Front Seat Swap (Town & Country 2nd Row)

[syncrodoka]

That looks like grey leather seats that needs to be freshened up a little bit. The leather seats have a grey cloth panel just under the headrest.

The grey seats have a brown hue to them in certain lighting. I sold a leather set and about 1/3 of the pictures that I took of them the seats looked browner than they do in real life.
The brown seats are pretty obviously brown when you see them in real life.

[takeiteasy]

[gregaz]

[takeiteasy]

I saw them in person. They are grey, but a nice proce at 200
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'85 Weekender 1.9L

"With your past and your future precisely divided.
Am I at that moment? I haven't decided."

[mugford]

Does anyone know how hard it is to remove and reinstall the leather covers? I've got a non-heated T&C pair on the way and a heating kit left over from an earlier project.

[candyman]

[Ride_On]

Hmm... Good info, thanks. We have a bay window and I've been musing over how we could upgrade the front seats but maintain the plaid connection to the interior. I wonder if you could remove the leather cover and have some plaid paneling overlaid. Got to be a lot cheaper than making a custom cover?

Thanks to all posters in this thread! Great info!

[gregaz]

My seat is in (LOVE it!!!), have a quick question for the community:

How did you set up the seatbelt receiver? I would love to use the one on the new seat, but the VW plug doesn't latch. Is there a way to install the VW receiver in the seat? It seems kind of clunky to have two ...

[Forthwithtx]

[gregaz]

[fxr]

You need the seat belt receiver bolted to the van, not the seat, unless the seat is *very* well bolted down to the van - and most are not, especially if on a swivel.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[Vanderbuilt]

Yeah, I agree with fxr. I would highly recommend NOT using the Stow-N-GO seat belt receiver. I know I wouldn't want to risk my life or the life of a passenger using anything other than the stock seat belt receiver.

[raoul mitgong]

2 question for those that have these installed.
Is the driver's swivel more or less useful with this seat vs the stock?
I saw one pic of the driver's seat not folding flat due to hitting the steering wheel, is this avoidable?

Thanks,
-d
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84 Westy with a 2.1 (Groover)
86 Tintop Syncro (Crow)
86 Tintop Syncro to Westy project (Tom Servo)
91 Westy (Only the top 12 inches of this van (a burn victim))

[jordauto]

Time to share my take on this seat upgrade. Credit must go to the original poster, Freshdub for taking that leap of faith and trying something new. I read through this entire thread before setting forward with this project. The seats I got came from a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan, with a trim model of Crew, and interior code of "ALX". The seats are brand new and have never been sat in as the van had been damaged in a train derailment in Calgary and was never sold. They still had plastic wrap on them from the factory. I had some key design features that I wanted to keep. I wanted to have the same seat base height as OE, or as close to it as possible. I wanted to retain the ability for both seats to swivel, and face each other as well as the passenger seat facing the rear. Next on the list was the drivers seat to be able to fold into the "stow" position, and lastly be able to access the house battery under the drivers seat without too much hassle. Well, lots of time measuring before cutting anything and I managed to meet all of my requirements. In the planning stages I used a plumb bob and marked a spot on the ceiling directly over centre of the front edge of the seat, and the centre of the rear seat base, just in front of the seat back. Basically under my knees and backside. This gave me repeatable point to measure from to the original seat, and the upgrade seat. I elected to use only the new seat adjustment slides, which only provide 4" of front to back travel. I started off with 1"X2"x.100" tube. 12 gauge I suppose. But that had the seat sitting too high. After more measuring and planning I decided the size of tube under the seat needed to 5/8" high. This has the bottom edges of the seat just clearing the swivel base, and only raises the seating position by 1/4". Here is the finished product.

And another showing the seat in relation to the swivel base.

It's always a good day when I have a reason to use my plasma cutter and welder.

Here is the brackets showing both sides and also on the seat.

I also wasn't willing to cut or modify the swivel bases in a way that would mean that they could never be used for the original seats if someone ever wanted to go back to them. The only modification is four holes drilled through to bolt the brackets down.

I forgot to take a picture, but the drivers side seat just folds down flat. I have an early non airbag Eurovan steering wheel and the seat just rubs on the way down and up. Once it's folded down flat, it will rotate under the steering wheel and seems to provide enough room to access the battery. I measured 7" between the seat and the cabinet. I think the Eurovan steering wheel is the same diameter as the Vanagon ones that have power steering. With only 4" of travel in the seat sliders to work with I wasn't able to mount the seat any farther back to allow it to not rub on the steering wheel, or I would loose the ability to turn the seat to face into the centre of the van. It might be possible to mount it back about a 1/2" and still rotate, but the seat back would be straight upright, on the last position before folding down flat. I haven't driven the van yet with the new seats as the it's parked for the winter. But they definitely feel more comfortable and supportive to me. Next up will be a seat heat kit from amazon for some luxury on those damp cold spring and fall drives.

[Forthwithtx]

For my non-swivel Tintop, the bottoms of the seats literally sit against the carpet, yet there was a noticeable difference in the view to the instrument panel. I can't explain it other than the firmness of the seat doesn't "give" as much, as the seats do appear to be lower in the seat cushion area than stock. This I know, that the uppermost indicator lights in the IP binnacle, once clearly visible, are now mostly obscured by the steering wheel rim. YMMV.
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Cheers!
-Karl

'84 GL with 2001/2004 Subaru 2.5L

[dhaavers]

^^^ Time to find an old AC steering wheel...??? (Older, larger, non-PS)

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[syncrodoka]

The seat adjustment range with the stow-n-go seat rails is 4" compared to 6" from the stock seats in the rails. There is a limiting tab at the front of the seat rails that the mounting bolts hit to limit forward movement in the stock configuration in the minivan but there is a lot more forward adjustment possible with the bolts removed. There might be options to modify the rails to get stock seat movement range or greater if one wanted.

[SSWesty]

I am looking to upgrade the seats in my westy and this conversion is on my short list. Reasonable price and has armrests. Only a few folks have reported back from longer trips. Has anyone done a couple back to back 400-500 mile days in these yet? Are they still comfy on day two? I am 6'1" and the factory westy seats don't support my back all that great on all hauls.

[tkic]

[candyman]

I have done multiple 400-500 mile trips with mine and love them. Mine ride about and inch or so taller than stock but for me at 5'9", its not a problem. The arm rests take some getting used to since they do not adjust. I found adding a shift extender brought everything in line for my seating position and now its great. Seats are firm and supportive, especially under the thighs. While my stock seats were in fantastic shape and I had no complaints about them, I can say I prefer the TC seats. They swivel better, especially the drivers and stow flat under steering wheel which is nice improvement. They are narrowerer to so easier walk thru getting from fron to rear, esp with armrests up. I installed seat heaters and use them often as I live in a cool climate. The leather is great and cleans easily. I have nothing but positve things to say. However everyone is different. And as pt barnum says, "there is a seat for every ass"