Rear Seat (2nd row) conversion

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AndrewB
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Posts: 11
Joined: Sun May 07, 2023 10:46 am
Engine size/power: 1.9 TDI (74bhp)

Rear Seat (2nd row) conversion

Post by AndrewB »

Hey All,
Just started a rear seat conversion for my:
2008 Maxi LWB 2 seat manual in Australia.
much of the content covered from others but trying to pick up a few of the things I couldn't find others discussing.
Plan is (part underway) to gut out a Caddy life from a wreckers and install the:
Rear seats (Second row)
Seat-belts (second row in the pillars)
All the trims from the Caddy life (it was a 2016 model so will see how that goes)
Then go snow camping @ perisher.
AndrewB
Caddy2k Groupie
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun May 07, 2023 10:46 am
Engine size/power: 1.9 TDI (74bhp)

Seat belt second row rear mounting bolt locations

Post by AndrewB »

Fist Job was gettgin the seat brackets into the New car... That has been well covered by others... so Ill skip to the seatbelts
of the three bolts to fix the OEM belts:
The main re-tractor mechanism was easy enough... I had my local mechanic weld me a 50 x 50 x 3mm square washer onto a lock nut.
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I then temporarily bolted it in place and drilled a 3mm hole in the corner of the washer through the chassis to hold it while I put the seat belt in.
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The top nut I'm planning to lower down or pull up on a piece of string wire to position to see if I can get it in that way...
This was the image of the trial until I realised I have the wrong sized nut fo the belt bolt
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Pulling with wire worked better than string as I had more maneuverability
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The bottom nut I'm still working on... :(
Others have written about mounting through the rear wheel arch with a backing plate (you can access it more easily from under the car by removing the plastic trim in the wheel arch).. I really want to try and get it in its original position.
The original position is marked by 2 small bumps which seem to corrolate to the original 2016 Caddy that I stripped.
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I have found a small (about 15mm hole in the underside of the chassis that I think I may be able to lift the nut up through (Somehow) to alight with the position of the original location. Its about 150mm between the hole and hte underside of the floor pan above.
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The bolt fits through with room to spare so...
the next part will be to design something to lift it up and hold it while I bolt from above
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Doc
Not God, just a bellend
Posts: 18493
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Engine size/power: 2.0TSI EA888 Gen3
Location: Monaghan, Ireland & Derbyshire, UK

Re: Rear Seat (2nd row) conversion

Post by Doc »

I've seen the original point used with a long bolt and a tube sleeve to prevent crushing the panels together when tightening. This may be an option for you rather than fishing a nut through.
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2013 Caddy with EA888 Gen3 2.0TSI DSG, Superplus MSP19 , Caddy4 rear lights, Polo GTI (mk7 style) steering wheel, Relentless Tuning front coilovers, Audi A6 S-Line front seats, Boxster fronts & GTI rear Brakes, 3D Colour Premium dash cluster, Caddy life arm rest, Motexion bulkhead, MIB head unit


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AndrewB
Caddy2k Groupie
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun May 07, 2023 10:46 am
Engine size/power: 1.9 TDI (74bhp)

Re: Rear Seat (2nd row) conversion

Post by AndrewB »

Sigh... long bolt and tube would have been a good Idea...
I spent the time today carving and fishing the nut through the hole... Got it though!!
Don't think I recommend it though... fiddly and I had to shave quite a lot of the backing plate to get it in.
I cut the backing plate down from a 50 x 50 x 3 gal squre washer untill it was just small enough to fit through the hole in teh bottom of the box section of the chassis.
Image
in the end found adding a little tape made it easier
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Im also not sure if it will pass engineering
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