Thread: Advice Needed S3 SWB Seat Mods

Will

Yes - to have adequate room to rake the back of the seat you need to cut down the transom behind the seats. Then the cut edge needs to be protected and supposedly you need to add a reinforcement to the sides, this is what some of the "Bars" you mentioned do.

You can do that with the bar from MUD products in the UK or if a bit handy make one yourself. (Remember that 110 wagons don't have a transom and no longer have a bar in the middle, although the "B" pillar is 1 piece.)

Defender seats bolt to exactly the same holes as your current seat base/rails, so there is no engineer certification required - I believe the RTA calls it a self certification. Any other brand/make requires an "Engineers Certificate" or a type approval. If you are a bit tall you may wish to also fit some booster rails. In MUD products they are called Mud rails.

Diana

Thanks Diana that makes the mud seem a bit clearer!

Do all Defender seats fit or just upto a particular year/model?

unless the SWB is shorter between the transome and the back of the seats theres no need to cut the transome, I put new seats in the better 1/2's SIII plenty of room to move the seats back even for me 5'11", when you take the angle out of the seat base it lifts the back of the seat up which allows for the seat back to go a lot further back.

Tony

Originally Posted by tony

unless the SWB is shorter between the transome and the back of the seats........

Tony

It is - by 10cm to be exact, according to measurements I just made.

John

Originally Posted by __Will__

Thanks Diana that makes the mud seem a bit clearer!

Do all Defender seats fit or just upto a particular year/model?

Will

MUD have a website you may wish to visit MUDSTUFF.CO.UK - Have you got MUD? - Land Rover Solutions there is a bit of information on the site in particular info on the "bulkhead removal bar" or transom what ever you wish to name it.

My understanding is all Defender seats and that would apply to County seats as well but I don't know what their reputation is. The main thing is that the seat box is the same as the design of the old series seatbox. The reason I mentioned Defender seats is because I have a set to fit into my SIIB project and needed some where you could lift the base to access the oil filler window.

Tony

You could be quite correct about being able to fit the seats, however if you wish to "rake" the seat back as my post suggested, then you are very limited by the transom.

Diana

you can also just cheat a little by putting support wedges under the securing rails of a sliding seat so that the rails are up over the re-enforcing ridge of the transom then when you slide back the seat extends over the lip...

dont forget to pull off the wedge blocks that mount the rubber stops for the seat back and then give your old seat bases and backs to someone doing a resto job.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Will

MUD have a website you may wish to visit MUDSTUFF.CO.UK - Have you got MUD? - Land Rover Solutions there is a bit of information on the site in particular info on the "bulkhead removal bar" or transom what ever you wish to name it.

My understanding is all Defender seats and that would apply to County seats as well but I don't know what their reputation is. The main thing is that the seat box is the same as the design of the old series seatbox. The reason I mentioned Defender seats is because I have a set to fit into my SIIB project and needed some where you could lift the base to access the oil filler window.

Tony

You could be quite correct about being able to fit the seats, however if you wish to "rake" the seat back as my post suggested, then you are very limited by the transom.

Diana

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

you can also just cheat a little by putting support wedges under the securing rails of a sliding seat so that the rails are up over the re-enforcing ridge of the transom then when you slide back the seat extends over the lip...

dont forget to pull off the wedge blocks that mount the rubber stops for the seat back and then give your old seat bases and backs to someone doing a resto job.

as I said if you alter the angle of the seat base to make the thing sit horizontal insted of the stupid sloping down at the rear this brings the seat base over the lip of the transom (as dave suggests) and this allows the rake i presume this is the seat moveing backwards and forwards a far grater span of movement befor contacting the rear sloping transom
as i said we have no drarams in the LWB and to be honest I didnt think there was a differance in the SWB seat base and transom area so the 10cm comes as a surprise

T

Sorry Tony, I shouldn't have assumed that people knew the term.

Rake: Is the relationship that the backrest has to the squab or seat (the bit where your bum sits). When you have less or lower "rake" the backrest is sloped more towards the horizontal and greater "rake" the backrest is more to the vertical or a right-angle to the seat. The term is also used for the slope of a roof on a house and the angle of the front forks on a motorcycle or pushbike.

In the Land Rover if you want to lower the rake on a seat (or lay the seat back) the original transom prevents it.

Also the term "transom" is what many people call the "bulkhead" is the horizontal dividing barrier between the front seating area and the rear tub area and both terms are correct. On a boat transom refers to the horizontal bit at the back where an outboard motor may be clamped. In the Series 1 Land Rover you will hear the term transom used in describing the pre-1950 and post-1950 80". The wide transom vehicles are the up to 1950 ones with the fixed backrests held on with a couple of bent 1" flat bar brackets. The narrow transom ones are the ones where the backrest is hinged at the bottom.

Diana