If you own either 1988 or 1989 STD or DX hatch, you probably already researched ways to ditch your regular seats for some nice Si seats from either 1989 or 1990-91 hatchback.

Hopefully you did your research, and you ended up doing the seat pan swap. But chances are that you ended up with the tilt lever on the opposite side. I spent some time today staring and staring at both of my 89Si and 90Si seat pans, and I decided to try The Other Method.

Justification: I want lever to be on the outside, where it should be. I want my seats to be bolted in all four corners. I want it to look neat.
Tools needed: 12mm and 14mm wrench, grinder, drill with some sharp bit for spot welds, and finally - welder (yup! but there is an option!).

Here are both 1989 and 1990 pans side by side. Both of them are from a diver seat. Notice the difference in location of hinge bracket, rail bracket, also a stance of mounting rails. Pans alone are almost identical, including used and unused rivet holes. Note that 89Si bolt in perfectly to the floor of 1988 and 1989 STD hatchbacks (that’s what I have and tried).
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/89Si_pan.jpg
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/90Si_pan.jpg
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/89Si_90Si.jpg

My solution: Obviously for clean mounting and positioning in the car I need to retain the stance of the 89Si pan, but then the back support would not need my requirements (tilt lever). So I need to switch the hinge bracket to the other side. But then I would have the backrest mounted only on one side, so I also need to switch the bottom bracket that on 90Si is used to support tilting mechanism, as well as hinge and a floor-mounting rail. The hinge bracket is held in place by 4 spot welds (x) and 3 insanely sturdy rivets (o). The bottom bracket is held by 11(?) spot welds.

Here are both brackets before removal.
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/hinge_brkt.jpg
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/lever_brkt.jpg

Next step will be to remove hinge bracket from 89Si pan, and prep pen for welding. Now, if you don’t feel like welding, you can easily get away with just bolting both brackets to the pan. There are even predrilled holes that will help you with positioning both of those brackets, and it would look sorta like this:

http://radekonline.com/download/seats/brkt2_switch.jpg
http://radekonline.com/download/seats/brkt1_switch.jpg

* Tuneup, smog check, and registration
* Remove and sell motor and tranny
* Cleanup the engine bay
* Windshield removal
* Pulling dents (roof, pass side, running board, front bumper filler, rear bumper filler)
* Paint job (prep work and component removal done by me: fenders, doors, hatch, spoiler wing, rear quarter windows, antenna, roof strips, front and rear bumper fillers )
* Sand and respray bumpers and trim

* Seats
* Gut everything out, sell anything that can be sold
* Rewire door speakers, tweeters/crossovers, rear speakers, hatch harness/ wiper, seat belts
* Fix seatbelts
* New carpet wit old hardware
* Dash swap
* Interior plastics - consider sanding down and respray
* Install speaker pods and cargo tray

* Original: brown bottom / tan top
* Swap: black bottom / gray top
* Swap respray: black bottom / tan top
* Original respray: black bottom / tan top

* Wire tuck
* bronze hatch/rear windows
* Power windows / mirrors
* SiR wing w/LED
* Red trim stripe
* Rear disc brakes swap, front upgrade
* Tilted steering wheel

1989 Civic Hatchback Tuneup

TUNEUP ALMOST COMPLETE! Things to do tomorrow: Flush the radiator and fill up with antifreeze. Fill up engine oil. Replace spark plugs. Adjust timing. ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:09:04 +0000 http://radekonline.com/veronica/the-plan-yup-yet-another-one/ http://radekonline.com/veronica/the-plan-yup-yet-another-one/ Yes, I did! I figured out the name for my new hatch. Since Bridget was already taken and used, Rachel seemed only appropriate for my ex red hatch, and Bridget 2 just doesn't fit anywhere, a new name is a must and the name is...

Normally that was a name reserved for my daughter, but since I have a such a hard time finding a mother for my daughter (LOL) I might as well use it on a car. Veronica it is.

After countless hours on craigslist, I found a new old addition to my stable - 1989 Tan Civic Hatchback. It was crucial that it should be the 1988-1988 model as it is lighter, doesn't have annoying seat belts, and it comes with my favorite factory color: almond cream - YR-88. WIth exception of few minor dents body appears to be in excellent shape, however it has been repainted recently. I picked it up from Stockton for 800.00 bucks, and I hope she is worth it.