After looking around for car seats, I decided to make my own. I have experience sewing and I felt I was capable of making them. I own the Haynes "Build you own sports car" and it gives a template of a seat, which I used.
I made the seats out of 16gauge steel. I cut it using a jig saw and I made all the bends at home using a vise, clamps and scrap steel. They were primmed and painted black. (This picture is after the first coat of black)
I bought surgical tubing and cut a slit along the length of it. I then glued it to the edges of the seat to protect people from the sharp metal.
I cut plywood to fit in the seat.
I then cut up foam and glued it to the plywood
I bought black vinyl and glued it to 1/8" foam. I cut all the strips to size and started sewing.
This is a picture at the same stage, only right side up.
After cutting out holes for the harness, I had to sew these pieces in by hand. (The material which is in the hole for the harness) I couldn't use the sewing machine because the material was too thick at this point. It took me ~45mins to do each hole.
The vinyl was stretched over the foam and stapled to the plywood on the back. (Sorry, no picture)
The end product looks like this:
I'm pretty proud of it. I have complete two in total, both of which look alike.
Costs:
Steel $60.84
Foam/ vinyl $65.21
Tubing/ spray adhesive $41.15
Paint $10.81
Total $178.01
So, thats ~$90 a seat and about 20hours of labor.
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"The decision to build a car is not one reached through a rational mindset. It is a decision that is made because we have to do it! It makes no sense, but neither does love, children and taxes" -Sam Buchanan
My Build Log:
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3054