My kids are getting kinda tall and since even the modern E seats don't have head rests, I went looking for a solution. I needed seating for 3 across, 3 shoulder belts and 3 headrests. The aftermarket doesn't have much to offer and all Sprinter seats I found too pricy and/or way too far away. Then out of the blue, one popped up on CL for $60, 20 minutes from home. I thought I was in business until I told the missus of my plan. I promised to use both Ford and Mercedes mounting points and then she gave me the go ahead. Here's what I came up with:
The adapter plate. 48"x 26"- 10 gage mild steel with a lengthwise stiffener lip 1.25" deep. The lip is the same height as the Mercedes brackets are deep.
The seat is about 64" across, as wide as the Ford 4 person bench, so I had to cut off the armrest pivots before proceeding. I also wanted some future flex-ability with seat placement and the ability to run with 2 benches and seating for 8. This allows for 2 basic positions:
Forward- in between the original front 2 benches. I'll try to fit a a table between this and the front seats, once they swivel.
Extreme rearward: several inches further back than the original second bench:
Tight fit:
I realized too late that mounting the Mercedes brackets on top of the floor instead of in pockets, in the floor like in a Sprinter, made the seat a little tall. I'm 6'5" and have 1" of room in the center. It should work for my purposes until the girls are 6'. This will work for a while at any rate.