Allow me to explain a common mistake with doing this. (as I’ve made this myself with two car seats before) The metal seat pan in the center of the seat area is commonly very thin sheet metal and will be on most every seat from every car manufacturer. If you go and bolt an office chair base straight to that pan (as you did) you will quickly notice that the pan will bend and distort and so the chair will begin to permanently lean in some undesired direction. The best thing to do instead is bolt a 3/4" piece of plywood (around 16” to 18” square) to the entire bottom into the 4 main corner holes that were removed when the seat rails came off. Then once that is secure, bolt the office chair base to the plywood but leave a little gap between the plywood and pan.. like 1/8". And when installing the plywood, you need to bolt the office chair base plate to the plywood first, then bolt the plate and plywood sheet assembly to the car seat corner holes. And, depending on the seat used, you may also need to use some 1" to 1.5" high bolt standoffs made of copper or steel pipe to sheath the bolts to keep the plywood from distorting the seat pan. A final tip is to use office chair hydraulic pistons that go really low because the car seat thickness on average is 4" thicker than any office chair. So a low profile shock is very necessary to keep your feet flat on the floor. Again, I personally learned all this from the experience of having done all this myself with using two car seats for a flight simulator and just for general day to day use. -jeff www.simsamurai.com
Good point, but over time, plywood is not ideal either, especially if an overweight person is using the chair. To that end, a steel frame bolted to the bottom of the seat is the best option.
You dont really need that though, only if you're overweight or just naturally heavy, I only weigh 120lbs so thaf would hardly be a problem if I'm honest, should last a good couple of years
+Jeff Chartier If you look at other builds, they find fault with this methodology not with the point of contact but with the angle. Rarely is the seat anywhere near straight back and a series of spacers and other rigging makes this a mess. If you going to go the route of the fully electronic (many positions, heated, speakers in the spine, etc. You need a real bracket made.
+Juan Sanchez even the expensive ones, that "gammer" crap are really bad! They are crap because that kind of chair does not have room on the botton to the spring, as car seats does... sonner or later u feel the metal base up your arse! kkk
I just got a very comfortable seat from a 1995 Volvo 940 to make into an office chair. I recommend using a passenger seat as the padding inside and the fabric/leather are less worn.
You gave me an idea. I replaced my old Mercedes E class seat with a new less sedate, and I find its a waste of the old one to throw away. I'll try to process it to the office chair
I've been thinking about doing this for awhile. Office chairs suck, even expensive ones. They make my ass sore and hurt the circulation in my legs. But I never seem to have that problem while I'm driving. Car seats tend to be more supportive and are made with better materials to spread the pressure out. The ability to exactly lock the recline level is boss in my opinion! The only thing they are missing is an armrest. You could probably get after market add on ones and drill out the mounting hole
Would be a challenging but fun project for sure ! I'm assuming you would need rig up a dc inverter to power the thing up; plug it right into your wall socket :D
You could fabricate pretty much anything using wood or have someone weld a piece on. Not sure if you will be able to keep the rail functionality, but it's do-able one way or the other :)
Try your local junkyard. Depending on where you live, you can pickup seats for as cheap as 50 bucks a pair. That's what I paid for these. And they are true recaros made for honda. Good luck !
I'm going to look into building one of these. I might include some arm rests on top of your original design. If I do, would you be interested in hearing about those modifications?
@moccina...thanks. I live in Staten island. We used yo have the SI dump lol, but it closed down years ago. I don't even no where junk yards are around here...I'll see if I can search online.
I know for sure that most 2nd gen CRX seats like the one in my vid will have a solid back plate, but realistically these are not easy to find anymore. Try to find a newer civic si, RSX, Prelude, Integra, etc. seat. I would bet if they are recaro style they will be similar to mine. Good luck!
