Options for 3-point belts and head restraints?

[Sigg]

I've recently acquired an EB passenger van, and would like to lose the factory benches and replace a few of the rows with bench-type seats with integrated 3-point belts and head restraints. (I can't help it—my other vehicular passion is Volvos). I also need to upgrade to a power drivers seat so my 5' wife can get some wheel time. I have done a lot of searching, and still have a few questions:

1. The later model bench seats look taller (from pictures) AND have an integrated shoulder belt in the middle position. Are they legitimately taller? Are they a direct swap? I've read the front seats can swap over, which would help me find a power drivers seat…AND potentially have my front/rear seats match.
2. I've definitely bookmarked as many threads (here and elsewhere) as I could regarding putting Transit seats in the back. I'm up to the task, but would really love for my front & rear seats to at least decently match. Has anyone put Transit seats up front? The 10-way power ones are hard to find…but worth looking for if swapping them in is a reasonable task.
3. Any other options I may not have explored?

I bought the van (an '01 V10 w/ 71K) for under $4K, so I'm not in too deep. But I also don't want to spend as much on seats as I did on the van.

 

[Raul]

My grief with modern van seats is that they do not fold. I ended adapting the seats from a Tahoe. Center has three point integrated belt, but no head rest. It should not be hard to adapt any SUV seat with a custom frame to the bolting of the van.

The middle row from a Tahoe or a Explorer are quite easy to get from Police outfitters. I paid $75 for mine.

 

[Sigg]

My grief with modern van seats is that they do not fold. I ended adapting the seats from a Tahoe. Center has three point integrated belt, but no head rest. It should not be hard to adapt any SUV seat with a custom frame to the bolting of the van.

The middle row from a Tahoe or a Explorer are quite easy to get from Police outfitters. I paid $75 for mine.

That's an interesting way of doing it. Finding some gray leather Tahoe seats and gray leather front seats (from somewhere) could be a decent match too.

Do the outboard seats use the Ford shoulder belts? And do you have the seats bolted to some square tubular steel that's bolted to the floor? Did you have to drill new holes, or were you able to reuse existing holes?

 

[Raul]

I replaced the lateral Tahoe buckles for the van's ones.
I am using the original seat bottom frame and legs (shortened) to latch in the original seat brackets. I removed the Tahoe pivot frame and bolted the base of the seat to the van seat frame using trailer axle U-bolts. . If I were to do it again I'll build a square tubing frame bolted to the original floor nuts. For us the space under the seats is very useful .
More details here: Built thread: Frame seat

 

[b. rock]

Hm, I like the folding idea. Could you technically use just the driver + middle seat and leave the passenger seat off? Or are those one big assembly?

 

[Raul]

They are two independent seats 60/40. You could fit just the 2 people seat only. You could also fit two of them and have a four people row. I think they will fit.

 

[FROADER]

I don't know if you're still looking, but I replaced my stock bench with '16 or '17 transit seats in mine. The don't fold, but they do "recline" a bit with self contained shoulder harnesses and head rests.

Link to my thread with a pic.

Spaceball 1: 1997 E350 V10

Looks good. Even with only 2" of lift, the 285's on mine look "normal" after being on for a couple of weeks. Thanks. Yeah, there is plenty of room for 285s on these things. Its looking great with the new wheels and tires! I Look forward to you putting some fun miles this Ocotillo Cruiser...

expeditionportal.com

 

[Sigg]

I don't know if you're still looking, but I replaced my stock bench with '16 or '17 transit seats in mine. The don't fold, but they do "recline" a bit with self contained shoulder harnesses and head rests.

Thanks FROADER! Yours is one of the threads I have bookmarked for this. I actually found a guy that was selling a bunch of rows of three, which was exactly what I was looking for. There's only one row of three in a Transit (the first row behind the driver's seat), and for simplicity's sake, that's what I wanted. They were all pulled from prison transport vans for installing the barrier, so it worked out perfect. And to top it off, they're actually the gray vinyl! I hate trying to keep cloth seats clean!

I'm honestly SUPER excited about these! They're brand spankin new…and are going to be a huge upgrade from the Econoline benches. Now, I gotta just find some gray leather front seats to match! I'll post up when I get the floor done, brackets fabbed, and get them installed.

I'll be installing them using L-track, using the same method "i bike" did here:


This is the only pic I have, from when I picked them up (headrests are in a box). I set them like that in there so they wouldn't tip while I was driving them the 3 hours home…

 

[FROADER]

Nice, I wish I did the L-Track in mine. I'll probably swap it over to that at some point when I go to different seats. I'm going to eventually get 2 buckets back there, but I'm not sure what kind. Good luck!

 

[Smoker]

I also have an EB passenger van. I removed all the OEM seats and have 2 Siennas in the 2nd row and went with a set of Tahoe 3rd row seats for my third row. The nice thing about these seats is that they have integrated 3pt belts and the seats fold flat. Not as comfy as the Siennas, but decent for kids and on the rare occasions when I need more passenger capacity. I had a buddy fabricate a base with square steel tubing. The base uses the factory seat bolt points. Buddy used the original Tahoe hardware so the seats can clip in and out, as well as tilt forward. If I need more space, I can unbolt the base from inside, without having to crawl under the van. The plywood sub-floor was cut-out so as to avoid crushing in an crash. A finish floor should bring the surface flush with the seat base. In the pics, don't mind the wall framing--this van is in a constant state of build.

 

[Raul]

I also have an EB passenger van. I removed all the OEM seats and have 2 Siennas in the 2nd row and went with a set of Tahoe 3rd row seats for my third row. The nice thing about these seats is that they have integrated 3pt belts and the seats fold flat. Not as comfy as the Siennas, but decent for kids and on the rare occasions when I need more passenger capacity. I had a buddy fabricate a base with square steel tubing. The base uses the factory seat bolt points. Buddy used the original Tahoe hardware so the seats can clip in and out, as well as tilt forward. If I need more space, I can unbolt the base from inside, without having to crawl under the van. The plywood sub-floor was cut-out so as to avoid crushing in an crash. A finish floor should bring the surface flush with the seat base. In the pics, don't mind the wall framing--this van is in a constant state of build.

I love it. This was another option I considered before going for the second row. These are the main seats for my daughters on long trips. Once they decided they are too old to go camping with us i may go your route.

 

[Sigg]

Thanks for sharing, Smoker! It's great to see options that other people come up with. Someone mentioned in another thread how easy the Tahoe seats are to come by from Police and gov't vehicle builds. I've definitely found some when hunting around online…