Passenger swivel seat

[SupaDave]

Hi all, anybody installed a swivel seat base for the front passenger seat? I have the CPU & hard drive under my passenger seat & wondered if this was gonna be a problem.

[Rojie]

59 minutes ago, SupaDave said:

Hi all, anybody installed a swivel seat base for the front passenger seat? I have the CPU & hard drive under my passenger seat & wondered if this was gonna be a problem.

 

Fitting a swivel seat to a Gen 1 is entirely possible; but not cheap.

 

Northstar (Isle of Wight) will do it for you; but they will not supply the swivel mechanism separately (or at least they didn't).

 

Be very cautious of so called universal swivels; many are made to fit VWs.

 

Don't forget to tell your insurance company if you go ahead with the modification.

[dezufo]

22 hours ago, SupaDave said:

Hi all, anybody installed a swivel seat base for the front passenger seat? I have the CPU & hard drive under my passenger seat & wondered if this was gonna be a problem.

From what I have read elsewhere, the units under the seat are for the tv and/or satnav, the CPU is behind the dash and the hard drive is built in to the head unit

[evilb]

I just unbolt my ah10 (2003) passenger seat (4x 14mm bolts) and flip it round.

Then secure it with some m6 bolts and nuts at the front (of the floor bracket).

So the lugs at the front of the seat sliders drop into the threaded rear bolt holes, and then secure the rear slider holes through the hole that the front lugs normally go through (using slightly smaller bolts, because the standard bolts dont fit.

I also drilled 2 holes in the rear of the floor bracket, so i can secure the vertical tabs.

Takes about 3 minutes to unbolt and rebolt to change direction if i need to carry a passenger, and the seat isn't overly heavy.

 

I'd love a proper bracket but im in Australia and the uk made bracket and postage is a bit exxy.

It's a great budget solution (free 😁) and doesn't add any height to the seat in either direction, which is great because im 6 foot tall.

 

[Rojie]

5 hours ago, evilb said:

I just unbolt my ah10 (2003) passenger seat (4x 14mm bolts) and flip it round.

Then secure it with some m6 bolts and nuts at the front (of the floor bracket).

So the lugs at the front of the seat sliders drop into the threaded rear bolt holes, and then secure the rear slider holes through the hole that the front lugs normally go through (using slightly smaller bolts, because the standard bolts dont fit.

I also drilled 2 holes in the rear of the floor bracket, so i can secure the vertical tabs.

Takes about 3 minutes to unbolt and rebolt to change direction if i need to carry a passenger, and the seat isn't overly heavy.

 

I'd love a proper bracket but im in Australia and the uk made bracket and postage is a bit exxy.

It's a great budget solution (free 😁) and doesn't add any height to the seat in either direction, which is great because im 6 foot tall.

 

 

Great, and simple, idea.

 

Driving with a rear facing front seat, in the UK, would be illegal (as well as dangerous).

I assert this as I am almost certain the front seatbelt will not be available or fully operative, and nor would the dash airbag.

 

I guess OZ does not get the rain Bilghty does.

[evilb]

9 hours ago, Rojie said:

 

Great, and simple, idea.

 

Driving with a rear facing front seat, in the UK, would be illegal (as well as dangerous).

I assert this as I am almost certain the front seatbelt will not be available or fully operative, and nor would the dash airbag.

 

I guess OZ does not get the rain Bilghty does.

Certainly not planning on driving with anyone in that seat while it's facing backwards.  But it's good to know that it's a possibility when you get to where you're going.

  I honestly think it's a better option than a rotating swivel because you  don't lose any headroom. 

I think having tried it out I think  if I had put a swivel in that was three centimeters thick it would be too tall for me to sit in comfortably anyway. 

And the great thing is, it doesn't cost anyone anything to try it 🙂

[Rojie]

8 hours ago, evilb said:

Certainly not planning on driving with anyone in that seat while it's facing backwards.  But it's good to know that it's a possibility when you get to where you're going.

  I honestly think it's a better option than a rotating swivel because you  don't lose any headroom. 

I think having tried it out I think  if I had put a swivel in that was three centimeters thick it would be too tall for me to sit in comfortably anyway. 

And the great thing is, it doesn't cost anyone anything to try it 🙂

 

You make an extremely good point, which I overlooked, about the reduction in headroom.

This often gets overlooked.

 

I have 'played' with changes to seat arrangements; just scoping out possibilities.

Hence my reference to rain, no point in getting the seat soaked, not much fun sitting a a wet seat !

 

Just a thought, do you have an 8 seater ? With the middle seats that reverse ?

It could be worth checking whether the smaller middle seat fits on the front seat chassis !

[evilb]

No. I didn't have swivel middle row seats, so can't confirm.

But can definitely confirm that at 180cm/6' tall, there would have been no point turning the front seat backwards if it was three to four centimeters higher.