New SIIA Dormobile – help please!

[pommiejohn]

Hi

Just acquired a 1967 Series IIA Dormobile and loving it (hope to post some photos soon). It’s not in too bad shape, but I would very much appreciate a bit of help with 3 things:

1. Front nearside dormatic seat (double) – I think there is a bracket or something missing at the bottom of the seat, along the back. The seat seems only to be securely attached at the front and is just sitting on the seat plinth at the back. There are two horizontal bars going back from the front along the sides of the seat bottom, which then turn up at the end and finish in mid air (there is a hole in each which seems to suggest they should be attached to something). This may also be why the seat is a bit lower than the back seat when folded flat. Can anyone tell me what (if anything) I might be missing, or better still send me a photo and/or measurements. I’m assuming it’s impossible to get replacement parts, but know someone who can probably make something.

2. Rear dormatic seats – there is bolt attached to the front of the bottom frame on each seat, towards the inside. I assume its purpose is to fix the seat to the floor in either of its two positions (as a single or pushed togther to make a double). Is there some sort of bracket it should bolt to? Again, any descriptions, measurements and/or photos would be really helpful.

3. That old chestnut of inertia reel seatbelts in the rear! – read the post on this forum with interest, which was a great help with most bits, but still having trouble finding a good place to locate the rear reels (even after taking of the trim). There doesn’t seem room to fix to the C pillar below the horizontal join between the top half of the body and the bottom (sorry, don’t know the technical term for this). There is a sort of bracket fixed to the body side behind the seat and below the join, but that would interfere with fold flat (have to pull out to double position to fold down and then back). Anything above the join seems a bit suspect structurally. Gary, where did the Quikfit people put yours?

Thanks in anticipation (and sorry to be longwinded),
John

[marc78]

Hello pommiejohn,
Welcome on this forum 😀
Tell us more about your new acquisition!
Is it petrol or diesel? LHD/RHD?
Where are you located ?
Pictures and certainly pictures of the areas you describe woul help a lot to give you humble advice…
Kind regards,
Marc

[dormie-steve]

HI

The rear seats that have the bolts at the bottom are as you say to fix the seats into position.
There should be a small angle on the step under the seats.
Will get some pics up soon.

Steve

[Gramor]

@pommiejohn wrote:

1. Front nearside dormatic seat (double) – I think there is a bracket or something missing at the bottom of the seat, along the back.
2. Rear dormatic seats – there is bolt attached to the front of the bottom frame on each seat, towards the inside. I assume its purpose is to fix the seat to the floor in either of its two positions (as a single or pushed togther to make a double). Is there some sort of bracket it should bolt to? John

Two pics attached, 1st shows the mounting rail upon which the front seat pivots, can measure it if you require, but original holes may still be present in your vehicle, bracket position will be determined by seat brackets( small variations in manufacture make them unlikely to be swappable, as I discovered)
2nd pic, the screw wheel top left should engage into a small lip on the front vertical face of the tub, stops the seat moving, can be easily fabricated.

regards

G.

[pommiejohn]

Thanks Steve and G for your help, particularly for the photo of front seat bracket – I should be able to work out measurements from what I have.

Thanks too Marc for your email. My Dormie is a RHD with the standard diesel 2.25l engine – not very fast, but then I live in Guernsey and the speed limit is 35 mph – so no problem! It does have a Fairey overdrive, which means I can just about get to 55 mph and can cruise comfortably at 50 mph. However, that was in the UK on the way home and probably the longest journey it will make. I expect the furthest I will go will be for a bit of camping in Brittany or Normandy with my two boys. We only have one off road course on the island so I will need a bit of variety every once in a while.

John

[jkhackney]

Hi John,
welcome from me as well.

I now have 4 Securon retractable shoulder seatbelts.

Here is my rear installation, which I finished this month. The reel is bolted through the wing reinforcement channel, with bumper washers to spread the pressure. (Ignore the buckle in the first photo; it’s just sitting there on the wing and not installed). The buckles were mounted to the floor in the previous life of this rear tub (10-seater fire department vehicle) and their bolts go through a huge chunk of angle iron running transversely under the floor (it must weigh 10 kg). I used 12mm high-strength bolts throughout. But these seatbelts are not attached to the chassis, so their security is limited, I suppose. I always drive as if I were riding a bike.

I re-made all the interior trim panels because my originals have water damage and are all warped and mouldy. I will have to modify the piece that fits here, but it turns out to only need a small cut.

-Jeremy[attachment=3:1g1qgdsq]seatbelt01.jpg[/attachment:1g1qgdsq][attachment=2:1g1qgdsq]seatbelt02.jpg[/attachment:1g1qgdsq][attachment=1:1g1qgdsq]seatbelt03.jpg[/attachment:1g1qgdsq][attachment=0:1g1qgdsq]seatbelt04.jpg[/attachment:1g1qgdsq]

[malcolm]

Hi

RE the rear seat belts.
I have the inertia seat belts that work at an angle if you look at the interior capping in jeremys picture where the large hole and the two small holes are this is where my real is located i tacked a nut onto a bit of plate then drilled through the capping and riveted the plate behind the capping.once the trim is back on you just have to drill one hole to locate the nut, looks pretty neat in my opinion.

regards

Malcolm

[jkhackney]

Hi,

I was wishing I had ordered inertial reels that worked at an angle (I didn’t know the difference when I ordered). The placement on the capping would be clean. As far as sttructural stability, it’s steel rather than aluminum. The hole is there to support the middle seat of the 10-seater by a thumbscrew.

The placement I chose (was constrained to) is anchored in aluminum, but it’s through a 1.25″ box-section support. The seatbelt doesn’t interfere with the folding of the seat. I should note that the bolt in my C-post is also tacked to a square washer so it doesn’t spin in place as you tighten the nut. The previous owner installed it for a lap belt.

John you didn’t mention if your front seatbelts were working but if it’s of interest: my reels are mounted with a single 12mm bolt on the rear of the seatbox. For each reel, I enlarged one of the holes which is used to mount the seatbox to the chassis (on the right side, it also holds the gas bottle cage). So this seatbelt is anchored on the chassis. The other 2 mounting points are the standard ones: on the B-Post anchor (special part) and on the side of the seatbox.

-Jeremy

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