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Vanagon Front Seat Rail Removal
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tboyd
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:51 am    Post subject: Vanagon Front Seat Rail Removal Reply with quote

I got a nice set of newer Eurovan seats and need to remove the stock Vanagon seat rails.

What is the best way to remove the front seat rails for a Vanagon?

I have heard people cut and grind, but it looks like they were spot welded in. Has anyone tried to drill out the spot welds?

Thank you.
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campism
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoa! You should not need to do anything to the Vanagon. If you are putting Eurovan seats into the Vanagon you'll need to trim the downturned edges off the EV seat rails so they have the flat profile of the Vanagon seat rails and will then slide into the Vanagon tracks.

The seats in my van came from a '93 EV so yours may not be exactly the same:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bike2vcu/_seatTransplant?authkey=0inUs01c7cI#


Last edited by campism on Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:29 am; edited 1 time in total
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tboyd
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

campism wrote:
Whoa! You should not need to do anything to the Vanagon. If you are putting Eurovan seats into the Vanagon you'll need to trim the downturned edges off the EV seat rails so they have the flat profile of the Vanagon seat rails and will then slide into the Vanagon tracks.


At some point the seat brackets on the Euroan changed. These are from an 03. The piece attached to the seat is actually square (about 1 x 1.5) and goes OVER the rail mounted to the van.

Basically the exact opposite of the stock Vanagon and early Eurovan stuff.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are intent on removing the factory rails, then you are on the right track. You should drill out all of the spot welds with a specialized bit. Then anything else holding them can be grinded to free them. You are braver than me. Smile
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tboyd
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not intent, just don't see an option. To make matters worse, the rails don't even line up, so mounting the new rails to the exisiting ones wont work either.

If I could go back in time, I would research a little better. I thought all Eurovan seats were created equal and it would be an easy swap. Now I know that will not be the case.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you sell them and do something else? Once you remove the tracks and fabricate new mountings, turning back will be difficult.
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