i have a subaru outback seat and am having trouble trying to figure out if i should use plywood or the way you made yours i want my chair to last a long time because money is tight and this was the cheapest way to go
I have 2 Volvo 240 wagon seats I want to do that to , but they don't have the part underneath you drilled into , any advice ? thanks , great video by the way :)
you can also buy a desk chair in a shop what sells second hand stuff i think it is much cheaper and than you are done for 10 bucks in my country cost the desk chairs in a second hand store around the 5/7/10 euros and that is much cheaper than that you buy a new one in a shop.p.s sorry for my bad english
I have a few questions...did bolting it right into that metal frame on the bottom of the seat hold up to leaning back on it and stuff? If that metal base strong? Also where do u get these lag screws? I might just bolts to keep it stronger. Also when ublean back on it doesn't it feel like it will fall over? And finally how did u determine where the best spot to mount the base was? I saw u measuring but how did u know it would balance right and not fall over when u leaned back
@moccina...nice job man! I've been looking for a comfy chair for playing video games. Would you recommend this? It seems to me a car seat would be more comfy than a $300 dollar office chair wouldn't you say? Anyway, where can I get a car seat cheap? I looked on ebay , but didn't really see anything cheap or anyone selling used seats. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
I've got a '97 Civic seat that I want to do this with, but the topology of the metal frame is so irregular under the seat. I can see why you've used spacers, which I'll have to do on the front two lag screws as well. But, I'm running into an issue getting the slider rails off, they look as though they're riveted in certain points. I don't wanna break any bits drilling them out or get the foam soaked in WD-40. Cutting also doesn't seem like a bright idea, unless setting them on fire was my intent. What would be the easiest way to remove these?
I ran into the same issue on some 98 seats. The slide handle side is the problem. You want to keep the bracket since it hinges the top portion to the bottom but it is riveted and welded onto the slider. I was planning on mounting it through the brackets since these seats have that ridiculous bulge in the middle. Unlike the CRX, which every component is separate and can be removed separately, the newer civic rails contain all the components. So you can't remove one without removing another. Best way is to cut off anything you don't need, grind for flat surface on rails, then weld on some tube bars and use those as your new mounting holes.
That is some bad ass shit. Wish you could get some arms on those to rest on. Always wanted a Sparco Torino chair :( If I get you sent a chair can you mount it to a base and then mail it to me? I don't have the tools to do it being in the middle east working for the Army. Thanks bud!@
vgfian If I had a steady supply I would make a business out of it :D Unfortunately these Honda Recaros are hard to come by... well you can find them but they have the notorious lumbar rash :/ Thanks for viewing
vgfian You got a point.... I guess no. I could prob. source some racing seats from ebay.. or China but they would probably feel like shit to sit in :] You ever sit in a 3rd gen Prelude seat ? So comfy w/ adj lumbar.
You know I've considered doing such a mod for years. I've got a skinny, boney arse and every office chair I've ever sat in, even really expensive ones, hurt my arse after about an hour of sitting in them. Yet I drove 7hrs in my N15 Nissan Pulsar stopping only once and my arse was fine. Once I completed that trip, 14hrs total, I said to my self if I ever write this car off I'm takin the seats out and making office chairs out of them. Why oh why do office chair makers fail to get it right? Yet even the cheapest cars seem to hae seats well optimised to distance driving and length I use.
It did cross my mind. I would need to source out a cheap enough "knockoff" recaro for it to be feasible (and profitable) b/c as you know these crx / old prelude seats are becoming quite rare. Thx for watching.
I have blood circulation issues,and I feel pain in the butt when sitting for more than 20 minutes,unless it's in a car seat or a couch or mattress. I could not find any coil spring office chairs online,that are high quality,like car seats. So I google how to mod car seat into office chair. I would not use a honda or fabric seat. I will go to a salvage yard or junk yard and buy a leather seat from Buick or Cadillac,and use that as my office seat. Those leather seats are very pressure relieving.
That's a good idea. For the quality you will end up with using a Caddy seat, you would pay AT LEAST $3,000 for an retail office chair of that caliber. A nice leather plush seat. You could even hook up power to it for the controls. The one I did here was Honda but made by Recaro. It's comfy but rigid, not exactly good for your situation no doubt. Good luck with the build.
I’ve had this project in mind for a few years. I have two front seats from a Porsche 911. Both full electrics. How could they be powered so the Electrics work? If anyone wants to join in they can have one of the seats.
They are expensive! I used to work at a brokerage firm and they had these ridiculous conference room chairs that cost 2k each lol. Recaro makes alot of seats for Si Hondas etc. that you can find pretty cheap. They are equally as comfy IMO.
The Install holds up very well. I am 5' 10" / a buck-sixty and I have had no problems. The 2nd seat I show has held up for 8 years, and I I had to re-torque the screws one time. The base is thin but strong. Any hardware store will have the screws. Depending on weight, you can lean back too far but for me I have to really romp on it to get to that point. I honestly just centered it when mounting the base but you could always use the seat that came in the box as a template. Thx for watching!
Used to own a CRX with the red strip seats. And also had an extra one but sold them all with my car. How ever the civic year 1988-1991 civic seats should have the bottom metal frame. In case no one can find a crx seat. Maybe a del sol also
You could look for a Captains chair from an RV or conversion van but you would probably need a sturdier base for something like that. Or you could fab some armrests onto something like this-- may need to bust out the welder though.
