Cheap Car Seat Office Chair!!!

3/28/2012 UPDATE: Wow, thanks for the feature! As an update, the chair is still going strong 4 years later. I haven't had to do a thing to it, but my needs have changed, and I'm considering converting it to a lounge chair for my man cave. Thank you all again for the kind words. It was one of my more fun projects. Keep creating!

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Build a unique piece of furniture and recycle in the process!

I got the idea for this project after watching old seasons of "Top Gear". In the studio, the show hosts sit on seats taken from an old car, and recycled into living room furniture.

For my project, I wanted a unique office chair built from a car seat that could recline and rolls around like this example HERE.
Since I was a poor college student, I couldn't afford a $680 office chair, and instead set a budget of $40.

Total Cost:

• Chair - $25
• Base - $10
• Hardware - $3
• Plywood - free! (I already had it)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
$38!
The rest of the pages describe the steps I took to find the parts and build the chair. Enjoy and good luck!

Step 1: Find a seat.

Obviously, the most important ingredient here is the seat. Here are some things to consider when choosing a seat:

• Although the seat might look great in the car, keep in mind that its new home will be completely out of its element, presumably in a house, so make sure that the chair wouldn't look hopelessly dated in your home. (For example: A '67 Mustang chair might be pretty sweet in a Mustang, it might not look so good with your wife's Ikea furniture.) It's just something to consider.
• Make sure your seat has a mostly square bolt hole pattern, and that all the bolt holes face straight down. If your brackets are asymmetrical, or angled (or, God forbid, both) you'll just be adding that much more complexity to the project. I was lucky enough to find a seat with mostly symmetrical bolt holes, making my base pretty easy to cut.
• Try to avoid electric seats. If you want to able to use the chair's built in adjustment controls, it's much easier to pick a chair with manual controls. You might be able to wire up a system to power an electric seat, but that's out of the scope of this instructable. Sorry.

Then again, if you don't care about the controls, go right ahead with an electric seat.

Now that you know what to look for, where do you actually get a seat? Here's some ideas:

• Ebay or Craigslist - These probably won't have the cheapest seats, but they will have the best selection, and you're not going to have to pull it from the car yourself. Keep in mind, though, that some cleaning will probably be required, unless the seat is brand new.
• Auto parts stores - This will be the most expensive option, but if you really want a SPARCO race seat, or don't want to bother with used seats, you'll mostly like find one here.
• Dig one up yourself at an auto recycling lot (like U-Pull-It, or something similar) - This is going to be your cheapest bet, and the option I chose. Bring a tool kit with a decent socket set, pay a small entrance fee (usually about $2) and start looking! You will have to look hard. The lots are huge, but most vehicles have been sitting there a while, and the seats are likely to be moldy, torn, and/or pretty dirty. After 2 hours of searching, my brother and I found this leather seat from a newer Infiniti that hadn't been beat up, ripped, or otherwise defiled. The company charges for seats based on features, not condition. Since my seat only had manual controls, it was just $24.99! What a steal!

Comments

[stncilr]

Oops, just published a similar instructable. But yours is way more complete. Kudos!

[juanangel]

Did you just center the Base or had to play with it to avoid falling/backflip. I am planning to leave some plywood for a cupholder, remote control, magazines and/or munchies holder. That way no one will comment about the extra plywood protruding from the chair. And since it is for my personal use, who cares what other will think. Great job

[pmn9393]

Lol, i should have known the idea was from top gear. Well, i think i know how to keep the memory of my alfa 164.

[Simond157]

The plywood should have rounded corners and should be spray painted black also if you go to a fabric store and select lets say a silverish quilted fabric then get in touch with a seamstress you can cover it pimping up the look , the same applies to a backseat , remember that the back seat should be straight balanced using 2, 2x4 blocks placed in the back legs of the 2 seater or else you would be seating in a leaned back awkward position..

[fortneja]

If you look at the end, I actually did paint the base black. It fades away from your view now, so you can't really see that it was mostly hacked together (ie. rounding the corners is not really necessary).

I got a leather seat on purpose, because that is what I wanted to sit in, but reupholstery is certainly an option if you're having a hard time finding a seat without split seams or tears.

As for the back seats, well that depends on the vehicle. Most van seats for example sit flat, so rear supports are not necessary, but I see what you're saying. Actually, most rear sedan seats will not work since they are simply foam moldings that use the car's unibody for support. Once you remove them, they are not able to support a person from their own structure. My WRX has seats like this.

