Swapping bench seats

Technical questions and answers about the Mazda Bongo

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Markas
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Location: Deux-Sèvres, France

Swapping bench seats

Post by Markas » Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:52 pm

Not particularly technical I know, but I'm considering swapping the rear one-piece bench for the middle row split seat and having the 'new' middle row seat facing rearwards. Do I need to take out the runners and move those around or can I just unbolt and swap the seats over?
I'm planning to do this in anticipation of having a rear kitchen conversion fitted later in the summer :) It strikes me that the one-piece seat will make a better bed base as it's a bit less bumpy!
Mark
1999 Bongo 2.0L, Northstar Outback rear conversion
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cmm303
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Re: Swapping bench seats

Post by cmm303 » Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:28 pm

Swapping the two benches is fine without changing the runners.
But .... The standard mechanism for releasing the runners is asymmetrical so to keep the ability to slide the reversed seat forwards and backwards you must

either reverse the runners as well (by removing them from the rail and putting them back in the other way round)

or by modifying the mechanism on the seat. (there have been discussions on this. You could sift through a search like reversing +(seat |seats) +(modification |runner |runners)

Choice depends on how often you'll want to change the seat's orientation. First option if this is a one-off, second option if a regular thing.
Chris with BertieB
'96 White unconverted AFT 2.5L Diesel 4WD
Markas
Bongolier
Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2017 3:53 pm
Location: Deux-Sèvres, France

Re: Swapping bench seats

Post by Markas » Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:22 pm

Thanks for that, it's saved me a lot of time on a fruitless experiment.
Looks like I'll be swapping the runners around!
Mark
1999 Bongo 2.0L, Northstar Outback rear conversion
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cmm303
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:10 pm
Location: Chippenham, Wiltshire

Re: Swapping bench seats

Post by cmm303 » Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:34 pm

Markas wrote:Thanks for that, it's saved me a lot of time on a fruitless experiment.
Looks like I'll be swapping the runners around!
Useful links:
Sticky thread on reversing middle seat - this is the one I used, first ever job on my Bongo was to put seats back how Mazda intended!! http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... sing+seats
FAQ with links: http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... =43&t=9562
Chris with BertieB
'96 White unconverted AFT 2.5L Diesel 4WD
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