Repop story/example
When Gearhead mentions "some re-pop parts come up way short on quality" I just had to laugh! I have had soooo many bad repopparts this past year or so, it's unbelievable. Most just need a lot of work to fit, and even then they don't fit well. And the finish is often not close to original...
Here's and example of what I had to deal with time after time:
Getting near the end on the interior the other day, we made the decision to cover the repop front kick panels (painted cardboard) with vinyl that is the exact match to the interior covers. Had two yards of the matching Aqua vinyl that I had purchased extra (through Phil Reed). I had earlier buggered up the rear parcel tray and we decided to remake that piece from the repop, but using a water proof panel my interior guy recommended. We covered it with the matching Aqua vinyl. Looks good, just not stock, but longer lasting for sure. Put a single drop of water on your rear parcel tray and you know what I'm talking about....
So we decide to use some of the extra vinyl to cover the kick panels as well. What could go wrong? My guy glues the painted side of the panels, sprays the vinyl, and presto! Rivet the vent pieces on Bingo! I've got covered kick panels. So we go to install them, starting with the passenger side. It fits, sorta, but looks odd. Big gaps in one spot. Then we go to put the driver's side in. Not even close. After about half an hour of fussing and fitting, we are stumped. It's 9:00 PM Monday evening, so we call the interior guy. He shows up a half hour later, looks at the pieces, and suggests we have them on the wrong side. How could that be?
So we fit the two pieces in reverse, and Viola! they fit. But hey, we covered the painted side, not the bare side. We had to rip the vinyl off, cut new pieces, then glue them on TO THE WRONG SIDES OF THE REPOP PIECES in order to make them fit. Had to take out the rivets in the vents each time
. I wonder how many they made in that run of "I accidentally painted the wrong sides of the panels" and then sent them to arious distributors for sale???? And just how guys like me fussed and fussed for a few hours trying to figure out how these fit correctly?
So what do I think of repop parts? Inspect them carefully for fit and finish before installing. Most of the time you spend getting them to even look correct you could put into a fund to buy the more expensive NOS or GM replacement parts. Unless, like me, you value your time at 17 cents per hour
.
Cheers!
TomK
P.S. How many of you have interior guys who come over at 10:00 at night with a glue pot? Sometimes I feel real lucky