Doka Seat & Bulkhead Removal

[Achilles3588]

I've got a '91 Doka, imported from Belgium by the PO.

This thing came stock with a partial (two person) bench seat on the front passenger side. It was truly a 'crew cab'. I'd like to swap that out for a single passenger bucket seat, like a typical US Vanagon. But for the life of me I can't finger out out to remove that bench seat. Any tips?

Also, there is a stock cushion-topped bulkhead between the front passenger compartment and the second (3 person bench seat area). I'd like to remove this as well, again to make the rig more like a typical Vanagon with a pass-thru between the front passenger bucket seats. Any tips on how to remove that bulkhead? I assume the BH is not truly structural (that is, it wouldn't weaken the rig structurally if removed, besides some 'stiffness').

Thanks in advance for any help.
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Larry V.~
'91 Syncro Doka 1.9L TDI 'AFN'

[Crankey]

Nice going on the truck !
It's been too long on the seat removal for me...but I can say go westy has nice adapter bases for recaros if you can find a nice used pair for your new front seats.

The partition comes out easily by drilling out the spot welds. If you have a hard time finding all of them sometimes you can find the ripple of a spot weld by rubbing the area with scotchbrite.

But yeah I just tried to get the drill bit in the center of each weld and I used a 3/16 or maybe 1/4 inch drill. You can see the bench has a bolt tab on the wall so that bench won't be supported after the wall comes out.

I think after that bolt is out the bench will slide forward and reveal the next step of removal.

[Achilles3588]

[Crankey]

From the back seat side you can see the panel edge I believe.
It's been since 2004 for me.
But I think the panel has the vertical edges folded back and the lower edge straight down flat. There are plug welds all along the edges, i.e. a weld through a hole to the pillers on the side and the back of the seat bases along the bottom. There is one smaller separate panel between the seat bases below the main panel.

[ZsZ]

You can remove the seat itself just like the driver seat (locking tab beside the rail) the only difference is that the backrest is held on by two bolts on the side.
Then you can access the bulkhead.
The bulkhead sheet metal is spot welded on the sides and seam welded on the bottom. The cross bar is seam welded with an L bracket on the sides.
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Zoltan
1.9 MTdi 2wd Multivan (ex Caravelle)
Van since 2006, engine since 2008

[Achilles3588]