Sportscraft Seat Swivel Question

Branwell

Member
T6 Pro
I have narrowed my search of swivels for my two front (single) seats. Unfortunately Kiravans are out of stock of a matching pair, so I am looking to buy the Sportcraft swivels.

My question is can the Sportcraft driver seat swivel be used without having to cut plastic trim or lower the handbrake? Any Sportscraft swivel owners able to help?

Thanks in advance
 
I have narrowed my search of swivels for my two front (single) seats. Unfortunately Kiravans are out of stock of a matching pair, so I am looking to buy the Sportcraft swivels.

My question is can the Sportcraft driver seat swivel be used without having to cut plastic trim or lower the handbrake? Any Sportscraft swivel owners able to help?

Thanks in advance
No, you have to lower the handbrake. You can either use the bracket they supply (the plastic trim will no longer fit), cut the original bracket off and weld/bolt it lower down or buy a new seat base with the bracket already lowered. Both latter options you can trim the plastic cover and re fit it.
 
I described how to cut and shut your own base recently
Handbrake Bracket Lowering
I have recently fitted the same seat swivel to my van. I didn’t want to use the shims which raise the seat quite a bit in addition to the swivel itself.
For me the best option was to modify the seat base. Sounds hard but it’s actually pretty easy.
There are some photos in my build thread. And I did buy a spare seat base on eBay for £80 so that I could change them out and keep the van on the road. I plan to sell the spare one when I am done and can get it modified if that’s what’s wanted.
Remove the seat and base from the van. Get a drill and about a 6mm bit. Carefully drill out all of the spot welds that you see holding the handbrake bracket on the seat base. Carefully grind or hacksaw through the small weld on the rear of the box.
The handbrake box should now come off in one piece.
Cut 20mm off the bit hat sticks out of the bottom rear.
Weld the bracket back on 20mm lower than it was and in the same alignment that it was before.
20mm lower makes the lower edge of the handbrake bracket line almost line up with the bottom of the seat base.
(Any competent welder can do this for you and it’s out of the van so you can drop it off and collect it)
Bolt it back in and refit the handbrake. Adjust the cable to tighten it up properly, best done at the rear but you might get away with doing it at the front.
Mark 20mm and cut off the bottom of the lower plastic housing and pop it back on.
Refit seat and it should clear fine and look OEM.
Windsurfing Dream Van
 
Many thanks for the responses. I will add it to my ever increasing list of items to get done in the lockdown.
 
Yes @Branwell it finishes the job off quite neatly. It was bought from a seller on ebay with a more robust lowering bracket because the one supplied with the swivels is a bit flimsy,it works but the stronger one is better
 
Here's a picture before cutting the side of the seat. I cut around the pink line more or less (but then nice and straight ;))
The handbrake is already lowered in the picture, cleaning the interior is not done yet. The metal bracket in the middle is just there, but has nothing to do with anything else here.

IMG_5513.jpg
 
Here's a picture before cutting the side of the seat. I cut around the pink line more or less (but then nice and straight ;))
The handbrake is already lowered in the picture, cleaning the interior is not done yet. The metal bracket in the middle is just there, but has nothing to do with anything else here.

View attachment 73816
I was thinking of doing this too, to save jacking the seat so high so the plastic sides clear the handbrake. How did you get on with it and do you have any more pics of the trim cut back at all please?

Thanks
 
Hey, sorry for the late reply, been moving house and quite a bit of work still left... Here's a picture (not super finely cut, but in real life it looks quite good, you wouldn't know if you didn't look for it..., and the car is VERY dirty after a lot of work and dustmaking around the house).

Grtz


Jan
IMG_8717.jpg

IMG_8717.jpg
 
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