Fiero Chair Mod (dail-up beware)

It wasn't my intention to hijack 8Complex's thread, so I decided to move it here. I got fed up with the normal computer chairs, and was looking for a good use for my secondary soundcard outputs. I had a friend who had a Fiero back in High School, and was amazed that the seats actually had the speakers built into them. So the quest was on to get me some. I tried the local junkyards, but every Fiero "speaker seat" was either missing the speakers, or water-logged beyond belief. That led me to ebay, where I scored a working speaker seat for $20. I needed a little amplification, so I went to BigLots and got a cheapo flatpanel speaker / subwoofer combo for $19. I just cut the speaker wires going to the flat panels and spliced them into the factory speaker jack. I then mounted the sub underneath the seat to give it the vibration effect. Here some close-up shots as requested:



This is the headrest with the cut out speaker grille



This is how I mounted the original armrests. They originally bolted into the frame, but were too low when I put the seat in, so I got some 4" bolts to raise them, and 3" pipe lengths for support. Not the prettiest, but it does the job just fine.



Here is the subwoofer mounted underneath the chair. The grille was made from an old 120 mm fan guard I had from an earlier project gone wrong. I secured all the wires in half-inch split loom, because poor wire management makes baby Jesus cry.




This is the business end of the chair. The most laborious thing about this project was cutting that piece of plywood that adapts the Fiero seat to the original chair mount. It's reinforced by some heavy duty steel straps.

And finally, the finished product, as seen in the other thread:

awesome

how does it feel and sound?

wow... just wow...

must resist.. modding chair.........last thing i have left that still standing.......

nice job

getting some good vibrations off the chair?

lol

DAMN that is awsome!!

How long did it take you?

You think you could make a chair for me?

The best thing about the chair is that it is extremely comfortalbe. It has great lumbar support, and it reclines. Well, to a degree before it becomes unbalanced. The speakers are stock Delco, so we're not talking Bose, but better than most run of the mill computer speakers. I looked into swapping them out with better ones, but I would have to strip down, and then totally recover the enitre seat. The entire project took less than 3 hours to complete. Like I said, the hardest part was actually locating a working speaker seat. I'm not out of things to mod just yet. I found a dead TRS 80 model III at a thrift store that's got mini-itx written all over it.

NOW that is one sick ass job/idea. I never would have thought to take a seat from a car and use it, shit I might go to my local yard and see if I can get like a 7 series seat and mod that bitch...

nice work... /me bows

Originally posted by Sidgoop
The speakers are stock Delco, so we're not talking Bose,

That is probably a good thing bose = a name that costs $700 on a $800 radio

all you need is a lil 10'' sub on the bottom to shake ya around

nice

Originally posted by Snow4832
all you need is a lil 10'' sub on the bottom to shake ya around

Look again, he has a little sub. Maybe not 10", but he has the bass covered.

So are you using the headrest speakers for another soundcard output or for your rear surrounds. nice job by the way......

Nice!

For the those wanting to mod a chair. You can get a really comfortable Corbeau (racing seat, excellent support) knock-off in various colors (cloth, a vinyl or actual leather) from $149.99-$249.99 (depends model) at PepBoys. I haven't located them online though.

Here pull that sub off and mount these guys to your chair and then you'll really be rocking.

wow tight work

If that sub can't get the GF into gaming nothing will.

Hmm, can the spekers inside of those chairs be replaced?

If so, what size are they? I might have found a use for my old 3-1/2" infinity coaxials if they will fit

One thing that might be good if you ever go for more power. Buy some bass shakers (made by the now defunct aura, but they are still found online). All they do is add rumble to your seat, but are powered off of a normal amplifier output. I think you can get a set of two for like $40 or a "pro" model (stronger rumble) for about $30 each.

lol i used to have a gt fiero and i swapped out the 2.6 for the SB....i shoulda kept my seats.

I found out the fiero seat speakers are 3-1/2", but they aren't exactly mounted either...tehy are encased in the foam of the headrest. So any replacement job is going to be a slight pain to do. Other issue is the max depth of 2", as there is a metal plate right there....this could limit choices of replacement speakers.

dude that is just wicked sick. awesome job