Do Eurovan seats fit in Vanagons?

[syncrodoka]

[Zeitgeist 13]

All of the EVs I've seen without armrests were either Canadian base models or Euro imports.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[syncrodoka]

The ones I saw were US models, just a few of them. I noticed them because the seats looked odd without armrests so I checked if they were removed or they came without them.

[rmcd]

I got mine years ago from a pick and pull. Never thought it an issue as I was thinking I’d swap my Vanagon armrests. Go figure. I accidentally bought a junkyard rare option!

Syncrodoka. I was thinking I’d cut off the Vanagon seat armrest mounts and weld them on the eurovan seat backs. What parts do you have that you would recommend?

Thanks
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VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

[mrshrimp]

I've seen this question come up before, in case others were wondering you can modify the Eurovan jumpseat and make it work for the vanagon. Heres a pic of one I just finished. Whats great about this is that jumpseats really dont get used that much. I found two that were basically brand new.

If you think it would be beneficial to post the process let me know, i will document and post when i do the passenger side.

[vwwestyman]

I'm interested. Are the jumpseats not as tall as the regular seats? (Kind of looks that way in the pic.)

I installed regular Eurovan seats in my Bus but they sat too tall so I attempted to cut some of the foam from the bottom to make them sit shorter. I'm not super happy with how that turned out so I've been thinking of ways to fix that.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[mrshrimp]

The jumpseats are the same height as the front Eurovan seats I think, i believe that are made of the same base and back rest parts. So they so sit about 1-1.5" higher than the vanagon seat. Im 6'1" and still have head room, tho I would not want to be too much higher up.

But what an amazing difference in comfort over the vanagon seats. Im mad at myself for not doing this sooner.

[kourt]

I have Eurovan jumpseats as replacment front seats in my Vanagon. Basically I took all four seats from the Eurovan, and put the foam and springs from the less-used jumpseats into the Eurovan front seats and then installed them in my Vanagon.

While I was swapping the foam I also washed the Eurovan seat covers and made other repairs to the foundations.

The result, 20,000 miles later, is the most comfortable seats of any car I have ever owned. I can drive 12 hour stretches and be comfortable the whole time.

kourt

[ghiaguy_67]

I recently installed a pair of seats out of a 2000 eurovan in my 1987 Westy, it was pretty easy. I aligned the seat rails, and in the front of both existing and the new seat there are holes. I was able to use oil pan cap nuts used on a air cooled VW engine and bought some hardened 6mm button hex head bolts for the front of the seat rail. For the rear part of the seat rail I drilled a 5/16 hole thru the existing mount hole of the eurovan rails thru the swivel base and used 8mm button hex head bolts to fasten the seat in place.

[FrankenSubySyncro]

[rmcd]

I’ve been screwing around with early and late eurovan seats for the front seat of my van. Sew fine was able to source new eurovan seat foam that was shorter than oem height by nearly 2”.

I’m not done yet. I’ll post pictures and details.

If this is helpful to anyone here are some pictures of the seats including the different headrests.


Late 2002 eurovan seat construction
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...nstruction


Early eurovan seat construction.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...nstruction

Late 2002 and early eurovan headrest seat construction
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...nstruction
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VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

[vwwestyman]

[Slimvest]

Just because sometimes I'm slow, I'm assuming people use a cutoff wheel to take the extra rail material off the seats?
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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[campism]

That's what I did. Hacksaw across where I could because it was quicker and easier, and the Dremel with cutoff wheels (took several) on the longitudinal cuts.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[elizer]

I used a 6 l inch angle grinder with a grinding wheel. Then I hit it with a sanding pad to get the sharp edge down and hit it with some spray paint.

[Slimvest]

I picked up a set of seats over the weekend from a '93 base model EV passenger van w/ 165k miles on it. No armrests, sadly, but $50 was a good price to at least try them. I have them out for a cleaning at an auto detail shop today. WEAR A MASK when grinding the rails to fit. I didn't. I'm stupid.

A couple funny things:

- I followed all the mods needed to get the seats in the van, but the EV passenger seat wouldn't latch when I slid it into place on the passenger side. I swapped it over to the driver side and it worked fine. I then placed the EV driver seat on the passenger side of the vanagon and it latched fine. I have a eurocampers swivel seat adapter on the passenger side that I wondered if it was causing the trouble.

- I'm missing more than just the plastic recline knob on one seat. Any advice on tracking do the correct components? I thought I'd try the VW dealer, but haven't yet. GoWesty only sells the plastic knob.

- The headrests also won't lock in position when adjusting the height. They just fall to their lowest level. Need to figure out a solution here as I'm not seeing any replacement parts to fix this issue online.

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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[metropoj]

I'd consider finding the height you want those headrests and maybe cut a piece of plastic conduit the right height and slip it in there to stop them from falling down ..


Seat covers:

I was hoping for a generic seat covers ( with option for armrests ) that would help disguise my blue seats in a tan 86 interior. I have had no luck without finding very $$ covers over 200 bucks .. anyone found anything somewhat universal that would cover the whole seat nicely ?
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John.
86 TiiCo powered Westy.

[elizer]

Nevermind

[Slimvest]

[rmcd]

Sorry still no final photos of my efforts to swap eurovan seats.

Here are some early model seat versus late model seats.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...t_dir=DESC

You can also buy seat cushions that are nearly 2” lower than regular late or early model seats. Sewfine was able to source them for me as well as make seat covers.

Warning will Robinson. Eurovan seats sit much higher than oem Vanagon seats especially if you mount them to a swivel like I did. Your head nearly touches the headliner.

Pictures this weekend.
_________________
VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=