Fitting Ford Custom seats in rear of a T6

[Nickmac]

Hello chaps and chappesses...........new to the forum so please be gentle!
I had a search for this topic but couldn't find anything pertinent, many apologies if I am covering ground that has already been thrashed to death!
Sooooo, I went and bought a '66 plate Startline T28 Panel van that I plan to "Kombify". I looked at VW seats for the rear but they are all hellish expensive, then I found a set of 3 Transit custom seats that are brand new and a lot more flexible/useful than a VW seat and 30% of the cost. Plus I knew they would fit as I know it has been done.
The question is...........drum roll........ I am in two minds, do I A) Drop everything off the bottom (Fuel tank, heat shield, zorst etc) drill through and bolt/plate from the underside to mount the seat rails, or B) Leave the floor undrilled and weld on plates on the inside of the cabin to bolt the rails in to? (or have studs fitted to).
My point of view is, option A is probably more structually sound, but a pain in the arse. Option B will still be sound (it's my kids going in the seats and I am a compentent welder) but less faffing about lying on my back in the driveway.
Where do I sit with the MOT, any testers out there wanna chuck their oar in? Thinking about it, I do know an MOT tester who dabbles in VWs so I may tap him up for some info too!
Anyway sorry to ramble on, open to ideas of all flavours............fire away!

 

[St4n99]

Hello chaps and chappesses...........new to the forum so please be gentle!
I had a search for this topic but couldn't find anything pertinent, many apologies if I am covering ground that has already been thrashed to death!
Sooooo, I went and bought a '66 plate Startline T28 Panel van that I plan to "Kombify". I looked at VW seats for the rear but they are all hellish expensive, then I found a set of 3 Transit custom seats that are brand new and a lot more flexible/useful than a VW seat and 30% of the cost. Plus I knew they would fit as I know it has been done.
The question is...........drum roll........ I am in two minds, do I A) Drop everything off the bottom (Fuel tank, heat shield, zorst etc) drill through and bolt/plate from the underside to mount the seat rails, or B) Leave the floor undrilled and weld on plates on the inside of the cabin to bolt the rails in to? (or have studs fitted to).
My point of view is, option A is probably more structually sound, but a pain in the arse. Option B will still be sound (it's my kids going in the seats and I am a compentent welder) but less faffing about lying on my back in the driveway.
Where do I sit with the MOT, any testers out there wanna chuck their oar in? Thinking about it, I do know an MOT tester who dabbles in VWs so I may tap him up for some info too!
Anyway sorry to ramble on, open to ideas of all flavours............fire away!

Am not a welder or an mot tester so cant really comment on that part but to be honest if you weld the brackets on and you are sure they are safe then once you put carpet down on the floor to finish it off then there is no need for tester to look a would think . A have resently took my seats out and a know exactly what ye mean about it being a pain to get under the floor and drop everything , also wee hired a ford shuttle for a night up fort William and the seats are really gd compared to the vw ones . Also recline . Hope you find a solution buddy

 

[Deaky]

I wouldn't be trusting my kids in some seats that hadn't been properly fitted or tested in the scenario they were being used.

 

[Nickmac]

You obviously haven't seen Transit rear seat rails then! The channels (6 of) that the seats sit in are VERY well manufactured and held down by 5 M12 bolts each (Total of 30 bolts) for the very reason you mention no doubt, you can tell how secure they are as the seats each individually hold their own seatbelt assemblies rather than mounting to the body of the van.
Had a chat with my MOT tester mate and came away none the wiser. Apparently installations like this are a very grey area in the test, in fact if a van has no rear windows he isn't even obliged to look in the rear as there is nothing there involved in the test.
He advised exactly what I thought (and the way I was leaning anyway) which was to drill and bolt through with 50x50mm plates on the underneath. He actually said that even on the MOT he can't lift carpets/flooring or remove covers to inspect these fixings anyway! Makes you wonder how many dodgy fits there are out there?
Well looks like the van's going up in the air for an extended period while I sort this out. Itching to get going, but got to go overseas for work for the next 2-3 weeks, gonna drive me up the wall!

 

[Got_any03]

How did u get on installing these seats to your van. How did u get over the runners being so deep. Thanks

 

[Nickmac]

Hi, so basically I took off everything from under the van, heat shields, undertray, fuel tank, exhaust and handbrake cable to get access. I then very carefully measured out where I needed the runners to sit and marked out and drilled the bolt holes in the floor. I then made up 30 captive nut plates (M12 shouldered nut on a 50x50x5mm plate and welded them to the underside of these holes. As it happened all the holes were located in the valley bottoms of the corrugated floor (as seen from above) so I made up and welded long steel plates to fit in these valleys to bring the floor level even. The channels for the seats can then be bolted directly through the floor and have at least 10mm of steel (extra to the floor thickness) bracing each contact point. Like you state, the upper edges of the channels would now sit proud of the floor by approx. 30mm. So what I did was add an extra 3/4" sheet of ply to the floor, over and above the 3mm sheet that was already there and then made up the rest of the gap with a heavy rubber stable mat cut to shape. I also had the original shaped carpet to fit around the runners too so it looks like a proper job. Just needed a little trim on the edge by the sliding door to tidy it all up. When the seats are fitted I can't make them move at all by hauling on them (I am sixteen stone) there's no flex in the floor at all. I was very happy with the seats overall, but by the time I had finished I was well and truly fed up of hauling them in and out of the van as they are really heavy.

