Ford Van Seat Upgrad Question

[ArcticBus]

I have a 1994 E250 with the worse repaired tape and vinyl seats. Anyone try any other types of seats ? What fits in there ? I called and checked the junk yards, no E150/250/350 seats to be had and none on craigslist. Shipping a set of seats to Alaska is ridiculously expensive

Rick

 

[Herbie]

With a little motivation and a welder, almost any seat can be made to fit.

For a van, I find armrests on the seat to be particularly important, since most vans don't have a tall center console. Astro/Safari/Express/Savanna seats might fit the bill. VW Vanagon and Eurovan seats are SUPER comfy and have great armrests, but the older Vanagon seats may be harder to deal with aesthetically unless you recover. I believe there are some Land Rover seats with arm rests?

Your best bet is to just keep an eye on junkyards and grab the first set of clean seats that looks good and meets your needs, then worry about "fit" later. Having a local welder build up a custom base or slider adapter should be cheaper than shipping seats.

 

[hurstjd]

I have brand new (2015) Toyota Sienna Seats in my 1997 Ford E350. I bought the seats on ebay and the mounts from MG MetalWorks. The mounts fit great and the passenger side swivels. The neat thing about the Sienna seats is that they also act as a recliner with the foot rest popping out.

 

[dingus]

i put a set of 6 way power seats in my E 350 4x4 van outa a 2002 pontiac Aztec i got the cool seats for $50 each at the wreckers. there leather grey and black to match my interior and have electric height adjust lumbar suport heat the works even side air bags i hooked up everything but the air bags which i could also hook up but im so hi up side air bags seem a little over board.
I just bought some HD alum 2x2 tubeing and made up a set of custom brackets. theses seats kick the *** of anything i could find in a E 250 or E 350 . everything nice in vans is cloth and i have german shepards and blue heelers so i wanted vinyl and or leather.
I can take a few pics of the mounting brackets if your intrested.
Most guys just want bolt in seats i wanted something really nice a upgrade as i have a bad back. there secure bolted to the floor just like factory seats. I bet my bases are stronger than the thin metal base ford uses.
You being in Alaska maby makeing seats outya something else fit will be the way to go. like the other guys said get a nice set of seats with arm rests (mine have arm rest to) and worry about the base part later.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Stay away from the "captains chairs" available for conversion vans etc. i found them lacking in support. Also if you are fitting up a different seat make sure you take the angle of the swab (the part you park your ******** on) as a lot of the other seats available seem to come up higher in the front. I had to lift the back of the 2nd row honda seats I put in mine up nearly an inch to get them comfortable.

I would also 2nd the comment about double arm rests.

 

[djbonsu]

Also check Craigslist. I too wanted and still want the nice sienna seats but I find that people often want to sell items out of their non-running E150,250 or 350 vans. I scored some nice and surprisingly mint chateau seats out of a 99 E150 with a rotted frame. The original ad advertised the engine and trans for sale so after seeing pics I asked if the seats were for sale and sure enough he sold all 4 to me for $200 With the harnesses and hardware. Be patient, something will come through. Good luck!

 

[ArcticBus]

I can take a few pics of the mounting brackets if your intrested.

Yes please that would be super helpfull we have a wire feed welder at work I can use of need be

 

[peppy]

Any seats can be made to fit as long as they aren't too wide. I bought these Recaro Sport seats with lumbar and cooling fans and then we spent half a day measuring and welding up some adapters. Find some seats you like and just adapt them to the mounts, easiest way to get something comfortable.

 

[Herbie]

See this post in my build thread for how I made some custom mounting rails to fit with a seat swivel base.