Middle bench installation

[hylomatt]

this is regarding a 71 transporter.

i have all the parts but not sure how this should go together. i have a brand new rubber floor mat from wolfsburg west, the bench, the metal plates, t-bolts, clamps and wing nuts.

how am i supposed to cut the mat for seat installation? i cut slits for the bolts to stick up through but they aren't really long enough to get everything bolted together. i'm not sure if it's a misunderstanding on my part or a difference in the floor mat underside.

i have metal floor + mat + seat plate + bench leg + clamp + wing nut. this works on the far left leg but not on the far right leg. on the underside of the mat, it looks like a checker board but there are two solid rubber sections under the center and right legs of the bench. so they don't compress like the part of the mat under the left-side bench leg.

do these descriptions make sense? can someone please tell me what i'm doing wrong or how i need to cut this? should the mat be between the bench leg or is is supposed to be metal-to-metal?

[SGKent]

1971 uses the plates. Later years do not. I forget which year that changed. There are two height clamps and two height bolts. Make sure you have the correct combination.

ALSO - on a 1971 the cutout for the seat plates is rectangular so they sit down in the rubber onto the metal. On late bays there is no plate under the seat, the seat sits right on the floor. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this. I took this photo from classifieds. It is a 1968-71 mat. Notice the cutouts for the plates. The second photo is a late bay mat (from gallery).

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[hylomatt]

Okay so the mat cutouts are the size of the metal plates, allowing the metal plates to touch the metal floor but the bench legs still sit on top of the rubber mat, correct?

[busdaddy]

The seat legs sit on the plates (or directly on the floor on later models), metal on metal, the mat should still be able to move slightly once it's all tightened up.

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[jtauxe]

This may be obvious, but...

The above photos show the cut-outs and mountings for a full-width middle seat, with 8 mounting points. The 2/3 middle seat, which is more common, uses 6 of the mount points. If you have the 2/3 seat, don't cut out the holes nearest the door.
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John
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[aeromech]

Cut the holes but the metal plates should be slightly larger than the hole so it sits on top of the mat. I thought these mats had molded in areas to cut out?
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[hylomatt]

Those areas are molded into the underside of the mat and I'll double check this, but I don't think they matched up properly.

And thanks for the reminder. I do have the 2/3rds bench so I won't be cutting out the floor mat next to the sliding door.

[busdaddy]

Real VW plates have a flange that's larger than the hole in the mat, it sits a mm or two above the surface of the mat so the mat can't lift but isn't pinched hard either, mats have tiny dotted lines where the cutouts should go on the back.

Now all that applies to genuine parts, get some aftermarket into the mix and YMMV.
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[Vee Dub Nut]