New/old Recaro Seats Are In

[2000xp8]

Haven't been around much, we had a baby a few months back, so you know how that goes.

So I saw some 80's recaro edition trans am seats on craigs, beat to hell. Recaro lx's were used in a lot of cars, including 79 pace cars. So I went and bought them.
I'm picky about seats in a fox, only certain ones fit the look, nothing with round shoulder areas work right, just too modern.
I'm a huge fan of netted head rests.

Sent them out and had them redone. Wasn't my cheapest project, but I did only go 30-40% over budget, so that's a plus. German vinyl which is used in many bmw's. The price for the real stuff (I can't tell the difference) was astronomical.

Wedge brackets and recaro sliders. I used recaro pace car adapters, but I was too tall and the thigh bolsters are too thick causing my legs to be too close to the steering wheel (i'm 6'1). The recaro sliders let these seats go wayyyyyy back and keep the seats much lower. Nice change. Much more comfortable than my 25 year old stockers and much more supportive.

Going to change the carpet to black (hacked up the beat stock one to fix cracked front seat mount).
I am going to send the rears out over the winter to be done to match the front.
Before and after.

 

[stykthyn]

Looking good

 

[GroverDill]

oh hell yeah I like!

 

[madspeed]

look great. I had some real nice Recaros years ago in a 16v GTI. Someone broke in and stole them

 

[97gtstang01]

Looks sic love the see through head rest

sent while thinking of mods for my 4.6s using tapatalk

 

[2000xp8]

Thanks guys.

These seats are a little more available than one would think. They are made up of different sections, sorta modular. So companies would choose lower sections and uppers, then mix and match. For example, some had solid headrests, some netted, some had lower thigh extensions (mine do) some don't.

Even though beat, one glance at the netted headrests, I knew I had to have them.

The good news is that almost all recaro lx seats will fit in a fox with the right brackets and sliders.

A change in fabric and stitching completely alters the look, for example many fabrics with prints came in foreign sport compacts, then you had solid sets in leather in porches, Pleaded in bmw's, all the way back to these in an 80's trans am and 79 mustang pace cars. You can literally make them anything you like, I found some pics online, picked gray baseball stitching to match what will be left of my gray interior and let the guy have at it.

I must credit some of the knowledge to the guys at the saleen club site, they were very helpful since saleen used similar seats.

They also led me to Aardvark Aardvarc Racing | Recaro Seats, Custom Wheels and BMW 2002 Parts
He outsources the seats to another guy to be redone, but dave was great. Took about a month, which is exactly what he said it would take.

I expected a lot obviously, look how they originally looked, but since there are so many variations, I truly didn't know what I was getting back in the mail.
I'd call what this guy does, art.

For the record, price I was given was sight unseen, I was worried about additional charges since they were a mess, but the only upcharge would be frame repair (which I didn't need)

 

[A5literMan]

Those look perfect. Great job.

 

[Onefine88]

Wow those are sharp! Great work!

 

[tannerc91gt]

Those are friggin sweet

 

[elarm1]

Those are nice.

 

[TOOLOW91]

VERY nice

 

[Flavadave4]

Love them!

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[skyline247]

They look great!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[89oem]

Ive been pondering these, do they sit as nice as they look?

 

[89stang1]

OMG they look sick!! that was one thing i always loved on my 86 GT but those are really sweet they look way better than cloth if for any reason which i doubt you will get rid of them id like to buy em.

 

[2000xp8]

Probably not selling any time soon, lol. But there is no reason not to do your own set.

They are pretty comfortable, much more solid than a set of flexible stock seats. At 6'1 230 or so they are solid and comfortable enough for me.

The key do doing a set of these is finding them in the worst condition possible. Because if the look, material or color doesn't work for you, they have to be redone completely regardless. So if you were to say find a $500 set in decent condition wrong color, they aren't any better than a set for $200 that are destroyed. A lot of fair condition sets out there, but the foreign patterns don't exactly go in a fox.

Just be prepared, the brackets and sliders are $400 alone. Nice thing is that with the wedge brackets and recaro slider you gain a couple inches of head room and they go back far enough to accommodate someone pretty damn tall.

 

[89oem]

and you used Aardvarc to refurbish?

 

[2000xp8]

and you used Aardvarc to refurbish?

Yup.

I had a page from another forum where someone that redoes these seats posted pics of his work.
I'll see if I can find it, that's how I picked my pattern. Although mine still turned out different (better) than the pic I sent them.

If you must have the netted headrest, that may make finding a set more difficult, although they headrest can be found separate, they don't fit all seats.

I got lucky, I woke up one Saturday morning and thought to myself "i think i'd like some recaros", went on craigs, there they were about 30 minutes west, drove out there, made an offer, took them home, did a little research on where to send them, month later I had them done.

 

[2000xp8]

Recaro seats, accessories, and upholstery - R3VLimited Forums

Here you go, just scroll through the page, a lot of pics there. I have no clue about that guy that does them. I just used them to decide how I wanted mine.
Prepare to drool, some seriously sweet seats are posted there.

Just to give an idea of costs involved in this.

$400 brackets and sliders
$200 for the seats
$750 to have them redone with another $200 in round trip shipping.

 

[Shakerhood]

Great job!