Bongo Fury

So, here is the script.
I have a 1995 Ford Freda. Driver seat, passenger seat, middle bench has been turned round so facing the rear of the van. Short rails. I have a small side kitchen unit on passenger side and the remaining gull wing seat on the drivers side.

So, after over 8 pages of trawling the "seat" threads and losing the will to live, I am still no further forward.

What I really want to do is have the driver and passenger seat rolled forward and the backrest folded back flat (removing headrest), then roll the middle bench (70/30 split) forward and the backs folder back flat (removing headrests) so that I can then sleep two adults down either side of the cabin with either heads in the middle of the van or heads up either side of the handbreak / centre console area.

It seems that this can be done (????) but with much tweaks to the runners, either change to long ones or some other nip and tuck. A camper conversion place in Scotland told me today that it was not possible to do this on a 1995 van with gull wing seats and as such my front and middle seat will never lie flat.

On the other hand I spoke to another camper conversion chap in Scotland who has a set of second hand long runners that he will install for me next Monday if I need them. I think he was concerned that the runner might be hindered by the catch that the gull wing seat secures to when in place on the floor but from looking at the threads here it seems that the runner will be pretty much right next to the wheel arch while the fixing for the gull wing is further into the middle of the van, therefore not in the way of long runners.

The long and short then, an answer please from someone who has done what I am needing to do or understands what I want, CAN I DO IT??? (well, can a man that can do it!). Please put me out of my misery before Monday please as I am driving from Aberdeen to central belt to potentially have the job done.

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/b ... eda015.jpg

Please ignore the kitchen unit, my dad will be making this better by moving it 6 inches towards the rear door and scribed to fit the contours of the side of the van.

Yes you can
Long runners won't foul the flippy seat floor bracket.
BUT you don't need to fit the full length of a long runner if you just want to be able to sleep on front & reversed middle seats, you can cut the long runners down so that they are longer than the short runners, ie long enough to roll the mid reversed seats back far enough, which I think is @ 6 inches longer than the existing short runner. This makes the fitting a lot simpler & probably cheaper.
Here's the long rails fitted with seat brackets in situ

MY HERO kiss kiss kiss!!

This is very nice music to my ears. Off to some far flung place near Glasgow for me now. He did say that he would consult his techie guy but I was hoping the news would be good.

I'm all set now.......dad ready and primed to improve the existing kitchen unit, memory foam bought ready to adapt to make a seat/bed topper and cut in all the right places, mum on hand to cut and refit the cover on the memory foam mattress. basin bought for the sink! The fact the basin is too big is besides the point

Khyam motordome tourer awning bought too and ready to have a go at putting it up. New Kenwood tranny with bluetooth fitted. Laptop now has freeview dongle and I managed to get a second hand avtex aerial from a very nice chap here on the forum.

All I need now is some beverages and something to sleep under. Just sold my sleeping bags not that long beofre we knew we wanted to buy a bongo! DOH

To say I am excited is an understatement

Make sure if they fit the long rails, that they know the captive nuts are already in place under the floor to bolt to, you just have to mark the position & drill very carefully through the floor so you don't knacker the thread on the nut underneath.
Enjoy

Will do. I will print this thread and the fact sheet too and take it with me.

Thank you very much again!

Hi Lorraine

If your Dad can re-locate the kitchen he certainly could fit the rails himself.
It's not a quick job - removing seat & carpet/drilling/fitting/cutting carpet etc. - but is not technically challenging.

One thing you may want to consider though - if you fit the full length of the long rail you may find that the kitchen unit fitting will then be a bit high as the rail & cover will be slightly higher than just the carpet it sits on just now. Of cousre you can cut the rail short to suit the kitchen position.

If your man down south was unsure of how it would fit he has presumably not done one before - it may be worth checking he has the right bolts for the rails - they are a fine pitch thread and not common.

I sent a PM on Monday btw.

Good luck

Regards Grahame

I'm sure my dad could if I asked him but he is not as young as he used to be so I'd prefer to let him do what I know he likes and does well and leave the drilling bit to the car type people.

The nice people at the other place are waiting for me to turn up on Monday so I'll head there and see what they say. I will print this off though to help them out.

Watch this space.............

missfixit70 wrote:Make sure if they fit the long rails, that they know the captive nuts are already in place under the floor to bolt to, you just have to mark the position & drill very carefully through the floor so you don't knacker the thread on the nut underneath.
Enjoy

Are thes nuts accessible from under the van?

If so I use would some suitable plastic tubing or maybe a piece of rawlplug in the empty nut to centre a pilot drill from underneath rather than trying to estimate the correct spot on the inside.

Frank

Pretty sure I looked at that option, but it wasn't feasible. I didn't find it too complicated to line up the rails & find the right spots TBH, pilot drill with a small drill to start with, not really any guesswork involved.

Certainly easier than crawling underneath !

Frank

Easy enough to crawl underneath, especially if you stick it on ramps, worth looking to check if there are any accessible, just make sure you wear close fitting goggles, not pleasant getting metal in your eyes if you do, done it a few times over the years
As said before though, the easier option is going for cut down long rails, no extra holes needed then

Just dug these pics out that may help





As you can see (I must admit I'd forgotten ) there are "creases" on the floor that help you line it up.

This is excellent and no excuse for the techie man not to be able to do a nice job!

You are all so helpful, thanks

I was just satisfying my curiosity too, couldn't remember for sure what was under there Make sure the newly drilled metal is painted/protected to stop it rusting, a dollop of waxoil in each hole wouldn't go amiss either.

Roger!