I am trying to figure out how to get the plastic recline lever cover off without breaking it.
Has anyone got one off that was seemingly stuck? Both seats are the same.
Has anyone ever taken one off period?

 

Years ago when I restored the leather seats in my FC I had the same problem. I had no joy getting that plastic cover off the recline lever, but with a bit of persuasion I was able to get the plastic seat trim past that lever to restore my seats. Here's the basic process as I recall:

1. Remove seats from the car, and do the work someplace warm - warm plastic is much less brittle and more pliable.
2. Remove ALL of the screws that secure the plastic trim piece to the seat. IIRC, there were 2~3 screws. When you get them all out, the trim piece will be able to move & flop around some, but you won't be able to easily get it past that recline lever.
3. Now you're going to have to simultaneously manipulate the seat recline angle, the recline lever and that plastic trim and angle it in such a way that you can just barely squeeze the trim piece past the recline lever. I forget exactly how I had it all positioned when it worked, but if you angle things just right, you can squeeze the trim piece past the recline lever but it's going to be TIGHT. It might be helpful to gently warm up the plastic trim piece with a blow dryer or low power heat gun to soften the plastic a bit before attacking this.

 

That's essentially what I did. I heated them a little and with a block of wood and a mallet hit the wood hard enough and it popped off the plastic. It was pretty uneventful. I did have a bigger friend of mine budge one by pulling with his hand. It gave me the confidence to get a little more aggressive with force.