Different VW seats

[kdaggitt]

I have been able to install 90's model jetta or passat seats into my 84 vanagon, it's not the easiest, but possible. You have to strip the seats down to the bare frames and the modify them so they can be welded onto the vanagon turntables. The biggest issue is seat height, due to sitting on top ofthe wheels.. I am tall, so i decided to sacrifice the driver's seat turntble and make the seat fit into the rails located under the turntable.. its abit of work but possible.. very comfy end result. the multi adjustable passat seats are nice.

[bentetzner]

Hi Stan,
yes they do, but ! I modified my passenger swivel removing the rails for the old style seats. This is fine now. The driver seat, as I am tall ,I removed the swivel completely, and bolted the seat directly to the mounting under it ! The seats were always too high for me anyway.
Be advised, if you buy the older eurovan seats, ,up to 1997, I believe, they will fit with minor modifications. If later seats, you got some work ahead of you. Whoever is listing newer seats and saying 1.5 hours for the install, is not being truthful.
As far as the driver swivel, which is to me, useless, I could never turn the seat in my van more than 90 degrees, and to remove it, I usually removed the steering wheel.
Hope this helps.
Ben

[Aerosport]

Do the non Westy stock GL seats still allow swiveling? I know they are higher, no problem for me as I am short 5'8", but I don't know about the extra length of the bottom cushion and whether or not that will still allow the seat to swivel fully or not
_________________
Stan L

'87 Westy GL - "Stanagon", 2wd WBX 4 speed
15" Rhein alloys, GW 1.5" lift springs & Fox shocks

[bentetzner]

Hi Guys,
this is an amendment to the Eurovan seat in vanagon discusssion. I recently acquired 2 nice newer seats from a 2001 Eurovan. I did not want the older more vintage seats, as they would probably need work anyway.
That being said, the newer seats are difficult enough to diassemble, that I was looking for an alternate method. Only way really to mount them on vanagon seat rails, (as the new seat rails do not fit), is to bolt them on top of the existing rails. This also will not work if you are tall, as I am.
My upholstery guy and I did some measuring, and not only does my head hit the roof, but my knees now also hit the steering wheel ! My plan is to grind out the existing rails, and drill and bolt the new seat rails to the existing swivel plate. This will drop the height by just enough ( 1 1/4 inch). I will tackle this project in the near future, as my seats have been rebuilt, and are still comfortable. I will ,when I do this, post photos.
Ben

[GreggK]

I just picked up a set of newer ones with adjustable armrests. Maybe Ill mess with my old ones and see what I can do.

[GreggK]

Is there a way to make the stock vanagon seats recline fully?

[campism]

Okay, so I was wrong.
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[shizzon]

Uhm, actually, he said that the EV seats are taller than the GL seats, not the other way around...
_________________
1989 Bostig Syncro Westy

[campism]

What he said. I would add that the EV seat feels a little firmer so would probably not "settle" as much as the GL seat that is a little taller. In use they would wind up being about the same with a person seated in either one. Keep in mind that I only had the brown seats for a short time a couple years ago and did not use them since I was selling them.
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[syncrodoka]

[shizzon]

I think I will embark on my foam cutting this weekend .. Davevickery, any tips you have would be great!

Can you upload higher res versions of your pics?

Did you just make a straight cut across the bottom, or did you cut on each face of the foam?
_________________
1989 Bostig Syncro Westy

[davevickery]

[campism]

For those who have not had the chance to compare, here’s a look at the difference between an '86 GL Vanagon seat (the brown one) and a '93 Eurovan seat (the blue one). Both of these are shown in my '87 Westy and are in place of the stock Westy seats. I had already installed the EV seats in my van because I could never find regular GL seats. The stock Westy seats were in great original condition but were extremely uncomfortable. I later found these GL seats and grabbed them for resale. If they’d been grey I’d have sold the EV seats instead, but that’s life. Here you can see that both have good bolsters for good support and they appear similar. Both are vastly more comfy than Westy seats, and both are shown as installed on the stock seat swivels. The EV seat did require minor surgery to the rails in order to fit and that is well documented elsewhere, but the GL seat simply slid into place.

_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[shizzon]

[davevickery]

I can't say if this will be a good mod or a blunder, but I'd heard that you could cut the seat foam down (from the bottom) to bring the seat height back down when using eurovan seats in a vanagon. They stick up about an inch more than a vanagon passenger van seat and about 2" more than a stock westy seat. That is the only thing I didn't like about them. So I finally decided to try cutting down the foam. I was surprised to see the contoured base and not as much foam to work with as I thought.

Has anyone else done this? It seems to have come out o.k. but I am cautiously looking forward to a test drive. I only cut off about 1 inch of foam in those 3 slivers. The cover goes back wth no modifications.

[davevickery]

My first try at posting a link to photos. I see other people posted photos in the gallery section of eurovan seats in a vanagon, so no new ground here, just my 2 cents.

I am happy with them, you do sit up higher but that is going from a Westy that has shorter seats to Eurovan passenger seats. The Vanagon passenger seats are also taller than a vanagon westy. Anyway, you notice it and the wheel is closer to your legs, but they work fine for me. The larger seat base is a huge improvement in leg support and comfort.
The last photos is what you cut off the eurovan tracks.

[Gauche1968]

[r39o]

[CREGAN]

Please lead us to the land of magical wrecked Eurovans so I can vulture some seats! Here in the land of the sierra ram tundra half ton, finding a euro-seat is impossible. I have been trying for a couple of years now. Were eurovans just not that popular here in Canada or did they all just spontaneously combust (not a reference to fuel lines)?

[campism]

What he said. I did this, too, and it's more trouble finding the seats and fetching them home than it is modifying them to fit. Honest. Cost/ease/benefit ratio can't be beat unless someone gives you Recaros and installs them for you.
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic