"modern" seat options for '68 109 3 door

[chester rides again]

ok, i didn't note it in another thread, but i just bought another truck - a beautifully restored '68 109 3 door with both full and pick-up hard tops. my previous posts addressed the different top options and you all did a great job addressing the myriad of top options - confirming my suspicion that a 109 lwb 3 door is the way to go.

now i'm facing a seating delema. the origional 3 seats in front have to go if i'm going to feel at all safe driving this truck. i'd like something with some head support that fits nicely into the existing space so that i can have both the pick-up and full tops on. i also need to replace the front seatbelts, and then it's on to the rear area.

I have two young children (5&7) who are demanding to ride in the truck. right now there is nothing for them to sit on. ideally, i'd love to have side mounted, forward facing rear seats, suitable for booster seats, BUT Exmoor lock and fold seats are 500 british pounds each, plus shipping!

i'd love to hear your solutions to updating the seating situation in this classic truck.

the previous owner, mr. leaming from niagara falls, on called the truck "GROVER", so GROVER it is...

:thumb-up:

[chester rides again]

i read another post here about jeep cj7 seats in the rear, but upon looking at some jeep sites, it looks like the rear seats will sit right on the floor. is it as simple as building a frame to raise the seat up a few inches?

anyone care to comment?

[LH Drive]

I too am working on a rear seat to adapt a car seat for my young one on my 88" Series 3. I found a good used CJ7 rear seat that I plan to use. This seat fits inside the rear wheel wells but I don't plan on bolting it to the floor. I had an old 1964 International Scout that had a rear bench seat that was off the floor. The Scout also had the same style rear wheel wells and that is where the seat metal frame was mounted to. They used a tall Z bracket, the top bolted to the wheel well and the bottom of the Z is where the seat bolts to. A tube was bent in a way that it wraped around the seat for back support and the side doubled as an arm rest. This is my next project and yes i'll take pictures and post them here.
Here is a picture of a Scout with the rear seat. The Scout rear wheel wells are 1 1/2 inches wider between them to a Series so the seat will not fit but a CJ7 seat will fit fine.

[chester rides again]

did the jeep seats have seatbelts attached? were they 3 point?

[LH Drive]

did the jeep seats have seatbelts attached? were they 3 point?
No they are not 3 point,,I don't think 3 point seat belts come factory unless its a New Sports Car $$$$
We are talking about a bench low back seat but you can add high back bucket seats with 3 point harness and an eject button if you like.

another picture of the same seat

[msggunny]

Dang,

I was looking for those seats before i got my CJ seat.

I think they used to sell them, or something similar, at JC Whitney years ago.

The CJ seat will fit, just buy some of the fold and tumble brackets or fab a box and mount it to it.

[chester rides again]

i stumbled onto some links to minibus rear seats WITH attached 3 point seat belts. they sit high up on a frame and are narrow. looks like the answer, but i'm only finding them listed in the UK.

Ford Transit Minibus is one example
http://www.cabmasters.com/Transit%20Seat.jpg

these types of seats look like they would be great for kids and adults, plus the raised seat base frame would allow for storage.

HELP me find a U.S. source for these!!!

[luckyjoe]

Here is what I have in the back of my 109 2-door:
http://www.series2forum.co.uk/Gallery/albums/userpics/10036/Rear_bench.jpg

This is a Cj rear bench from Besttop. I love it! It is a fold-n-tumble, and I positioned it a little further back from the bulkhead to allow for adult-sized legs. This means that it doesn't fold flush to the bulkhead, but I usually either fold it, or completely remove it. Great for a camp chair too. The seat mounts bolt to the floor (front) and side of the wheelbox (rear). I raised the front mounts with 1/2" spacers, and the rear mounts could be inverted to gain about 1" using the same holes (add +1" in front to maintain the seat angle). This seemed the best installation solution to allow for kids-growing-into-teens, and IMHO sitting 'low' in the Rover is preferred to sitting 'high'. At the moment I have lap belts, but I will install inertia shoulder belts when the hardtop goes on this Fall.

Regards,

[chester rides again]

luckyjoe,

AWESOME! that's pretty much what I was arriving at since I can't seem to source the other seats and the kids will end up sitting pretty high.

now if i could just find those rear bench seats with integreated 3-point seatbelts...

Jeff

[LH Drive]

Luckjoe, do you plan on mounting the seat belts to the hard top like the front 3 point belts mount? This is where I find the problem to be on the 3 point seat belt system. Where to mount the shoulder belts to since they don't make one for Series Rovers.

[luckyjoe]

LH Drive,

Yes, something like that. I have it pictured in my head, but I have yet to mock it up on the Rover...

I'll post full details when it's decided and done.

Regards,