Converting car seats to office chairs

[Bobby Dazzler]

Before I set about my office chair with a socket set and hammer, anyone know of any conversion kits?

Google searches turn up all sorts of DIY jobs, but I hoped to get a kit of some sort.

I've just bought a W211 E55 seat for this very purpose!!

 

[jaymanek]

I simply took the seat off a standard office chair base and bolted it to a recaro classic seat. Had to drill new holes but it worked. Even found a small 12v battery to power the heaters!

 

[Tan]

Pics please, that is something that I have always thought about doing.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I simply took the seat off a standard office chair base and bolted it to a recaro classic seat. Had to drill new holes but it worked. Even found a small 12v battery to power the heaters!

Nice one. I've not collected the seat yet, but I assume te wires are in there for the heater and the motors are working

 

[nick mercedes]

Nice one. I've not collected the seat yet, but I assume te wires are in there for the heater and the motors are working

Big heavy seat, attatching it to the swivel bit won't be fun.

 

[brucemillar]

Big heavy seat, attatching it to the swivel bit won't be fun.

There is then the issue of my big fat rarse to contend with. I may require some counter-weights.

 

[Shude]

My leather 202 seats weigh a ton. I was thinking a wooden or metal frame was the way to go for my office chairs and sofa.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Having seen a photo, it looks like a C32 seat to me, which is a bonus.

I've found a guy who converts car seats into office chairs or arm chairs too. He's recently adapted some Rolls Royce seats to become office chairs, retaining electric adjustment. Nt cheap but looks great.

Anyone know what would be required to get the electric adjustment working? Just the seat control panel which is usually mounted on the door card, or is something else required?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I simply took the seat off a standard office chair base and bolted it to a recaro classic seat. Had to drill new holes but it worked. Even found a small 12v battery to power the heaters!

Come on Jay, photos please!

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Car seats are ridiculously heavy, reinforce your floor 1st

 

[nick mercedes]

Anyone know what would be required to get the electric adjustment working? Just the seat control panel which is usually mounted on the door card, or is something else required?

A battery or a 12v transformer, making your already heavy seat even heavier.

The issue is the runners, if you want it to work like a car seat, you'll need to keep the runners and mount the whole thing onto a piece of steel, but then you may have stability problems, if you move it about will it fall over?

If you've got small children you'd want to keep them away from it as well.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Thanks Nick.

I'm erring towards an arm chair like the one below, which should be make it more stable, given the weight.

I had a good sniff around your website last night to see if you have any of the door control switches listed, but couldn't find any.

 

[jaymanek]

Come on Jay, photos please!

Ok, its in the back office will try and get some later.

 

[Doodle]

I'm converting the Recaro I had in my Civic into an office chair, but that's pretty light so it's just going on a replacement swivel base.

 

[nick mercedes]

I had a good sniff around your website last night to see if you have any of the door control switches listed, but couldn't find any.

euromercwebstore: Seat Switch (Memory)

But you'd need a control module and an electrical engineer to wire it all up.

Plan B is better, just find someone with a tube bender and end up with a comfy chair, you can sell the runners and motors off the seat to help sponsor the frame building.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Seat now collected, following a 302 mile 6 hour dash in th ML63 - it only cost £97 in fuel

Turns out that it's been out of the car for years, and was removed from a (then) 8 month old W211 E55 AMG.

 

[TDE1]

Cool! Is it the active type?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Not had chance to ave a proper look at it yet - I'll report back!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

There have been a few comments about the weight of the chair being too much for an office seat. I wonder if an Ikea Poang frame is up to the job?

 

[John]

I don't know but I would doubt it - those bits of wood are strong but once you add the weight of a car seat, and then a human, I think it might struggle...