Don't pick up the cheapest office chair- they tend to have flimsy bases and dangerous pressure cartridges! Not only that but your base is way too small and it's all plastic. It'll break in no time.
why buy an office chair? go to local schools, company's and businesses and when will they replace their office chairs. they usually replace the quite a bit
Allow me to explain a common mistake with doing this. (as I’ve made this myself with two car seats before) The metal seat pan in the center of the seat area is commonly very thin sheet metal and will be on most every seat from every car manufacturer. If you go and bolt an office chair base straight to that pan (as you did) you will quickly notice that the pan will bend and distort and so the chair will begin to permanently lean in some undesired direction.
The best thing to do instead is bolt a 3/4" piece of plywood (around 16” to 18” square) to the entire bottom into the 4 main corner holes that were removed when the seat rails came off. Then once that is secure, bolt the office chair base to the plywood but leave a little gap between the plywood and pan.. like 1/8". And when installing the plywood, you need to bolt the office chair base plate to the plywood first, then bolt the plate and plywood sheet assembly to the car seat corner holes. And, depending on the seat used, you may also need to use some 1" to 1.5" high bolt standoffs made of copper or steel pipe to sheath the bolts to keep the plywood from distorting the seat pan.
A final tip is to use office chair hydraulic pistons that go really low because the car seat thickness on average is 4" thicker than any office chair. So a low profile shock is very necessary to keep your feet flat on the floor. Again, I personally learned all this from the experience of having done all this myself with using two car seats for a flight simulator and just for general day to day use. -jeff www.simsamurai.com
Good point, but over time, plywood is not ideal either, especially if an overweight person is using the chair. To that end, a steel frame bolted to the bottom of the seat is the best option.
You dont really need that though, only if you're overweight or just naturally heavy, I only weigh 120lbs so thaf would hardly be a problem if I'm honest, should last a good couple of years
+Jeff Chartier If you look at other builds, they find fault with this methodology not with the point of contact but with the angle. Rarely is the seat anywhere near straight back and a series of spacers and other rigging makes this a mess.
If you going to go the route of the fully electronic (many positions, heated, speakers in the spine, etc. You need a real bracket made.
I'm a skinny dude, have had the chair for years and no problems. But I get your point. Thanks for watching.
What did he say?
I was thinking about how comfortable car seats are compared to almost every other chair. I can drive for hours without getting sore.
No doubt!
NULL ZERO that and most office chairs are really bad, except the really expensive ones
+Juan Sanchez even the expensive ones, that "gammer" crap are really bad! They are crap because that kind of chair does not have room on the botton to the spring, as car seats does... sonner or later u feel the metal base up your arse! kkk
Arnaldo Pédemesa well a better reason to get a car one then
Same here,and I searched online to no avail....car seat it is.
I didn't think I could do it with the minivan chair I just salvaged...but having watched your build, I now know how to adapt it. Thanks.
I just got a very comfortable seat from a 1995 Volvo 940 to make into an office chair. I recommend using a passenger seat as the padding inside and the fabric/leather are less worn.
They are comfy as hell as office chairs. Have fun :)
Great project!
This is seriously awesome!! I'm going to try this very soon as I really need a good chair for my desk.
Crazy Video... Great idea for some Car Guys!!
A conversion van chair works good too. That's what I use. haha
Thanks for the inspiration, going to do this to both of my oem del sol seats!
Dustin D'Amico I used to see those all the time at the junkyard back in the day -- very unique seats. Have fun, and thanks for watching!
Perfect for my next project~!
awsome thanks man, going to do with e46 m3 leather chair :)
Thanks man!
Nice man great idea. :)
I wanna do something similar, but give it a wood base, keep the slide rails. I wanna build almost like a jet fighter cockpit for a gaming chair
Thanks!
Thanks that will help
Good point... if you have access to unwanted chairs free of cost--- even better for hardware use.
You gave me an idea. I replaced my old Mercedes E class seat with a new less sedate, and I find its a waste of the old one to throw away. I'll try to process it to the office chair
Awesome!!
***** Thanks for viewing & sharing the vid!
I've been thinking about doing this for awhile. Office chairs suck, even expensive ones. They make my ass sore and hurt the circulation in my legs. But I never seem to have that problem while I'm driving. Car seats tend to be more supportive and are made with better materials to spread the pressure out. The ability to exactly lock the recline level is boss in my opinion! The only thing they are missing is an armrest. You could probably get after market add on ones and drill out the mounting hole
Nice
Thank ya :D
Also bolt on the armrests from the donor seat.
