How To Put Golf Seats In Your Bug 
(late bugs)

Stuff Needed: 
One pair of Mk1 golf seats - the 3 point mounting type 
One pair of old beetle seats or undamaged seat frames - 3 point mountings 
Tape measure 
Grinder with cutting disc 
Welder and appropriate safety equipment 
Bricks or blocks of wood 
Cross-head screwdriver

Time taken: Half a day/ over the weekend

This How To is based on a 1972 bug with the three point mountings - the one with the hump in the middle of the floor.

Method

1. Removing Beetle seats
 To remove your original bug seats, push the seat right back as far as it will go. Now look where the seat adjuster is for moving the seat back and forward. Half way along the rod that goes from the adjusting knob to the seat runner, there is a spring. Remove one end of this with the pliers - don't lose it.
Next, look down at the front of the seat in the middle and you will see a small cross-head screw. Undo this. This is attached to an oblong plate bent into a U shape at each end and is what stops your seats from falling off their runners when you move them fully back. To remove this, push the seat forward and look at the underneath from the side. You will see the metal catch where the front runner meets the support hump. To remove this, bend the back end down with the pliers and push the seat back over it. The seat should now be able to be removed completely.
2. Stripping the seats
 Before you do any cutting and welding you need to remove the seat covers and foam as the later is very flamable. The procedure is roughly the same for both types of seats, so stripping the golf seats is described here.
3. Measuring up
 This is the most important part of the whole process. You must have your measuring spot on before you do any cutting of seat bases, otherwise you could end up with a junk pair of seats. Don't worry though, if you take your time and measure carefully everything will be ok.

What you need to measure is:
the distance the leg needs to bend in (length 1 on the diagram below) the extra height needed (length 2 below) After you have rechecked your measurements, mark where you are going to cut on the seat bases.

4. Cutting & Trial Fitting
Now you need to cut the bases using either an angle grinder or a hacksaw. When cutting, do not cut along the line, instead cut  below so that you have some extra spare
Remember it is easier to cut off the excess than it is to fix the problem if you cut too much off. Next, what you want to do is slide the front runner of the golf seat base into the front runner on the beetle. Look at this from the side. Use bricks or some wood to make the seat base sit at the correct angle and make sure it is horizontal at the back. At this stage it might be easier to fit the lower seat padding by placing it on top to give a better idea of height etc.
Now, take the two seat stalks that you cut off the beetle seats and place them in to the appropriate seat runners. Push them up until they are against the seat and you can see how much more you have to cut off. Mark them up and cut this off.
5. Welding up and testing
 After you have cut them, put them back in the runners and push them up until they meet the seat base. When they are in place, tack weld them in place with a few welds per stalk.
Don't fully weld these in yet - you might need to change it.
 TESTING
Now refit the seat base cushion and the back rest of the seat. Check that the seat moves freely back and forward in the runners. Check also that the height is ok for sitting on. If all is ok, take off the cushion bits and seam weld the stalks on to the golf seat bases. Make sure you get good penetration of the welds by looking up the hollow stalks. When that is completed, grind down the welds so that the job looks neat and professional.
Refitting
 As they all say, refitting is the reverse of removal. Seriously though, there are no difficult bits to the refitting process. Before you start the refitting, paint the entire seat sub-frame with a spray paint.
Once reassembled, cruise in comfort.

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