When I was putting together my most wanted list for my ST build, a set of Repa racing Harnesses was on the list. Not just any replica set that was picked off ebay, but the real deal and I had only seen a couple sets come by in a lot of years. One of these sets went into the Olive Tart ST Build (https://www.excellence-mag.com/issue...1#.WyKntmBPqM8) that I folliwed with great interest. I contacted a couple fellow enthusiasts to see if I could get sizes and dimensions to build a replica set myself, but no such luck. My buddy Cees found a set at Ladenburg Auction and bid like crazy to get it (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item...e-construction). It cost over 2K euro and was in so so shape, but it was the start of a project that got me in over my head to create a perfect replica at no expense. It took me on and off a lot of years and money to finish up and be happy with the end result...
I have a set in my ST build that will be on the road soon and another set will be going into the ONS RSR of a friend that just went into full restoration.(https://petrolicious.com/articles/vi...s-life)...Well, if it is good enough for that car, it should be good enough for any car right :-)
What I did to get to this end-product is the following:
- Buy a load of old repa hardware in the VW scene, because the specific chrome adjusters on the Y-harness and adjustable mounting plates on the lock side of the lap belt need to be made from these. Then have them flattened, cut to size, drilled to make the specific adjusters. (costed a fortune to have that done by a shop)
- Replicate the 90 degry angled specific Y-section end piece mounting plate (not a regular Repa mounting plate from later model that is bend!)
- Replicate the flat side plate (is same as standard plate, but mostly to rotten to reuse)
- Replicate the specific racing harness repa label for the Y section. (not selling these separate)
- Clean (scrub/wash.rinse etc.) the belt material and inspect what parts were for the bin and what was reusable to get the authentic look.
- Buy a load of Daves pre-72 webbing and Repa lables to make Y-pieces and replace torn/bad pieces for lap and rear sections.
- Have all manufactures flat- and angled mounting plates and usable buckle locks and adjuster bars/pins blasted and zinc replated.
- Have all other hardware chrome replated
- Spend hours of cutting webbing to match the original section, melting the edges of the webbing, riviting the plastic endcaps/guides to prep for Sewing
- Wait in line for months to have the pieces sewn with correct Repa stitch pattern by a certified belt stitching company
- Have a tailor sew on the repa labels.
- Buy a load of Uro Repa caps for the female bucles and buy replica caps for the adjusters.
As you can imagine a lot of money has gone into this and it has not been a project to make money, but I do want to recoup my investments in this project.
I will only be selling off a couple sets, I have 5 of them available at this point and hopefully will have another 4 or so at the end of this year. (Still working on parts for them)
Pricing these in Euro's to make sure I get not hit by currency conversions.
Set #5 is made of all of the above, Repa Inserts with porsche no-logo cap, with Repa receivers.
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