 

[Andy66]

Hi all

I have some Transit custom rear seats I am hoping to fit this week.
If someone has already fitted these, on the runners the middle pair are pretty obvious, but the near side and offside....Which is which ?
The only obvious differences I can see is the 2 holes on the side lip and the position of the " nipple ". Does the nipple go at the rear or the front ?
Having said about the middle ones being obvious...again there are 2 holes on the lip of each runner, should these face in together away from each other, to the near side, off side ?
Any advice much appreciated

Thanks
Andy

 

[Ads_Essex]

@Nickmac may be able to help, as I recall he fitted some Ford Transit seats..

Oh and welcome for the forum.

 

[Andy66]

Thanks Ads, I did email him to ask him how he had done his, and he was kind enough to get back to me, so I didn't want to hassle the guy too much, I think I have the answer now so I'll go ahead and hopefully fir them this week

 

[Nickmac]

It took me ages to work out which way round and which seat each runner was for, then I marked them up myself so didn't get lost again. I still think I ended up with one "the wrong way round" but just couldn't make it work any other way! I just did it by trail and error and fitting them to the seats, nearly drove me potty!
The little nipples were for locating in the floor on the Transit, I didn't see any gain from using them and making more holes, so they got the good news from my Angle Grinder.
The one thing that pissed me off the most doing this job was the weight of the seats (good for security) but I had them in and out so many times I nearly did my back in.

 

[jimjones235]

I have a 17 plate T6 SWB factory kombi. Single passenger seat up front and bench seat in the rear.

I'm looking at options for increasing the number of seats as 3 kids and wife fill the van is as, and it would be nice to have the option of taking people out with us (when we go away sometimes we take one of the kids friends - which at the moment means 2 cars).. So what I'm looking at doing is adding another row of seats, which would need to be quick release (so I can keep them in the garage). In a perfect world I'd have a caravelle setup in the back, but I'm too poor to live in a perfect world. The back seat out of a shuttle seems an option but very very heavy to lift in and out.

The option I keenest on is using ford transit/tourneo custom seats in the rear. Does anyone know if it's doable? It looks like there are two options of seat, those from the front row and those from the rear. Would either fit between the wheel arches? Anyone know what's involved? I spoke to a coach builder a few months ago about this, but he was all for replacing the middle row and adding the rear row, and replacing the floor. And priced the whole lot at around £2k which was too rich for my blood. I think the floor was all about clearance height for the ford runners.. but my thinking is they could probably be surface mounted (I think they would still sit proud by half an inch) then bordered with some carpet lined ply wood. Obviously when the seats aren't in, then it wouldn't be a totally flat load bay but seems a decent compromise.. Any thoughts?

Also, does anyone know of anyone around the Bristol area who would fit these for me and be able to certify it for the insurance?

 

[Martin Gibson]

Would it not be easier to add another row of vw kombi brackets and seats?

 

[jimjones235]

It would... But they cost double the price and weigh double the weight.. the vw third row seats are stupid heavy.. and finally, the ford seats are more configurable (each of the 3 reclines, folds and lifts forwards independently)..

 

[BognorMotors]

It’s the mounting points you’d have issues with.

 

[jimjones235]

Ok... in what way? I'm guessing that the seat rails need more than simply bolting to the floor.. spreader plates underneath? Or would they need a plate welded to the chassis?

 

[simonnwt6]

Try this chap. Seen he’s added transporter seats before.

Notjustcampers

 

[BognorMotors]

Ok... in what way? I'm guessing that the seat rails need more than simply bolting to the floor.. spreader plates underneath? Or would they need a plate welded to the chassis?

A factory Kombi has the seat belts mounts with strengthening already in place for the third row, as well as the corresponding dimples in the floor for an easy fit. What might cost you more to buy will cost less to fit and will only add value in the long run.

HTH

 

[BSharp]

Thanks Ads, I did email him to ask him how he had done his, and he was kind enough to get back to me, so I didn't want to hassle the guy too much, I think I have the answer now so I'll go ahead and hopefully fir them this week

Hi I have just bought the same set of seats (3 singles) although I’m only using outside 2, I’ve the same issue with the floor brackets, do you by any chance remember which way round was which?

 

[Nickmac]

@BSharp.....I worked out which was which by trial and error. Due to the location of the seats in the rails, they can only fit one way round (especially if you ever want to turn the seats around and have them rearwards facing). I believe the rails I got were a mismatched set as the only way I could get mine to fit were to have one of the rails seemingly the wrong way round (and I can't turn that seat around........not that I wanted to).
So I think if I told you which way round mine were it may be a bum steer! Your best bet is to have a good gander at them and go down the trial and error route.......................or find a Transit Custom to crib off!

 

[BSharp]

Thanks for the reply.
ill do as you say and try the brackets on seats before I think about fitting them,
I have actually thought of trying to find a transit custom owner for a quick look haha!!
One more thing did you just use individual spreader plates? And if so did you use all 4 fixings on each bracket. Thanks again for taking time to reply.
cheers.