[ebgto]

Need to replace or refinish mine. How is the quality and look of the repro pieces?

[gto4evr]

I was pretty disappointed with the repops I put on my 69 ten years ago, but the set of repops I put on my friends 68 last year for him were much better in appearance and seemed to fit better (tighter to the seat). One thing I had a real problem with though was getting the backs on and lined up. they definitely didn't fit well around the sides and required some modifications to get the seat releases to not only line up but to not drag on the buttons. I'd get it on but once tightening up all of the screws it would drag at the release button so it would stick. I had to remove some material on the edge of the hole almost to the point of it flush with the back side of the bezel. I'm not sure which supplier he got them from, but he never spares any expense on that car and I know the interior kit itself came from Legendary.

I'd always pick original over repop but with these, if they're chalked, there's no saving them and of course nice originals are hard to come by. Once on, you'll slowly forget how nice an original fit on the seat but it's offset by the lack of chalk and scratches so you get over it.

a side note, refinishing depends on what's wrong. Don't bother if it's chalky, it'll just turn into a velvet look that scrapes off at the first touch. if' it's a color change over good plastic then you've got a chance.

[Gastiresandoil]

Attempted to do this for my seat backs a few months ago. Ordered a set from OPG and had to return them because they did not fit. They were too short, as in once the top two brackets were attached, the bottom flange would not fit over the mounting points. I tried to stretch the piece over the mounting points as well as loosen the two upper brackets it mounted to, but could not get it to sit correctly. Needless to say, they were returned without issue.

[Greg Reid]

I ordered my '68 backs and lower bolsters from Ames/PY about 3~4 years ago. I did have to manipulate the lowers to get them lined up with the screw holes and also hog the seat button hole out a bit as mentioned above. To me, the button hole being a little small is a good thing. You can make it fit exactly as opposed to if it were the correct size but a quarter inch out of place. Then you'd be in danger of the hole showing past the fairing or having to hog it out past the screw hole.
Nothing earth shaking and pretty much par for the course as repop stuff goes. I'd give them a 4 out of 5 overall as they actually fit my seats well and have been trouble free since installation. The material, pattern, thickness and so forth are good.
I actually need to pull them back off and dye them but I wanted them to conform so I may not have to wrestle with getting them back on again.
Plus, the black kinda looks ok with my color scheme.

[ebgto]

Thanks for info and experience. My parts are bit chalked, so I guess I’ll need to try the repros.
Thanks!

[killakev]

I don't know. My past experiences with REPO stuff is always bad...to have to modify as described here by others. Yep been there and now absolutely try to avoid it as much as possible. There has been some advances in REPO parts but the thing I see is....Grain isn't right with interior parts, the parts are flimsy and not durable.

What I do like are the SEM products such as interior paint prep and color. If the part such as a seat back isn't gouged out or scratched to hell, you should consider the SEM products. Much easier to take an interior part off and prep it for paint then to cut, drill or do whatever it takes to make it fit....time time time. I would say the product is very good and to retain the original part..priceless!

[Greg Reid]

I've used the SEM dyes and they are excellent...but what they won't do is restore a chalky seatback, kickpanels or anything like that.
The Ames seatbacks, while not perfect are definitely one of the better repop products I've purchased. No regrets here.
Even if you could find NOS ones, I doubt they'd just fit right out of the box on a seat that's been sat on for 50 years or one that has been totally restored with OTHER repop parts.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Quite pleased with my Repop seatbacks circa 2005. I put the Repop piping on and used original pipe ends. Just great.

Then a coworker asked about the glue ooze out on the top row piping on the seatback last week looks like i used an adhesive on the piping and it oozed out last Summer.

I don't remember using adhesive on the piping.....so i'm gonna attemp to wipe it off. Sure loath using a solvent and mssing the seatback gloss. Seatbacks look new still.

(Edits: amazing how typing fast allows words to get auto-substituted)

[Greg Reid]

I like the fact that the ones I used had the piping already installed.

[gto4evr]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I like the fact that the ones I used had the piping already installed.

The repops I used on my 69 back in 2007 had the piping already installed as well and I've got the same problem HIS does. There's brown ooze coming out between the piping and the parchment painted seat backs where the adhesive appears to be melting out and i know trying to clean it off with solvent is going to trash the paint. In the course of cleaning the shop looking for parts this week I found a set of really nice black original seat backs I'd stashed away. Very tempted to just clean them up and paint them. I really don't want to do that but something's gotta be done and I don't want to run the two tone even though the black would actually match up with the black rugs, console and dash. I think they mold the new repops in the parchment plastic now but I bought a set of new arm rest bases and after a few years, my bases look amber now so they don't seem to do well with age, UV rays or both. I don't want to waste the money on seatbacks that will do the same thing in three years.

[Greg Reid]

Well, as you can see from my photo, they've been in place for 3-1/2 years. So far, so good.

[Half-Inch Stud]

So the seatbacks came with the Piping already on...Not remembering that detail, thinking i put the original chrome metal ends on. Saved them from boneyards for such a reason.

[ebgto]

I’m going to get some pics of my parts and see what you guys think about painting them. Sounds like it’s worth a try. They weren’t heavily chalked.
Thanks!

[Greg Reid]

Can you scratch them with your fingernail and remove any of the material?
If so, scrap 'em.