09' Multispace to van conversion

[jemselectrical]

Hi,

I'm in the process of converting my newly acquired petrol Multispace into a work van to subvert Kahn's ULEZ. 

One particular issue I am encountering is the front seat chassis mounts that are in the rails of the chassis. The outer pairs are contained in a spot welded square cage within the rails and are not movable. All of the rest of them are a GRP modular unit that must've been installed after the chassis was painted and appear to be a slide in unit that passes through the rail and supports an approximately 30mm wide by 6mm thick M10 square nut on the top of it, which the seat bolts engage with. The nut is able to freely move upwards to clamp against the underside of the chassis rail

The modules are able to be installed to suit the multiple different seating setups: LHD with single passenger seat, RHD with single passenger seat, LHD with dual passenger seat and RHD with dual passenger seat

The issue I've got is how in the hell do I get the damn things out?

I'm changing from two front seats to the split dual passenger unit from the van version. I need to move one existing one, and add three extra ones in.
Pictures to follow:
any info will be greatly appreciated, cheers James

[jemselectrical]

Update: I've managed to suss out how these modular front seat mounting doobries come out.

You need to push down on the threaded nut to push the raised section that holds the nut, then it drops into the main retainer thus allowing the whole unit to be removed. 

When you reinstall into the appropriate position for the seating arrangement you want to use, when you start to tighten up the seat bolts, the nut and its retainer raise up to meet the bottom face of the seat rail.

[jemselectrical]

Here's some more detail which may be of help to others wanting to change seat configurations by using factory original mounting points: 
                   

[jemselectrical]

P.S: To do any of this you will need to completely take out the floor carpet unit in the mid/rear footwell to access the rearward front seat rails, and raise up the front footwell section to access the forward front seat rails.

[Sol]

Excellent bit of work James, I'm going to sticky this thread as there are always people looking for info on seat issues / camper conversion etc.

[jemselectrical]

I spent most of yesterday on a trip to a great place called Spinksies tyres down in Rochester in Kent, it's run by a guy called Chris who's a bit of a backyard specialist in Berlingo/ Partner spares. I've got my solid side loading doors, the extension of the loading bed that incorporates the front middle seat belt reel mount, van cabin roof liner and also the necessary parts from the rear pillars to change the tailgate over to solid barn doors. I can't recommend him highly enough, he was extremely helpful and very reasonable on price
Also managed to pick up a square metre of mild steel 0.9mm sheet for blanking off the rear side windows from some fabricators in Aylesford for £20!

[cancunia]

I've not driven down to 'The Smoke' in quite a few years so am a bit puzzled about ULEZ and how it applies to diesel Vans vs Cars. Don't they both have to be Euro 6 compliant?

For the load bed extension, you may get an advisory on your MoT if the rear seats are missing?

[dxcamper]

This is really useful - I have often thought of changing my camper front seats to the van configuration so I have 3 up front. Be really interested to see the finished job!

With regards to MOT advisories - I have had none with all rear seats missing in the last 2 years so I don't think they check?

[cancunia]

With regards to MOT advisories - I have had none with all rear seats missing in the last 2 years so I don't think they check?

I think it depends on the MoT testing station or individual tester. If there are no rear seats, they can't test the seatbelts and may / should note that on the MoT Test Cert.

[jemselectrical]

With regards to MOT advisories - I have had none with all rear seats missing in the last 2 years so I don't think they check?

I think it depends on the MoT testing station or individual tester. If there are no rear seats, they can't test the seatbelts and may / should note that on the MoT Test Cert.

In terms of legality and MOT compliance, if the factory seats are removable, and not in situ when MOT'd, then they are simply omitted from inspection and noted that they were absent so could not be tested. 

However, the V5C clearly states how many seats are declared at registration, so by changing the front seating arrangement to three seats one of the rear seats has to be omitted unless you then apply to change the V5C to incorporate extra seats, which then opens up the can of worms that is vehicle insurance declaration and dumps you in the "modified vehicle" nightmare. The V5C does not specify where the seats are in the vehicle, only how many. That's something you do need to consider with something like this.

Taking seats out does not affect insurance, only addition above the original amount at registration.