some homebrew Carat style jump seats.  My idea is
to get a set of Jetta or Golf seat from the local yard ($8 each) then weld up
a frame and mount for the seats using the ones in my Carat as a guide.  Then
just weld the seat frame to the mounting frame.  My Dad is an excellent welder
so this should not be a problem for him only getting the time to do it.  I
really like the Carat setup as it makes the van seem so much more roomy and it
is nicer when driving groups around they can face each other and talk (also
leaves room for homebrew table setup).  I was wondering if any of you bold
Listees have done something like this before?

Also a guy asked about bumpers.  If you go to my website
(http://members.aol.com/kenwilfy) and take a look at the pictures of my '84 GL
for sale you will see on the rear of the van a very sturdy bumper my father
welded up for it out of three inch steel pipe.  He welded caps on the ends and
welded the pipe to the two stock mounting brackets.  No more love taps
mangling those ultra thin Vanagon bumpers.  This bumper is also nice because
you could easily add a trailor hitch to it (weld).  I asked my Dad if he would
consider making more of these for List members and he said sure and estimated
$100 for the cost.  The person who wanted the bumper made would have to send
us his mounting brackets, then we would weld the whole thing up and ship it
back.
Let me know if anyone is interested.
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
(609)-327-0027