Would be a challenging but fun project for sure ! I'm assuming you would need rig up a dc inverter to power the thing up; plug it right into your wall socket :D
You could fabricate pretty much anything using wood or have someone weld a piece on. Not sure if you will be able to keep the rail functionality, but it's do-able one way or the other :)
Try your local junkyard. Depending on where you live, you can pickup seats for as cheap as 50 bucks a pair. That's what I paid for these. And they are true recaros made for honda. Good luck !
I'm going to look into building one of these. I might include some arm rests on top of your original design. If I do, would you be interested in hearing about those modifications?
sweet
nice how to! think im going to try this tomorrow with my civic's old seats!
trampolinist2 Do it up! :]
moccina I did it! took me and a friend 2 hours
trampolinist2 Nice! You should upload a quick vid of the finished product :]
Hell yeah... better than any office chair i've ever sat on that didn't cost 2 grand lol.
Time to put my MX-3 recaro to good use!
How long were the lag bolts you used? Are the spaces able to be acquired from any hardware store?
@moccina...thanks. I live in Staten island. We used yo have the SI dump lol, but it closed down years ago. I don't even no where junk yards are around here...I'll see if I can search online.
I know for sure that most 2nd gen CRX seats like the one in my vid will have a solid back plate, but realistically these are not easy to find anymore. Try to find a newer civic si, RSX, Prelude, Integra, etc. seat. I would bet if they are recaro style they will be similar to mine. Good luck!
I have this exact chair I’m going to do the same thing with. What size spacers did you use?
i have a subaru outback seat and am having trouble trying to figure out if i should use plywood or the way you made yours i want my chair to last a long time because money is tight and this was the cheapest way to go
Now add speakers!
But would I hook one up with two speakers and a subwoofer
I have 2 Volvo 240 wagon seats I want to do that to , but they don't have the part underneath you drilled into , any advice ? thanks , great video by the way :)
Sure, may need some extra custom fabricating, certainly do-able.
you can also buy a desk chair in a shop what sells second hand stuff i think it is much cheaper and than you are done for 10 bucks in my country cost the desk chairs in a second hand store around the 5/7/10 euros and that is much cheaper than that you buy a new one in a shop.p.s sorry for my bad english
How do you keep the lag bolt from striping? Are you using a nut on the other side?
I was just about to send an old car off to the scrappers when I saw this.
I have a few questions...did bolting it right into that metal frame on the bottom of the seat hold up to leaning back on it and stuff? If that metal base strong? Also where do u get these lag screws? I might just bolts to keep it stronger. Also when ublean back on it doesn't it feel like it will fall over? And finally how did u determine where the best spot to mount the base was? I saw u measuring but how did u know it would balance right and not fall over when u leaned back
@moccina...nice job man! I've been looking for a comfy chair for playing video games. Would you recommend this? It seems to me a car seat would be more comfy than a $300 dollar office chair wouldn't you say? Anyway, where can I get a car seat cheap? I looked on ebay , but didn't really see anything cheap or anyone selling used seats. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
What drill bit size did you use in the video?
nice video
Is it comfortable !?
I've got a '97 Civic seat that I want to do this with, but the topology of the metal frame is so irregular under the seat. I can see why you've used spacers, which I'll have to do on the front two lag screws as well. But, I'm running into an issue getting the slider rails off, they look as though they're riveted in certain points. I don't wanna break any bits drilling them out or get the foam soaked in WD-40. Cutting also doesn't seem like a bright idea, unless setting them on fire was my intent. What would be the easiest way to remove these?
I ran into the same issue on some 98 seats. The slide handle side is the problem. You want to keep the bracket since it hinges the top portion to the bottom but it is riveted and welded onto the slider. I was planning on mounting it through the brackets since these seats have that ridiculous bulge in the middle. Unlike the CRX, which every component is separate and can be removed separately, the newer civic rails contain all the components. So you can't remove one without removing another. Best way is to cut off anything you don't need, grind for flat surface on rails, then weld on some tube bars and use those as your new mounting holes.
Cant seem to like chairs like the floor to much and my blanket lol
That is some bad ass shit. Wish you could get some arms on those to rest on. Always wanted a Sparco Torino chair :( If I get you sent a chair can you mount it to a base and then mail it to me? I don't have the tools to do it being in the middle east working for the Army. Thanks bud!@
Imagine that you can make a ferrari gaming chair.
You should sell some of these ^^
vgfian If I had a steady supply I would make a business out of it :D Unfortunately these Honda Recaros are hard to come by... well you can find them but they have the notorious lumbar rash :/ Thanks for viewing
does it have to be that make specifically tho? yw :D thanks for making
vgfian You got a point.... I guess no. I could prob. source some racing seats from ebay.. or China but they would probably feel like shit to sit in :] You ever sit in a 3rd gen Prelude seat ? So comfy w/ adj lumbar.