[orksecurity]

Easy to do, functional, looks pretty decent, and "why didn't I think of that" -- nicely done. (Closest I've gotten has been using my van seats as porch furniture when they're unmounted, and I really should make some snap-on feet for them.)

[uranus_b_hurtin]

Good job -- you beat me to it.

[Dream Dragon]

My chair is broken, but the base is still good. Must find a car seat.

[Biggsy]

hehehe awesome high five for you!

[rkhen]

Actually, it's also a conversion piece.

[toddashi]

Thanks! I've wanted one of these for a long time. I talked a friend out of an office chair with a broken back and got a nice car seat from the local Pick N Pull. The office chair had a plywood bottom inside all the foam and stuff. It's a little curved, but it worked fine.

Some pics: 

https://plus.google.com/photos/102464241338364347663/albums/5656030360238008129

[dcastor]

I think you mean to say "conversation piece".

[l96470fps]

AWSOME!  i wish i could make a sofa out of the back seats! shame i probs cant afford it lol!  great ible

[tinker234]

use the doble seat it will work as a coach try your local dump

[tinker234]

hey there is a old ejctor seat at my surpleas store for 50 dollars could iuse that as a office chair

[john5247]

Car seats have a fortue in research and development money spent on them - how often have you heard people say they wish their house seat was as comfortable as their car! If ever a seat was designed to be sat in for hours at a time - while driving a couple hunderd miles - it's a car seat.
This is really,really worthwhile doing - not just cos its cool, but because it'll be good fo your back and posture. Also it just feeeeeeels right for those racing games !!

[splatman]

I did the exact same thing last spring. My neighbor was scrapping a late-90’s Plymouth Voyager, and I took out the driver’s seat (w/ permish) and attached it to an office chair base with some angle iron from an old bed frame. I’ve used it since. I’m even sitting in it as I type this. Not that using car parts in non-car applications is anything new 2 me. I once kludged a steering wheel to a bike back in '96 or so. Unfortunately, I did not take pix. If I did, I would have something to submit to ThereIFixedIt.com, where a commenter posted a link to this ible.

[splatman]

Scroll up after following the link. I didn't realize the link automatically scrolls down to my comment.

[twocvbloke]

Car seats look great as furniture, dunno what it is about them, but they just look cool... :)

If I had the room, I'd have a set like the one they have on Top Gear, but in a different colour... :P

Just a thought, if you ask nicely (or offer some beer money), I'm sure you could get a decent car seat, or set of, from Davesfarm... :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Davidsfarm

[chamunks]

Thank you for this I've been wanting to do this for a year now for me and my girlfriend.. I have a wonderful and faithful computer chair allready but carseats can be so very comfey. I wonder how a bucket seat will go with this sort of thing. If it were up to me i would replace most of my houses chairs with ones like these. (except for my couch)

[Derin]

Not want to sound like a nay-sayer,but I think the top bond is not well balanced.Even if it is,it is probably easy to make it imbalanced.

[fortneja]

I'm not sure I follow. If you mean bolting the chair to the plate, I will say I had to make some blocks so the chair would sit evenly on the plate, but this will vary by manufacturer, so I didn't mention it. The chair is very sturdy, and I've been using it every day since I posted the 'ible. You do have to be careful when you lean back, since the added mass of the car chair makes it easier to tip over backwards, but the base I used can limit the extent of "rocking back" allowed, so this remedies the problem.

[Derin]

I see,that seems sturdy now that you mentioned another additional fastener.

[skunkbait]

That's a good idea. I have a few nice car seats in my garage (in my way!). Maybe I can make one for Mrs. Skunkbait. She always complains about the office chair I got her out of the dumpster!

[Wafflicious]

=( i wish i had a mrs. wafflicious!

[reedz]

I really like it. You should keep the seat belt loose and use it while you are in the chair. I can see some drunken spinning contests that would really benefit from the belt.

[fortneja]

Yeah, the seat belt is still on there, and works fine! I should get quite a few double takes at the office!

[wozzy]

Outstanding instructable! I've often said I wish I had an office chair as comfortable as the nes in my car. Thanks!

[meddler]

That, is a good idea......

[bumpus]

Awesomeness! I so think its time for a new office chair... (side note) - You could make a few, and have races with your office mates through the halls with these chairs... Excellent instructable! 5 stars solid!