How does the seat portion come out? The seat will lift up from the back but how do you unlatch the front? I see two latches in the front,

On my 98 the seat is clipped in with 2 plastic pieces. Probably the same thing that you are calling the latches. If you pull straight up on them they will unsnap and the bottom part of the seat will come right out. It takes some force to get em out and to get em in. Make sure that you pay attention to how they go back in...I didnt and it took me a few mins to figure it out. Also be careful not to drop the clips down in underneath the carpet. There is a piece of metal that comes out to make the back wall of the floorboard and it consumed one of mine. It fell down in and I had to get one from the junkyard the next time I was out there. FYI: Mine is the coupe convertible so I dont know if yours will be different. Good luck!
DJP2

Yeah, the two pressure clips on the front of the rear seat are a pain to get out. You just have to pull up really hard... It's great when they finally let loose and you end up nearly going through the roof of the car. :) You'll probably have to snap the plastic hook things back on the seat before you put it back in. That's fun to do too. :)

Yeah, the two pressure clips on the front of the rear seat are a pain to get out. You just have to pull up really hard... It's great when they finally let loose and you end up nearly going through the roof of the car. :) You'll probably have to snap the plastic hook things back on the seat before you put it back in. That's fun to do too. :)

Yea I had to put my clips back onto the seat before I could put it back in. But mine is a vert so no goin thru the roof for me...I just dropped it before I began working.:sunglasse

That appears to be the case for my 97 cavalier as well. The seat was a snap. What about the back support piece of the rear seat? How do I remove it? Do I have to remove the side panels to get to the bolts and un-bolt it from the chassis?

the rear portion needs to be slid in one direction to the point of lining up with a groove and it will come out in a slight angle...

Just take a good look at how it operates and you can figure it out. Its too hard to explain.

yep, got it, remove the black spacer clip(passenger side) using a rubber malot and a small block of wood, this will allow the backrest to slide to the passenger side and the driver side hinge will slide out, pull the seat towards the front and then to the driver side to remove it from the car.