Thread: Fitting a Centre Console Box to Single cab Ute

In theory it should fail, not having a seat and belt for the centre passenger, but whether it would actually fail will depend on the person doing the inspection. If they are not familiar with Landrovers it is unlikely that they would even think about the possibility of it being a modification.

But I would be inclined to leave the modification until after the inspection, and make it easy to reverse!

Technically, it will need a mod plate to change the seating and may be picked up if the belts are properly checked. As John said, rego first.

Dunno about Qld., but in Vic it would need an engineer's cert. I had this issue when I went to reregister my Disco, which used to be a 7 seater, and says so on the plate. In my case the tester looked the other way, and I didn't need to present the car to the authorities as it had already been in my name. But at the same time there was a Deefer that had had the rear troop seats removed. $800 engineering check.

As already stated, get it registered first.

Hello John, Ian and Tins,

Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I was thinking it might be a way out of my having to re-upholster the centre seat. I thought that if a centre console was there instead of a seat - it could have been one problem averted.

Obviously, Snowy's previous owner did not align to the philosophy of a stitch in time... Oh, well my domestic duties continue. Who knew that lessons learnt at Primary school would carry over so much into later life. Gee, I might even throw in some nice cross stitching along a seam border! Yes, that was one of the stitches we were taught.

In relation to Engineers' inspections for modifications - I was quoted $500 for each seat if I mounted another manufacturer's seats into the Defender. This is regardless of whether or not the alternative seat is actually stronger and better constructed than the Defender's original seat. So that would have been $1500. For some strange reason I then set about on a quest to get a replacement original Defender driver's side seat frame. It only took me about nine months to get there! Now some of the seat stuff I had been working on - like the bead that holds the upholstery to the seat frame channel - has disappeared into the void.

I must learn that when working on a old Land Rover never assume that the needed part will be available with a week or two. So, soon as a part is needed box and label everything you were working on. Then put the box somewhere it is able to be located at a glance. This is not the first time I have been bitten. I should know better. Older Land Rovers and readily available parts are two different ends of the spectrum.

Kind regards
Lionel