[Ron Ramirez]

Stephen, if you can survive a 41-250 without becoming an alcoholic, you can take on any radio with rubber-covered wiring!

I finished a 40-201 the day after Christmas. Rubber-covered wiring galore. The one bright spot was that there was a lot of room to maneuver around in under the chassis. I can see where something like a 42-321 would be a pain. It took a week to restore this chassis, working 3 to 6 hours per day on it.

Here's how I replace rubber insulation:

I unsolder one end of the wire. Usually, there is a capacitor or two I need to replace which is also soldered where the wire I need to take care of is. So I unsolder the joint, remove one end of the wire, and remove all of the old rubber insulation. I then choose some 3/16" heat shrink tubing in the same color as the old insulation, cut to the correct length, and pre-shrink the cut tubing before sliding it over the original wire. I then solder the wire back into place. Repeat for every wire in the thing. When finished, the radio looks like it has all new rubber-covered wiring. But the heat shrink tubing should (hopefully) last much longer than the original rubber did.