Rear Seats

This is going to be one of the very few alterations made to the Lightweight.  Having two kids means that having only the two front seats is a bit of a nuisance and a lost opportunity for us to go out together in the vehicle, so additional seating needed to be fitted to the rear.

Fitting a pair of two-man benches would be the simplest, cheapest and most authentic solution, but safety is poor for the occupants, even if lap belts are fitted – there is little support in an impact and a roll-over results in heads hitting the road.  So, we needed to fit forward or aft facing seats.  We toyed with the idea of using Exmoor Trim’s forward facing fold up seats, like in the back end of my 109, but these need to be folded up to enter or exit the back of the vehicle and would need a roll cage to fit three-point seat belts.  Fitting them facing aft would cure the access problem, but I don’t think they’d handle the forces in a crash.

That left Exmoor Trims inward facing fold up seats, the bigger ones made to replace a Defender’s inward facing tip-up seats.  These are designed to be fitted to the tub wheel arches facing inwards and could be fitted as a group of four.  We only need the two seats, but wanted them facing aft, so I have built a cradle that spans the space between the wheel arches.  It’s made of 3mm thick 50mm section box tube with 3x50x50mm steel angle at each end.  This was given a couple of coats of red oxide primer before painting with the same NATO green paint used on the vehicle body.   The seats attach to the cradle in the same way they would be attached to the wheel arch, and the cradle also carries the lap belt buckles between the seats.  It is fitted to the tub with three vertical and two horizontal M10 bolts on each side rail, with spreader plates and plenty of corrosion protection.

The cradle has extended legs on its forward side to make sure it sits at the correct distance from the tub bulkhead.  This separation prevents heads colliding in an accident and also allows the small stowage brackets on the back of the bulkhead to be used easily – they’re perfect for holding bottles of lead-replacement fuel additive, window cloths and windscreen scrapers.  The kids can now come with us in the Lightweight, and we can even get the dogs in for short drives.  It’s not an authentic looking addition, but it is all removable and the bolt holes in the wheel arch can be filled with grommets.  I will add an additional brace between the seat backs and the tub bulkhead to take impact forces before the kids grow much bigger, but the seats are at least usable for the meantime with the kids still being relatively light.