In a message dated 2/23/2005 10:49:07 AM Pacific Standard Time,
sean.garrett@asu.edu writes:

have a  1987 standard Passenger van that I have jumpseats for. A
salvage yard  pulled out the weekender interior for me, so I did not get
a good look at  its installation.

What is involved in putting these in (pedestal work)  ?

Here's an old post of mine from 1996.  Good luck.

Jim Davis

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Vanagonuts,

I've had a couple of inquiries about what it took to  accomplish a seating
conversion I recently completed in my 1987 Vanagon GL  Syncro. I think that
this conversion could be done to any year of Vanagon.  Here it is:

A brief history (AKA What the heck is "Wolfsburg  Seating")
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In  the mid 1987 model year VW introduced its line-up of Wolfsburg  Limited
Edition cars that included a version of the Vanagon GL. Most of  the
distinguishing things that make up any Wolfsburg edition are cosmetic  changes
(like special paint colors) and certain options becoming standard on  the
Wolfsburg (like alloy wheels). With the 1987 Vanagon, VW put a little  twist
on its normal offerings and included a special interior arrangement  that (for
lack of a better name) I call Wolfsburg seating. This included a  rear bench
that folds to a bed, a fold-up table on the driver's side wall and  two
rear-facing bucket seats, in place of the 2-passenger front-facing  center
bench. These seats are located direclty behind the driver and front  seat
passenger and have fold-up bottom cushions like theater seats.  Upholstery on
these seats was light gray pinstripe velour. Between the  cushions of the
front seats & the rear-facing seats, a little storage  tray snaps in. For
maximum versatility, each of these seats can easily be  removed by pulling up
on a little knob and lifting the seat out.

The  1987 Wolfsburg was popular enough (by Vanagon terms) to do it again in
1988.  The 1988 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Limited Edition was nearly identical to
the  1987. Upholstery on these seats was again, light gray pinstripe  velour.
Customers from all around flocked to VW showrooms (well 3 or 4 came  anyway)
and in 1989 VW introduced the Vanagon Carat, a model that had this  seating
style all model year long. Upholstery on these seats was again, light  gray
pinstripe velour. Also in 1989 VW had a Wolfsburg edition Vanagon - it  had a
bold diagonal stripe upholstery pattern. Other Vanagons with this  seating
style included the 90 & 91 Multivan & Carat with medium gray  velour
upholstery with pinstripes & little squares and basic Vanagon that  had a
course tweed gray upholstery.

My  struggle
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I liked the  Wolfsburg seating arrangement so much that I wanted to convert my
1987  Vanagon GL Syncro to this style. I searched many wrecking yards, and
called  many more and found that a couple of yards that had the seats thought
that  they were made of either gold or unobtainium. They wanted as much as
$300 per  seat plus $100 for each pair of seat belts! That's $800 for the
seats PLUS  shipping!! The places that didn't have any had very reasonable
prices, hmmm.  I finally found a wrecker that had one seat at a reasonable
price. For $150 I  got one seat, 2 sets of seat brackets and 2 sets of
seatbelts. I did also  have to buy an engine for $1,750 to get this price on
the seat parts. During  my search, I looked into what it would cost to buy
some of the parts at VW  and I found that the "cup" shaped brackets that mount
to the floor were  reasonable, about $40 for a set of 4 if I remember right.
The two brackets  that mount to the battery box were not too awfully high
either at about $45.  each - I'm going from months old memory here. But the
seatbelts!! VW wanted  something like $150/pair ($300 for a complete set) for
the seatbelts! If you  plan to buy these seating conversion parts at a
wrecker, MAKE SURE THE  SEATBELTS ARE INCLUDED in the deal.

Converting to Wolfsburg  seating
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To  do the conversion you first remove the door sill from the slinding door  &
remove (or roll back) the carpeting. Then unbolt the middle bench seat  by
removing 4 bolts with 13mm heads. Slid the seat out the side door  (don't
strain your back!). Remove the bench seat mounting rails that are  bolted to
the floor & reinstall the bolts to seal up the holes in the  floor. I made
filler strips out of plywood to fill void under the carpeting  left by the
removal of the mounting rails. Remove the front section of  carpet
padding/insulation to get direct access to the floor in near the  battery
boxes. Here's where the floor brackets are installed.

These  brackets look like a short length of 3/4" pipe welded to a piece of
flat  steel. Mine came from the wrecker with the surrounding section of floor
still  attached. I had to start the process by grinding off the welds that
held the  floor to the bracket. There are one each of 2 part numbers and 2 of
a third  part number to make a complete set of 4 brackets. I can't give
specific  directions as to where to install the brackets, since I had a handy
88  Wolfsburg nearby to tranfser dimensions from. These four floor brackets
are  arc-welded to the floor. A friend welded mine for me. The floor sheet
metal  is relatively thin compared to the brackets, and this makes for a
tricky  welding job. My friend "welded" a hole through my floor in several
spots - so  be careful. Some wiring & hoses run underneath the van near a
couple of  the brackets. These should be shielded from the bottom of the
floor during  welding to prevent melting. Cut holes in the carpet padding
when  re-installing to allow the top of these brackets to come through  the
pad.

Next mount the battery box brackets to the back side of the  battery boxes.
There are two of these brackets, a right and a left. Don't get  them
mixed-up. These normally mount to the battery boxes with bolts that  thread
into nuts that are welded in place. In a Vanagon that did not come  with this
seating originally, you'll need to use loose nuts. Drill the holes  through
the back side of the battery box. There are two at each end of each  seat's
bracket - eight in all. For each bracket, two of the bolts go through  into
the battery box near the aisle between the front seats - REMOVE  THE
BATTERY(S) - you don't want to drill into it(them). The other two bolts  end
up in the wheel well, accessable from outside the van. Be careful not  to
drill into anything in the wheel well. To give this mounting area a  little
additional support, I made up some little support braces to go undet  the
nuts. These are about 1" wide and 2.5" long and have two holes through  them
where the bolts go through - kind of like a washer built for two  bolts.
Install the seatbelt brackets between the bolt heads and the seat  brackest &
tighten these bolts up snuggly, but leave a little flexibility  for
adjustment. Test fit the seat and adjust the bracket position as  required.
Finish tightening the bolts.

Cut yourself a new piece of  carpeting that won't have a cut-out for the
middle bench seat and will have  four little cutouts for the new seat's floor
mounts.

Well, there you  have it, Wolfsburg seating!

Jim Davis
87 GL Syncro
88 GL  Wolfsburg