I'm ready to fit the seats!
Moved the van over on the drive (it fits with about enough room to get past !) so I can work on the offside. I have decided to do the offside seat as that should only mean I have to remove the plastic and metal heat shields. (he thought optimistically) But I am going to have to drop the fuel tank to do the nearside.
Plastic panel removed reveals the chassis, I had to remove both the plastic ones along the nearside. But at least it shows that I might be able to fit a water tank along that side. Although my kitchen is nearside (or will be!) we'll see.
That done I found that I had to remove the metal heat shields along the middle to access the inner bolts. Was a bit of a faff, 8mm screws and a couple of those washer shaped quick fit discs that just press on. (have no idea what the are called) They seem to be used a locating pin before the 8 mm screws are fitted. Wasn't to bad and managed to gently pull the shiled over the exhaust and out of the way.
I have a Propex heater on its way so will need access for the exhaust pipe to be run.
So time to drill the small hole to see where the bolts will run......................oh bugger! the rear nearside drill hole has disappeared! Did a bit of measuring and it seems that it is smack back in the middle of that small cross member! Moved the seats around to see if I could avoid it. In the end I decided that actually although obviously I will need longer bolts! using the cross member means I do not need metal plate reinforcement. Thought hard a long about this, but I have no choice unless I lose either floor space in the front or storage at the rear. I would have to move the seat around 4" forward or rearwards either way was not good news. move it forward limits space when all four seats are used for seating on sites or to far back to be able to make the beds. Moving it back means passenger has less of a view out of the window. Not good for the little ones! It also compromised the seat belt location as I am using the OEM mounts. It would make the positioning uncomfortable. I did try it out and it was not good!
See this is why I've been putting off fitting the seats! I knew it would be hassle! I'm guessing manufactures just move them to make life easy, but what the point of a self build if you cant set it out how you want it.
I was trained as a panel beater back in the day and rebuilt and restored many fancy vehicles so I am happy to use the chassis rail. I'm sure someone out there will say I'm wrong!
So I need to go get some longer bolts which looks like I will have to buy the threaded rods as I cant find any bolts long enough!
The good news is the other three bolts will be easy enough to sort (I might need to drop the exhaust enough to get at the the last rear bolt).
Offside seat in its final position below. It sits nicely inline with the C post and the seat belt fits comfortably across the shoulder. So just waiting on some shorter bolts to arrive. Boy is it a fiddle to place the seatbelt upper mount! the use of wire/ welding rod is needed to place it in position as the only access is from the bottom mount C post panel. So wire down the post attach the bracket bring it back up to the hole. As I have to cover the C post I haven't tightened it all in position as it will have to be taken off when I cover the post. But I think a couple of dabs of Sikaflex on the bracket will at least hold it in place when finally bolted up and will stay there if I ever need to remove the belt etc.
The position of the seats allows them to be moved forward for travelling enough for conversation and keeping the nearly 3 yr old grandson happy with a video player strapped to the back of the drivers seat! As long as its Thomas the Tank of course!
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