Van front seat conversion to 3 seats

[gregory01]

Hi Motorover

You are right in what you say about the size of the seats. They are not huge but I guess it depends on what you need them for. For fitting in a child they are fine and we often do trips with 3 adults as well. Its cozy to say the least but fine for short trips.

When we put in the middle seatbelt there was no electric connection for it (and none that could be seen). As far as I am aware moving the middle seatbelt wont cause any issue. There is one on the drivers seat which makes the van bleep if you are driving without your seatbelt but since you will still have this it wont cause you an issue.

When you say the bulkhead ladder causes a sleeping issue are you aware there is a ladder in the 2 seater version as well?? I only ask as would hate you to go through this whole process and find there is no real difference. The only difference between the ladder on the 2 seater and 3 seater is that the 3 seat version has a small metal bracket welded on for the middle seatbelt to run through, that is it! Other than that they are identical. Im guessing that means it will be needed for the MOT regardless. Im not sure if the ladders are just there to protect the driver from objects in the back flying forward or if they help add some rigidity to the whole van structure.

ps. I have a matching pair of seats from my original van along with center console and bulkhead ladder. Perfect if you still want to convert to a 2 seater. The seats were taken out and the van had only covered 8k at the time so they are as new. Let me know if you are interested in them.

Thanks
Greg

[Motorova]

I originally thought it would be good to have my 6 year old grandson in the middle seat and his mum and dad in the two rear belted seats, (5 belted seats altogether) but grandson still uses a child seat which is wider than the centre seat. I would be happy to keep the 3 front seats as it is fine to use as a 2 seater anyway.
You will not find a wire for the pre-tensioner in a van built for 2 front seats as Citroen leave it out of the loom (would you believe). There is a wire for mine as it was factory built with the Extenso seats. The pre-tensioner is an explosive device (I think) in the seat belt mech. that is electrically linked to the air bag circuit that rigorously tightens the seatbelt if you have a collision to stop the occupant from moving forward. There is quite a bit of slack in a buckled belt and simply locking the reel still allows a lot of movement with the possibility of twisting out of the diagonal. I am not sure if it is an MOT fail if pre-tensioners are not wired but I would not wish to put my passenger at risk especially as there is the centre console and gear lever very close to the centre seat.
The bulkhead ladder frame is there to stop loose items in the van hitting the driver and causing an accident. It is not mandatory on my camper but not sure if it is mandatory on a goods van. The camper people have built thousands with two seats and no frame using the C15 and all versions of Berlingo but mine was the first 3 front seater they had done. Normally the seats are folded down and the sleeping area is extended into the cab area. With the frame in place, unless you are under five foot four, your feet and legs and sleeping bag etc. have to be stuffed through the rungs of the ladder. A bit like sleeping with your legs in stocks. At least you wouldn't roll out of bed, but stuff for nightmares, I imagine.
I would take the frame out and be happy if it weren't for that crude centre seat belt support welded to the frame. If the frame goes, there is no alternative accredited shoulder support for the seat belt and so the Extenso has to go too. The steel frame is quite heavy too so costs fuel.
Thank you for your offer Greg as it would have been a perfect solution. This is a brand new factory camper conversion and the company must put it right under "fit for purpose" and "not as sold on the contract" etc. The Citroen dealer was not keen on doing a swap with a donor van because of the pre-tensioner wiring issues and they have only just acquired a set of matching grey seats after weeks of searching. I could easily have suggested that they purchase your seats if they matched the style in my photo.
In fact the factory had built 2 conversions with the Extensor seats, but having learnt from the problems with mine, they had taken the other camper to the Motorhome show at the NEC in Birmingham last month to sell as a single berth camper based on the lighter 625 kg Berlingo. So there may be another owner looking to fit 2 front seats.............

[Golfbuggy]

Just an update for everyone...

Getting a bulkhead from a 3 seat berlingo is far from easy. The main dealers said they dont sell them and I must have checked parts gateway about 15 times. As luck would have it one came up on ebay which I snapped up a couple of months ago. There really isnt much different other than it had a metal braket welded onto it for the seatbelt (you will need one of these if you are doing the conversion. I also managed to get someone on ebay who strips berlingos for parts to sell me a couple of additional retaining bolts as well as the new plastic center console which fits the 3 seater versions.

I am currently stuck and need a bit of help. I cant seem to see how / where to bolt the seatbelt into the chassis and cant see where the other end of the seatbelt bolts to.

Would someone who has a 3 seater mind adding a photo of their seatbelt assembly for me.

Thanks
Greg