L400 captains chair removal mod

[Artacoma]

From an idea of RichD

Now I can lift the seats in and out with no tools and leave the tracks in place. Also removed two brackets that prevent the seats from swivelling in the forward position and the seat from moving all the way forward with the seat in the down position. These are two "safety features" that I don't need.
I started by skrewing the seats to a piece of plywood so I could test without crawling in the van and it made it easier to do the cutting and assembly.
The seats just drop in now and slide as they always did and there are blocks in the tracks that prevent passengers from self ejecting underway.
With the blocks out the seats slide all the way forward for room for hauling or making room for chillin
This is by far the handiest mod I've done. I probably take the seats in and out for work and camping 6 or more times a year.
pics on the way.

[Artacoma]

pics

[Artacoma]

more pics

[Artacoma]

more pics

[legionnair]

Very interesting but be very careful I don't think it is legal

[Mr. Flibble]

Not to harp on the mod as you have already done it, but if you were to cut holes in the very back of the rails, would it be possible to remove the seats in a backwards pull fashion?

Reason I ask is that I would have concerns of the seats coming loose in a collision.

[Luna-Sea]

Super cool mod Rik!
Any allegations of possible illegality only make
it cooler and give you street cred,you
JDM wildman! Muhawhaha!

Seriously though great idea,looks safe to me if used
As you stated.

Right On!

[jessef]

if you were to cut holes in the very back of the rails, would it be possible to remove the seats in a backwards pull fashion?

Not possible in the stock configuration unless you make a few mods because the channel rails sit flush with the floor carpeting and underlay.

One of two ways.

1. cut out the carpet and underlay approx 10 inches in length by 2 inches width behind both sliders. Just enough so that the seat can be pulled out of the channel guide. You'll have to unbolt the retaining pin at the end (red arrows below)

2. raise the sliders above the carpet.

Option 1 would be ugly.

Option 2 is doable with solid flat bar to act as spacers in between the floor pan and the bottom of the channel rails but it would raise the full slider length above the carpet. Tripping, aesthetics are the two downsides.

If you look 1/2 way down the page, you can see the height of the stock slider compared to it raised when I did the swivel mod on the passenger side (I lifted it up on the front by 3/4")

http://www.delica.ca/forum/l400-swivell ... -7464.html

As for this thread mod, the legality of it is an unknown but I'm guessing it wouldn't sit well with the man. Then again, my first L300 came with a jump seat on the middle bench without a factory seatbelt. The mod is cool. Useful if re&re'ing the seats often.

[Artacoma]

If the seat belt fits on the passenger the seat has to be in a safe locked position.
I removed the lap belts so you can only be seated and belted in the forward facing position with the shoulder belts.
The notch in the track is well forward of the back four hold down bolts which is the area the seat has to be in a stock van for a passenger to use it .
The seats still lock to the track exactly the same as stock.
If the seats are in the full forward position they are not safe for driving ,I know that, but as you can't belt yourself in at that position anyways and I can't reach the gas pedal anyways
I tried twice to post a nice step by step but every time I hit submit everything disappeared , I dawdle too much.
Most importantly tho .......MY SEATS COME OUT WITH NO TOOLS IN 2 SECONDS ....Haha

[Luna-Sea]

Hey,
for your Houdini posts
You were getting logged out probably,
If I do a long post I have another window open
With Delica.CA on it
that I refresh to make sure I am still logged in.
also you can periodically "Select all" the text and save
It to a txt. File or whatnot.
I am ridiculously slow and making up decent posts
And have lost my cool watching my work dissapear
Into noting...sucks.
would love to see your long post if you take another kick at it.
Nice work so far.

Right On!

[FalcoColumbarius]

Oh.... I feel your pain. I periodically preview my work, thus keeping my logged in status from going stale. I also, like Luna-Sea does, Ctrl+C my master piece before clicking the preview button. Just to be sure.

Falco.

[RichD]

Hey Rik,

So I got another set of tracks couple weeks ago and we did a mock up in the van. Extending the tracks so that the middle row can be slid all the way to the front was not difficult. Just need to do a bunch of grinding and weld on new tabs. We did it so that the front section of track is not welded to the rear; just remove the fasteners and the end of the track is exposed, allowing seats to slide off the tracks. So if I am going on a road trip I simply remove the front rails and slide off one chair, then replace the track and the remaining chair on the track can slide way up front and back. This will work for the driver's side too.

The result is more floor space because both front seats can be pushed right up and the seats folded up. Also easy install/removal of the 2nd row.

I'm still looking for an elegant way to protect the bearings on the bases of the chairs so that they are easier to handle in storage.


I'll email you some photos of the finished product when I get it done. Or follow me on G+. I post all my Delica stuff on there.

[nvanadm]

Thanks for the idea. I did the mod on my L300 this weekend. Don't think I need to start a new thread for a L300 captains chair removal mod because it looks like it's pretty much the same thing. If you want to check out the mod on a L300 I posted it here... http://www.delica.ca/forum/nvanadms-der ... 13036.html

[RichD]

Zombie thread. lock it...