Quote:
Originally Posted by GoreMaker
Oh wow, those look sweet. And they look like they belong there! Nice find.
I paid $650 for the pair, which I find pretty reasonable for a set of original Recaros that were installed in only 2000 or so cars and bolt right into mine without modifications. I especially love the extendable thigh support.
The seats are still sitting in my winter beater, I didn't take them out after getting home from the 7 hour round trip from picking them up. But this is a picture Bruce sent me before I agreed to buy them:
I'm planning to take them apart and add or replace bushings at all pivot points, clean up the tracks and paint/lube everything to make it look good. I'm gonna have them re-upholstered in lombardi black cloth with piping to match my car's interior, and maybe update some of the padding. About the only thing I think I'm missing are the seat belt loops. I assume the regular OEM ones don't fit directly, but I haven't checked yet.
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those look to be in pretty good shape overall & that was a great price. just some worn through black fabric on the bolsters & the all too common crushed bolster foam on the drivers side outer bottom bolster from people being lazy getting in & out of them. thats a big rule i have for anyone getting in my 81, dont slide on the side bolsters, pick your butt up when getting in & out!
a big thing is the head rest netting looks to be in good shape, dont mess with that when restoring them if possible because they dont make replacements. the head rests come out when you reach behind the upper red foam & pull the 2 clevis pins.
good thing you are recovering them in new black because there is no original fabric available repro or new/NOS. back in the late 90s when i bought my 81 pace car & didnt know much about them (internet wasnt like it is today) i actually called recaro asking for info & parts for these seats & they put me in contact with the guy that was in charge of the factory programs at that time, he said of all the recaros GM & ford & others used, the red/black were the rarest & the fabric was made specially for those seats by recaro & only supplied enough for the 2000 cars made, no more was produced or is available & was not a GM supplied fabric. ive seen lots of these seats recovered & while some are decent color matches none are the correct material. a good interior shop should be able to replicate the foam on the bolsters but there is company that produce recaro foam, i can send you a link to them but not 100% sure they make an exact correct replacement for the bolsters.
looks like they are missing some of the side knobs for the forward lockout & yes the seat belt guides are the same ones used on other GM seats. & when you take them apart, be aware the 2 allen bolts attaching the backs to the bottoms have heavy thread lock that needs to be heated up to get them out, i used a propane torch with a pencil tip to carefully heat the bolts one at a time & be sure to protect surrounding areas & direct the flame away from anything that will melt or burn.
looks like you have a good solid starting point with these to customize for your car.