bacardiboi

ok so i had a hard time finding a really good DIY on installing prelude 92-96 seats into an ej.
so i tried to document everything i could think of while i was doing it.


i used a combination of greeblers instructions (into ek) off of HT, some pics of dj_sandoz 's install from HT, and an exploded diagram of both seats as suggested by a brilliant individual on here. i was going out of town to do the swap so i had read up a bit...

i also gathered (and used) these tools--

- 3/8" titanium tip drill bit
- cutting oil
- corded drill
- steel ruler or some other precise measuring instrument ur comfortable with (my friend suggested a caliper. dunno that u need that much precision)
- a dremel (althought a smaller drill bit would suffice, i just happened to bring it with me)
- some sort of marking instrument you can see on black. i used a green paint marker, but i was trying to find a white or yellow wax pencil when i settled for the paint pen.
- electrical tape
- wire strippers
- needle nose pliers
- combination wrench in 10mm (or was it 8mm...?)
- sockets in 10mm and 12mm
- black spray paint
- phillips screw driver (magnetic would help)
- u may need a boxcutter, my carpet is ill fitting aftermarket stuff...

i havent done this part but im expecting to need
- (2x) a nut that will fit a bolt that will pass fully through the floorboard at the front inner mounting point
- jb weld to attatch the bolt to the undercarriage (for ease of removal and reinstallation later
- 2 rubber grommett to fill the old mounting point

INSTRUCTIONS

1. START. remove the PASSENGER seat from both cars. 2 reasons-- if u [freak] it up its not ur main seat, and if u need something (like to move the car out of ur sister's bitchy neighbor's reserved parking spot) u can still drive the car. i was actually swapping the seats, so i was working on both seats (ej to lude and lude to ej) if its houston and its summer, take them inside and enjoy some iced tea and A/C.

2. DISECT.remove the OUTER (door side) rail from both seats. leave the inner rails put. theres 2 screws hold ing the plastic trim put. once you pull those screws u can twist the plastic around and maneuver around it to get out the 3 bolts holding the rails put. the bolts we are concerned with are the ones that were closest to the floor b4 u pulled the seats. i think they are all 10mm (maybe 8mm??), and the combo wrenches are really handy here due to clearance.




on the civic seats the rear most bolt removed is actually a bolt that drops out (rather than the welded on bolts everywhere else. i THINK the nut stays welded onto the rail. if that is the case i seem to remember reusing some nuts off of the prelude rails. and i have leftover nuts. (insert sexual innuendo here)

3. DRILL HOLES in the portion of the rail ATTATCHED TO THE SEAT... (go outside retard)
ok so you got the rails off both seats. after about an hour of complex and extremely precise guesswork, i developed these hole locations. they seemed to work, so i took exact measurements. i can still adjust the seat plenty far back and forward so im happy with these measurements.



i started measuring from the front of the rails. 3 inches from the front of the first existing hole to the center of the new hole to drill. 6 1/4 from the center of new hole one to new hole 2, and 6 7/32 from the center of new hole 2 to new hole 3. all holes need to be drilled in such a manner that there is exactly 1/4 inch steel left on the outer most edge. use a small drill bit or dremel to get an indention to make sure the holes are right where u want em.



now you should be able to attatch the civic rail into those holes, tighten it down, and dont forget/forgo the wire stretching across under the seat. ull need that.

4. FITTING. take it out to the car and throw it in. START on the front outer mounting point, then put in the rear inner (may require coercing) and finish up with the rear outer bolt. u may have to pull the seat slide lever and individually adjust the rails so everything lines up. but it will. TA-DA!!



but ur not done. the inner front bolt hole just doesnt mesh. i considered leaving it. i considered hammering and drilling the bracket to accept the hole in the car. u can do it however ud like but im going to drill a hole in my floorpan to match the hole in the bracket. greebler suggested using a rubber grommett to fill the old hole and i will probably jb weld a nut to the underside of the car so i can easily uninstall and reinstall my seats in the future.

the process is the same for the drivers seat, no difference at all. (work measurements in mirror, duh)

i also noticed that the clips for the seatbelt warning light under the drivers seats were different shapes, so i borrowed the preludes clip and ghetto spliced it onto my wiring harness.

yes the seat belts from the civic work with the clips from the prelude seats.



and yes (dont know why you would want to do this) the ej seats will fit into the prelude, but due to how short the civic rails are, only ONE of 3 bolts actually work. combine that with the missing bolt in the floorpan under the inner bracket and its a "3 bolts missing" scary fit. and the seat wont slide forward with the e brake up LOL.


Modified by bacardiboi at 1:00 AM 8/22/2008

bacardiboi

excuse the dirtyness... im a horrible house keeper LOL

Run Away

Excellent write up....this should be in the FAQ. There's only the DIY for 4th gen prelude into EK, not EG.

Used this today to put mine in. I ended up cutting a slot in the front inner bolt hole area and flattening it out to have more space to put the new hole where I wanted. I also bent the front little tab of the front inner rail to match the angle of the civic's rail.