Rear seating in vans

I got 2 young kids,and was wondering if any of you had gone to the trouble of butting legal rear seating?Im considering rear seats from a RAV4 or simalar,low mounting with integrated seat belts,and getting my engineer to fit them....any other suggestions/pics?

Did an XB many years back before LPG was all the rage....

Removed standard ute/van fuel tank and replaced rear floor (after diff) with the same section from an XB Station Wagon (losing spare wheel under locker).
Fitted the Wagon Rear Bar.
Removed the wall panel behind front seats.
Fitted the wagon carpet, trims, rear seat, seat belts, mounts on the wheel rear arch etc.
Fitted Front buckets from an XC Coupe.

All components were standard for the model, nothing manufactured or used for purpose it wasn't intended and the engineer signed off on it with out much more than a physical look at seat & seatbelt mounting.

Was a damn sexy piece of vehicular butchery but very functional, fold rear seat flat and it looked almost like ever other panel van.

Not sure about how they would go in a Ford BUT my HZ has a 3rd seat out of a TR Magna wagon, and another member on this forum has one of the 3rd row seats out of a VT wagon.
How old are your kids and where abouts are you at?

Thanx for the responses guys,this has been one of my main worrys about the whole build,I have a 2yo and a 5yo,and want both of them to enjoy it with me after its finished.....and im in cold old tassie.....

The one i have, have a facility for a child restraint in the base as well.

G`Day mate,

Welcome to the `asylum`.

I have heard that seating safety will be changing over from Austraian standards to Euro sometime next year.

That`s just what I`ve heard... You`ll have to talk to your engineer about that!

Do you have any idea what the changes will be?

I have found in the past, if you use Factory components same age or newer than the vehicle in question the only thing in question will be the welds or securing of such items.

When I did the Falc, I used all factory rear seating bits from a wagon same body shape. Only thing that they looked at was the bolt mounts for seat and seat belt were re-enforced not just to the sheet metal (cheated here too, cut the original mounts from the wagon floor, drilled bolt size hole in van floor, fitted everything in and tack welded the plates to the van floor from underneath)

Only other thing is adequate clearance for passengers, same rules as roll cages for head strikes etc in the event of an accident.

Any component you fabricate yourself or purchase aftermarket must be either ADR compliant or tested/inspected further.
Stick with original bits and it should sail thru!

hi lads,

i am about to install a wagon rear seat into my ht. they share the same floor pan and the base sits in fine. i just need to cut away some of the floor supports (stamped steel) to make the back of the seat fit and fold down. has any body done this before and have pictures or information? i'm happy to work it out as i go but any info would be appreciated and save me some time.

I stand to be corrected but i think Dawso (Wastelands??) had a seat in the back of his Hk-t-g.
If so you may be able to see his at the nats.

crap! more salt in the wound agro...i am unable to attend this years can i request many photo's of it?

Hi there... yes Dawson has the seat in the back, fold down as well. if you're ok with it, pm me your email details or your phone number and i'll get him to talk to you - so to speak..... thanks Maz

Maz you are the best!! spoke to dawso yesterday (top bloke) and he gave me some great information on how to do this! when i do make a start on it i will post a heap of pictures of the progress. thanks again Maz and thanks dawso...i owe you both a beer!

no problem.... hope it works out for you and we'll definitely take u up on that beer! and we want to see that van at the next nationals no matter where they are being held! I may be up end april so i'll b in touch.

Still havnt done my conversion yet, sorry for the late PM HT Vanner, i dont get on the computer for too long these days.

Cheers Aaron.