bench seat to fold up conversion

tipi dave · Post by **tipi dave** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:41 am

Hi,
I have 2 bongos, and would like to swap the fold up rear seats of one for the bench seat of the other. Does anyone know how difficult it is to do, and whether all the trim/ fittings are interchangeable? any advice gratefully received.

Post by **Simon Jones** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:40 pm

I posted a reply a while back for a similar query for someone who wanted to fit fold up seats in place of bench, but I cant find it right now. You could fit bench seats to a van with fold ups, by fitting the full length runners & probably cutting off the bolts that stick up from the wheelarch to mount the hinge. But the bench seat models do not have theses studs on the wheelarch, so there will be nothing to fix them to. Hopefully, you can see them highlighted here:

Yamaha · Post by **Yamaha** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:40 am

That's a hefty piece of steelwork there, Simon!

What's it for? Looks too sturdy for a conversion - do tell !!

Nosey from Somerset

martnin · Post by **martnin** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:36 pm

I have seen this done at AVA Leisure, so a phone call to ask what was involved might help you. It was NOT a simple job!

chiefster1976 · Post by **chiefster1976** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:27 pm

The steel work looks like its basically a mounting point for a 3 point seat belt.....When you do a full side conversion and fit a rock and roll/apex type bed and have a rear wardrobe the old seat belt obviously useless so hence the welded bar...The new seat belt(or use the original you took off) can be attached to this steel frame.....
Look at ava and wellhouse pics and you will see the belt in position directly inline with the steel work!!

Not a big job really if you know someone who can fabricate one!!!
You just need to know exactly where the seat belt needs to be...
Hope that helps...GAvin..

maggie S · Post by **maggie S** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:34 pm

Tipi Dave,

I was thinking of doing the same thing last year.
Bell Hill Garage said it could be done - just fit long runners, cut off the mounting points, fit the new internal panels that accommodate a bench seat, and enjoy! They offered to do some / all of the work for me. They had the runners and trim for around £250 I think, and any labour costs were at around £50 an hour. They thought around 4 hours if van was stripped ready.

I couldn't get the internal panels in my trim so I've been checking out other options in the meantime.