I just took the back seats out of my '02 r53 and was trying to find a place to store them when I had a brainstorm. I plan on taking them and all the hardware I can remove from my car and mounting it all on a custom frame to make it into a couch.

It seem straight forward for the most part but I am yet to remove the side mounts for the back rest. I took a quick look and think I might have to remove interior paneling too. Also some of the screws are glued in crazy tight or something but I think the old "bigger hammer" trick will work with those.

I'm wondering if anyone has done this and could give me any tips, plans or pics. Tips or diagrams on how to remove the interior panels safely might come in hand too.

 

Dude, get out of my head . Looking at doin' this exact thing. No suggestions or info, just brain stormin'.

 

if you guys sucessfully do it, do share! would love to have a MINI seats couch.

 

Here are official instructions: http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/08/65/38
preliminary tasks:
http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/07/12/96
http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/07/02/50

I've done it on a convertible, but it's different in a hardtop.

 

I just threw mine in the closet. Their next destination is the storage thread. Possibly down the road getting sold.

 

My. Wife. Would. Kill. Me. Lol

 

I expect to have a proof of concept prototype done later this evening. Once I'm done I'll post some of the pictures of the various steps I've taken and documented.

I'm sure it will take a couple more weeks to make finish panels and fine tune the design. It would be really cool if I could make the custom parts with the same material as the seats and interior but that might be a tall, lengthy and pricey order. I also need a source for matching carpet materials for the flat floor I'm doing. On that subject does anyone know of a source for genuine MINI fabrics like the vinyl seat material or carpet?

No one sell any seats yet. If this all goes well may be Ill be buying them up in bulk and starting a business for myself. What does a set of back seats go for anyway?

 

Well I have my proof of concept. It took me about 6 hours total and all of $10.

Here are the basic steps I've taken thus far.

This is what I started with. It was a gift from my grandparents some years ago.



Same chair stripped and cut down some.



Took the hardware out of the car and mounted it on the chair frame.



Re-installed seat bottom just like I would in the car...mostly.



Mounted the seat backs just like i would in the car.....mostly.



It seats two best as it tends to tilt a bit with one person on one side but not that bad really. It still rocks and the foot rest will work just like it did with a tiny bit of work. The reclining function does not work because the back and bottom are mounted to the same frame member like that would be in the car. I think I know how to make it work too I just didn't want to spend the extra time and effort.

So there we go, one less back seat and one more couch! It has a long way to go before being something really nice but I believe it has a lot of potential. Over the next couple weeks I'm going to rebuilt it, get the details worked out and get it looking good.

 

Great idea. Especially installed on an old bark-o-lounger.

Does the car lose any rigidity with the rear seats removed? I've heard that even split-fold seats make a car slightly more flexible. Of course, this only really matters to the lead-foots in the crowd.

Ted.

 

No it is not more flexible. If you are worried about it there are several bars for the back.

 

Thanks Porthos. I'd just always been curious about the stories I'd heard.

Ted.