I bought a set of real nasty mouse **** infested buckets correct for 68. I’ve restored and replaced almost everything. I have yet to get the covers on but my big question is this,
is it worth blasting and repainting / lubricating the original seat floor adjusters or are the reproductions worth the 105 dollars a side or are they just cheep and waste compared to originals? Matt

 

My feelings are everything repro is of a lesser quality... if your tracks are restorable/working keep em...

 

I would have to agree. Unless your existing tracks are so rusted and pitted they are t worth using (which I doubt, since you successfully restored the seats they were bolted to) I’d clean and reuse what you have.

I have never compared OEM to aftermarket seat tracks, but like most reproduction stuff, they cut corners wherever to maximize the profit margins. That means either the tracks are stamped from thinner steel, the locks/springs/rollers/whatever are made cheaper, etc.

 

IMHO it's not worth the time and effort to disassemble, blast, refinish and reassemble the OEM parts. WAY too much work. I am using aftermarket adjuster rails for both driver and passenger in my '68 4-4-2. They are awesome quality. Same dimensions as OEM - very sturdy, with a brassy zinc(?) plated surface.

OEM Rails


Aftermarket rails

 

I do not know where you got yours from but my son bought a set from a popular Olds parts dealer and none of the rails would even move back and forth because of interference between the mount and the rail. I had to dissassemble them with a hammer and grind away some of the offending metal before they would slide. If we had known this we would have restored the factory adjusters.

 

Wow, Ed, that is a major pain! The versions I used were kind of stiff to begin with, but had no problems with full motion to and fro, and loosened up nicely once lubed appropriately. I don't recall where I got them and can't locate the receipt at the moment, but want to say The Parts Place or OPGI.

 

That brassy color is most likely a gold Cadmium plating. That is all but illegal in the US these days - not so for "offshore". I'm glad they work for you.
I restored my originals a few years ago. They had surface rust and were 'locked up' for close to 20 years so my expectations were low but I thought I'd give it a try to save them. I also felt like any reproductions would be less than stellar in quality.
I submerged mine in a bath of Evapo-Rust for several days and they literally came out looking brand new. The mechanisms were free and everything moved in the channels like they were supposed to. I washed them off and top coated them with the proper paint and installed new reproduction springs.
Couldn't be happier. Original parts and they fit and work great. That Evapo-Rust is magical stuff.

 

I agree, Evapo-Rust is awesome stuff! I've used it on nearly all the hard parts. I bought the large 3.5 gallon bucket. I considered it for the seat rails as well, but thought it would gum-up the lubrication within the roller mechanisms. I considered disassembling them for cleaning, then de-rusting, but couldn't figure out how to get them apart without damaging them. I still have them. Maybe I'll revisit them.

 

could be zinc chromate coating instead of cadmium plate