Anything non-technical about the Mazda Bongo Friendee van
Moderators: Bongoplod, aitch
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Mon May 08, 2017 2:47 pm
Hi all im new to the site and bongo ownership. I have a ford freda and want to turn the middle seats round. My question is can i mount the seatbelts from the front seatbelts mounting poins? My thoughts were if I undid the front seatbelt mounting point bolt and added another seatbelts onto it would it be okay? I only want 3 point belts and I think this may be the solution.has anyone else done this?
Thanks
Simmy

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Gasy
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by Gasy » Mon May 08, 2017 4:46 pm
Don't know about your suggested method sounds feasible
Rear or sideways facing seats are not required by law to have belts
Gas safe heating engineer / plumber if you need any advice just shout.
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Mon May 08, 2017 5:59 pm
Hi and thanks for your reply.
My partner insists on having 3 Point belts for our son so I have to do as the boss asks
I have seen so many videos on YouTube about how to move seats but never Seen anything on my suggestion. I was thinking the original bolt might need replacing with a longer one to fit 2 on 1 anchor point and maybe a spacer between to allow the swivel of the belts from anchor points. I am going to give it a try soon and will post a thread with pics.

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Bongolia
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by Bongolia » Mon May 08, 2017 6:32 pm
Simmy wrote:Hi all im new to the site and bongo ownership. I have a ford freda and want to turn the middle seats round. My question is can i mount the seatbelts from the front seatbelts mounting poins? My thoughts were if I undid the front seatbelt mounting point bolt and added another seatbelts onto it would it be okay? I only want 3 point belts and I think this may be the solution.has anyone else done this?
Thanks
Simmy

Really don`t know the answer to this one but although doable from the mechanical point of view I am wondering whether it could be a problem insurance wise in the event , god forbid, of an accident. You may be affecting the type approval or some such insurance gobbledegook as you have two attachments to a stressed point designed and type approved for one.
On another note converters are reversing seats in some of their conversions so you could give them a call and see what they do.
There may be another option such as a four point harness?
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Tue May 09, 2017 6:00 pm
The 4 point harness is worth considering. I will update here once I have figured out what I'm doing
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Gasy
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by Gasy » Thu May 11, 2017 7:42 pm
I put 4 point harnesses in my landy for my kids a few years back
They turnd out to be a pain
The belts not the kids
When done up tight they cant move

, pain to buckle up
Gas safe heating engineer / plumber if you need any advice just shout.
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Thu May 11, 2017 8:53 pm
That might not be a bad thing

when the weathers a bit better I am going to try my idea and see how secure and safe it looks.
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Bongolia
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by Bongolia » Fri May 12, 2017 12:10 am
Gasy wrote:I put 4 point harnesses in my landy for my kids a few years back
They turnd out to be a pain
The belts not the kids
When done up tight they carnt move
, pain to buckle up
Thats a good thing though, right?
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Thu May 25, 2017 4:58 pm
Hi all I have managed to turn the middle seats around but struggled with the runners as the bolts were too tight...... so I looked at the locking mechanism and wondered what if I made my own release for it..?? So I looked in the garage and found some old roof bars and cut one to size and drilled and bolted it to the catch and release mechanism. It works great and didn't take long.. I'll post a pic if someone can tell me how

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Simmy
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by Simmy » Thu May 25, 2017 5:16 pm
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Wed May 31, 2017 7:52 pm
Yay the seatbelts are now fitted. I managed to find longer bolts and got spacers from the scrap yard from a van seatbelts. I will post pics asap
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Gasy
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by Gasy » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:26 am
Well done
your making the bongo your own now
Do you have a low coolant alarm or engine head temp alarm ( Freda's and bongos need these )

Gas safe heating engineer / plumber if you need any advice just shout.
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Simmy
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by Simmy » Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:08 am
Hi yes it's slowly getting there now
I do have a coolant alarm I fitted a few weeks ago and I'm always checking too