You could always go to a scrap yard and see if they have any comfy interiors xD
I dont think so :o
You know I've considered doing such a mod for years. I've got a skinny, boney arse and every office chair I've ever sat in, even really expensive ones, hurt my arse after about an hour of sitting in them. Yet I drove 7hrs in my N15 Nissan Pulsar stopping only once and my arse was fine. Once I completed that trip, 14hrs total, I said to my self if I ever write this car off I'm takin the seats out and making office chairs out of them. Why oh why do office chair makers fail to get it right? Yet even the cheapest cars seem to hae seats well optimised to distance driving and length I use.
It did cross my mind. I would need to source out a cheap enough "knockoff" recaro for it to be feasible (and profitable) b/c as you know these crx / old prelude seats are becoming quite rare. Thx for watching.
Can this work with VW seat?
Where do you put your elbows for no getting your hand tired? Lol!
I have blood circulation issues,and I feel pain in the butt when sitting for more than 20 minutes,unless it's in a car seat or a couch or mattress. I could not find any coil spring office chairs online,that are high quality,like car seats. So I google how to mod car seat into office chair. I would not use a honda or fabric seat. I will go to a salvage yard or junk yard and buy a leather seat from Buick or Cadillac,and use that as my office seat. Those leather seats are very pressure relieving.
That's a good idea. For the quality you will end up with using a Caddy seat, you would pay AT LEAST $3,000 for an retail office chair of that caliber. A nice leather plush seat. You could even hook up power to it for the controls. The one I did here was Honda but made by Recaro. It's comfy but rigid, not exactly good for your situation no doubt. Good luck with the build.
I’ve had this project in mind for a few years. I have two front seats from a Porsche 911. Both full electrics. How could they be powered so the Electrics work? If anyone wants to join in they can have one of the seats.
David Shekelburg inverter from ac power? I thought I’d have to use a car battery.
How much was the chair from the junk yard?
Same as whatever bolts/screws you're using i imagine...
They are expensive! I used to work at a brokerage firm and they had these ridiculous conference room chairs that cost 2k each lol. Recaro makes alot of seats for Si Hondas etc. that you can find pretty cheap. They are equally as comfy IMO.
The Install holds up very well. I am 5' 10" / a buck-sixty and I have had no problems. The 2nd seat I show has held up for 8 years, and I I had to re-torque the screws one time. The base is thin but strong. Any hardware store will have the screws. Depending on weight, you can lean back too far but for me I have to really romp on it to get to that point. I honestly just centered it when mounting the base but you could always use the seat that came in the box as a template. Thx for watching!
the best gaming chair, better than those crappy overpriced gaming chairs
ay is that a honda crx seat?
Yep. 1988 CRX Si. Recaro made these for Honda back in the day.
Moccina sweet such comfy seats. got a leather crx edm seat im going to do this with, probably going to try and use the rails to avoid any drilling
Used to own a CRX with the red strip seats. And also had an extra one but sold them all with my car. How ever the civic year 1988-1991 civic seats should have the bottom metal frame. In case no one can find a crx seat. Maybe a del sol also
where do i buy car seats at since I want to use all mine in my cars
Either at a scrapyard, or on eBay. You should be able to get a good one for about £50.
Were did you get base for 20 bucks. I cant find one for that price. Thanks
Found this one at Target. But this was filmed over a decade ago lol. Inflation has entered the chat
is it possible to get arm rests on it?
You could look for a Captains chair from an RV or conversion van but you would probably need a sturdier base for something like that. Or you could fab some armrests onto something like this-- may need to bust out the welder though.
Suggestion why don't you make a hole bunch of those and sell them. One of a kind chair. You could easily sell them for $150 each.
Is that seat from a crx?
Yes-- from an 88 Si I believe, as the 90-91 had the red stripes; these had the gray stripes.
No armrest :(
I think it would be possible to also bolt on the armrests from the donor seat.
Don't pick up the cheapest office chair- they tend to have flimsy bases and dangerous pressure cartridges! Not only that but your base is way too small and it's all plastic. It'll break in no time.
why buy an office chair? go to local schools, company's and businesses and when will they replace their office chairs. they usually replace the quite a bit
doing up bolts in diagonals for a fucking chair base. lmfao
If you crank one corner all the way in, good luck getting the opposite bolt to line up.
? you already had all the bolts in
Too snaky/flimsy/rickety/weak.