Hey,
I've got a 2011 E350 Super Duty I have fitted up for travel all over North America. I made it to Prudhoe Bay last year (17,800 mile trip total) and intend travel again this summer. I'd really like to upgrade the drivers seat without investing 10-20% of the vans value in one seat. I've found an Acura RDX seat that I'm really interested in getting as it meet all my requirements. Has anyone tried installing a seat similar to this in an E-Series van? I am an engineer and a good welder - so creating or modifying a conversion base and wiring for the seat is not a concern. Anyone see any land mines in such a project? The only downside I see right off is the lack of an armrest - but other than that, this endeavor looks possible.
Thanks
Tom

 

Most cars have the seat belt pre-tensioner in the B pillar. The one for the E-Series in mounted on the side of the seat and tensions the buckle side instead of the belt side.

Even if you're willing to live without a pretensioner you would likely need to take some action to avoid an SRS fault and the resulting warning light. Or, better yet, build the original seat belt buckle assembly including the pre-tensioner into your conversion base.

Also, since you're building a conversion base anyway, would it be possible to bring some structure from that base up along the side of the seat back and mount the original (swing up!) armrest to that?

 

I'm not following you on the seat belt - my male piece of the buckle with the shoulder strap is wound up in the B-pillar and the right side of the van seat has the female part of the buckle along with the release button. I think all I need is to move that female piece from the old set to the new one and the rest of the seat belt assembly will remain in the B pillar.

I'll look at getting a support for the arm rest. Good idea

 

Seatbelts have a "pre-tensioner". It's an explosive charge similar to the one in an airbag but, instead of blowing out a bag it pulls on a cylinder or ratchet mechanism to tighten the belt at impact. On most vehicles that "pre-tensioner" is part of the retractor in the B pillar. While we have a similar retractor in the B pillar, on the Ford E-series, the pre-tensioner is part of the buckle assembly. If you look at the buckle, you will see that it doesn't have a belt but rather has a steel cable which goes into the pre-tensioner system mounted on the inboard side of the seat pedestal.

I was just trying to warn you that it's not as simple as "a female piece" that just goes down to a bolt and you will need to plan on mounting that entire assembly.

 

I'll definitely check into that - thanks for update
Tom

 

I found a YouTube video on replacing the pretensioner - so I see what your referring to. I've never hears of that thing, but I don't mess with seat belts much. I'll have to get the seat before I can determine what I need to do. Thanks for heads-up
Tom