New original parts vs reproduction

Don't know where to post this subject. Maybe a seperate section for New Parts cons and pros?

I'm interested in hearing your opinion and experience with various parts.
For example SKF wheelbearing vs the other. Same for king pins etc.
Body panels and so on?

My main gripe with reproduction parts are sills and rear inner wings. Sills are never, ever bent right, or in my experience, the right length. They are easily sorted though, but rear inner wings are almost a completely different shape! they only have one swage line too, which isn't correct for anything after the late 60's IIRC! I understand Citroen never made them as a repair panel though, so there isn't actually an alternative (unless somebody knows different?)

We are lucky in that most parts are catered for and we don't want for much in the way of spares for our 2cvs.

I think original panels are allways going to be better, as for mechanical parts, I couldn't really say, I've not had enough experience with them on a long term basis to be able to comment.

Bit of a tricky one really, there's generally only one manufacturer of original or OEM parts, so it's fairly easy to say whether they're any good or not. There could be any number of people producing "reproduction" parts though, so it's a bit difficult to comment on the quality of all of them...

I've fitted kingpins from one manufacturer that when taken from the packet were far too tight in the bushes, and once fitted needed replacement within a year. On the other hand, the ones I replaced them with from ECAS seemed to be much better quality, but the slot in the bottom plug didn't fit the driver in my drift set?

Inner rear wings - all becomes clear when you have a good look at an oldie in that area - the ones you buy are identical in every detail! Which makes it none too surprising that they're sods to fit: firstly, the 'step' from the first stage under the back seat up to the next one in front of the bootwell is about 40mm. instead of 20, and, secondly, the flanges at the front edges, instead of being laid over the outside of the C-post flange, are tucked into the inside.

Sills though - eh?... Mind, they're a far nearer miss than they ever used to be, and at least they've got the correct threads for the seat belt mountings now...

[quote="peteInner rear wings - all becomes clear when you have a good look at an oldie in that area - the ones you buy are identical in every detail! quote]


I knew they were 'right' for early cars (no holes and a single flute). I had assumed that they were not quite the right shape though (I had to shorten one about 3"). So to fit properly I need to open the C pillar up along the welded edge and fit the wing between there?

Not quite that bad - it sits inboard of the double layer of C-post flange.

Doesn't alter the difference in the 'step', though, which is probably where most of the fitting problems arise.

The biggest issue I has was, as I said, the length of them, part of that was because the car was previously stuffed and badly repaired, but it was definately too long anyway. Glad you've pointed me in the right direction with where the front edge goes, I think I'm doing a pair of these soon so it'll be good to do it right!

Can't really understand how they might have been too long - it's never arisen for me, but, as you say, if the car was already badly repaired, and therefore probably distorted, that might have been where the snag lay.

Crap repairs, eh? - you always wish they'd just left it alone, instead of making the job twice as hard.

I think it has to be conceded that pattern panels rarely fit - you have to make them fit; ask any experienced MG repairer - that's if you've got plenty of time to listen to it all... The only 2CV panels that I can think of that are anything near correct are floors, and even they have a few discrepancies sometimes, like captives for the seat runners not quite in the right place. Oh, and the lower bulkhead panels are pretty good. Probably a significant reason may be that the people making them have little or no idea of their application, let alone what needs doing to fit them, and therefore no understanding of which dimensions are critical. The windscreen panel illustrates this beautifully, in that the slots inside the pillars, which are supposed to be there for the spot-welder electrode to pass through, are about 5mm. wide! So they've copied the idea of the original by putting the slots in, but with no knowledge of their function. You can't enlarge them sufficiently, as you'd run out of pillar, because they're so shallow - so much so that it can be a struggle getting the rear loom back in.

But, if we didn't have these shonky parts, we'd have nowt, and then we'd really be in it. So it's get stuck in, and be grateful...