Westy seat vs regular vanagon

[DanHoug]

having completed a 3600mi trip with a butt-sprung drivers seat from my 225k miles Westy, my sciatica was saved only by a 'memory foam' car seat i'd bought ahead at Wally World. it was amazing how much difference it made.

today, i pulled the drivers seat out of my vanagon donor and am switching it with my Westy seat. unbolted the swivel so as to de-grease the 32 year old seat track that made for a very stiff fore-aft seat adjustment and the swivel was no better. i'll put the vanagon seat in, which has a longer seat bolster for more thigh support as well as thicker butt foam. it also has 135k less butt compressing miles on it.

i'm tall and love a 'dining chair' type of car seat. i'll still have head clearance to the roof but will gain longer thigh support. hopefully my wife will still be able to reach the pedals but at least the seat track will move easy.

here's a photo with the Westy seat in the foreground along with the vanagon one. back and armrest are identical but the seat foam does extend further forward and is thicker.

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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[DanHoug]

just installed it.... oh my, what a wonderful difference. i'm a normal torso, long legged/armed 6' 2" dude and the seating is perfect, maybe the best i've had in a vehicle. 2-2 1/2" head clearance, nice back upright legs down position with good thigh support. eliminating the butt sprung foam and adding length to the seat was great. the additional height is also welcome even tho we vanagoners already sit up high and for my phenotype, the pedal position is improved.

during the course of this upgrade, i removed and degreased the swivel plate plus slider tracts. re-lubed with Star-Brite teflon trailer hitch lubricant. everthing moves nice and easy.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[campism]

I decided early on that there's something seriously wrong with the original early Westy seats, including those on my '87. Since I could not find non-Westy seats I had to mod some Eurovan seats I found. See the thread I did after finding standard seats later.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=401712&highlight=westy+seat
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[DanHoug]

Campism-- i read thru your thread and you gave some great comparison photos and measurements. i should have tagged onto that thread.

regardless, it is a mystery why they changed the seats so much for a Westy. everything works fine, nay, better, with the Vanagon seat. i think i'll switch the passenger seat too.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[zuhandenheit]

This is really interesting. The early seats aren't also different, are they?

I replaced my 82 Westy seats without knowing there's a difference in size. I went from the earliest style of seat to the latest, so assumed that the difference were just on account of the type of chair.

These are the most comfortable of any car I've owned (while the original seats were the worst) and I could never understand why some people found them uncomfortable -- I think it's just an issue with the westy seats.

[VWagabond]

Looking at the photo of the 2 seats, it just appears that the one you removed has worn out beat down padding in it. My 87 westy seat was the same until I took it apart and repadded it. Was much better afterwards, no more painful butt bones after a long drive.
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The Road Goes Ever On & On……...
VWagabond
87 Camper GL
87 Syncro GL

[DanHoug]

[VWagabond]

Definitely more apparent difference from that angle.
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The Road Goes Ever On & On……...
VWagabond
87 Camper GL
87 Syncro GL