Vanagon jump seats into a westy

[CdnVWJunkie]

I've often pondered whether or not vanagon jump seats would look and function like in a westy. Has anyone here done this conversion or maybe seen one converted?

Wolfsburg west offers matching upholstery. If the seats were reupholstered and the mounts professionally installed I'd bet they'd look factory.

[CdnVWJunkie]

A number of views but no responses?? Surely someone has thought or seen this?

[jeremysmithatshawdotca]

I'd do it if I could find reasonably priced jumpseats close enough.

Jeremy

[blitzkrieg59]

I'm not exactly sure what you are speaking of, are they the rearward facing seats?
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SST X, XI, XII
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'65 Riviera Camper

[CdnVWJunkie]

Yes, the rear facing folding/removable jump seats. Did late bays not have any partition behind the front seats making the install appear factory.

[CdnVWJunkie]

I'm surprised that no one has piped in here. Surely this has been done before.

[honeybus]

[Duncwarw]

That looks really nice. In my camper though, I wouldn't want to sacrifice the space.

I like this one from highlanddubbers.co.uk (gallery 2):

There's another picture in that gallery of it in the other position.
It would be handy when camping but I doubt it would be considered safe while moving.
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“To find yourself, think for yourself”
Socrates, 470 BC - 399 BC

[honeybus]

[Duncwarw]

That's what I meant.

The vanagon seats are obviously more robust and I don't think I'd want anybody sitting on a light seat on the road, even with belts.

The vanagon seats are big though and it's tight enough in there when more than two people are aboard.

I wish there was something in between like a safe extra seat for travel that didn't rob you of prescious space.
_________________
“To find yourself, think for yourself”
Socrates, 470 BC - 399 BC

[CdnVWJunkie]

honeybus- who was the contributer of this image? I'm surprised to see that the bulk heads didn't have to be removed, actually pleased would be a better word. Thanks for your post.

Duncwarw- that looks like a handy little campout seat. I've not seen one like it before.

[honeybus]

CdnVWJunkie, there is a VW'er near Princeton NJ who does this kind of innovative stuff to his camper.

This is his daughter's VW. She is going to college and sometimes she needs the space for her art work projects, and sometimes she wants to take a group of college friends around. These seats are light and portable so she has no trouble removing them to storage at college whenever she wants. It would be impracticable for her to be R&R a middle bench seat.

I pulled these seats from a Vanagon, and I tried to take pictures of the Vanagon installation and the way things looked so it might help him in his installation.

Most important is that the BAR that is bolted to the VW [that the seats lock on to] is 11 inches off the floor. I didn't see the final install on the bay, but I imagine that the BAR is attached to the seat partitions.

I was considering this for my vehicle, a Westfalia camper, but I do not have a partition behind my passenger seat, so I doubt it would work for me.

The seat belt retractor on his seats is 'permanently' mounted with the bar to the back if the partition [I assume] and the seat belt retractor has a special bracket to allow it to do so.

The seat belt receiver on his seats is 'permanently' mounted to the insides of the seat pedestals, where the other two seat belt receives for the two front people are. So when the seats are removed, the BAR remains, and the seat belt retractor and receiver remain attached.

To remove the BAR and the seat belt retractors is four bolts. And the seat belt receiver is, of course one more bolt.

FWIW, I will try to gather all the pictures I made and put them in the gallery.
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More than I need -
'78 Westy ... purchased 11 Dec 06 ($9,000); sand blasted/primered 7 Jan 07 ($1,200); body shop 3 Apr 07 ($2,000); paint shop 7 Nov 07 ($6,000); home 22 Apr 08; started TLC 28 Aug 08; got very first sign of life 8 Jun 2010; Run about 1,000 miles in Florida in May 2011; 1,600 miles road trip Orlando-Key West-Aldie Virginia 10-26 Mar 2020 (COVID-19 started)

Thanks for all the fish.

[CdnVWJunkie]

Thanks for the reply honeybus. I'd appreciate seeing any photos you've taken.

I have a EV MV with the jump seats so I realize their versatility. The mounting system in the EV looks like it would need more fabricating to get to work while the vanagon looks to be more of a straight forward install.

[Duncwarw]

What model did you get them out of?

I thought they only came in the "Carat" but I admit I don't know much about the Vanagons.
_________________
“To find yourself, think for yourself”
Socrates, 470 BC - 399 BC

[CdnVWJunkie]

Carats, wolfsburg and weekenders all had them. I've even seen a few syncros with them but not sure what models they were or possible retrofit?

[honeybus]

[CdnVWJunkie]

I checked out some EV MV jump seats yesterday. I'm going to see my bro's weekender on Sunday so I can do a side by side comparison. I'm actually beginning to think the EVs would be easier to modify. It appears that they sit further from the forward seat backs already so there's no need for spacers.

'00 EV Multivan has arm rests but I've seen older ones without. Anyone here know when VW first installed these? Yes, I do realize this is a bay forum but this is a cross over topic- so please keep the flames at bay.

[VWGirl]

I wish my parts carat woulda come with the jump seats. I really like them... though i wouldnt put them in my westy... it just doesnt seem right
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Without love in the dream it will never come true

[mightyart]

Jump seats like that came in later model Westy Weekenders.
A Carat is a higher end European Van
No Carats in the US.
Sycros came in transporter, weekender and full westy models.

[tristessa]