On Saturday I liberated the 3rd seat set-up from a 1986 245. I took everything including the two carpeted plywood pieces that make up the cargo floor that the seat is attached to. I carefully noted how everything came apart so I could reinstall it in our 1983 245.

When I arrived home I found that the rear piece of plywood in my 245 already had all the holes drilled so that part of the swap was easy. The rectangular hole was also present so I cut the carpet and folded it so the latch would come through. I felt the front panel and could feel the rectangular hole was hiding under the carpet for the latch to go through and attach to the body. I also found the seatbelt mounting points hiding above the headliner. I was bummed to find out that there were no mounting points for the seatbelts in the wheel wells but I was able to safely fab those.

The real problem came when I cut the carpet in the front wooden panel. When I pulled it away there was no mounting point for the u-shaped item that the latch from the seatbelt mechanism locks into. In the 1986 doner car there was a 19mm bolt that screwed into a threaded nut welded to the underside of the metal decking below the plywood. There is NOTHING in that location.

My options are to weld the mount to the metal deck or cut a keyway in the metal deck and use some serious washers and a bolt facing up to use as a mounting point. Both of these options scare me a bit because the gas tank appears to be located below there. Any idea how much space is between the gas tank and the metal panel above it?

I have not removed the entire front plywood panel to see if there is an alternate mounting attachment point but I did lift it up enough to feel around under there and there seemed to be a plastic cap located a few inches to the left of the hole in the plywood.

Am I missing something? How did the 3rd seat latch in place in the 1983 wagon?

Thanks
Chris
1983 245