[Phlogiston]

Here are a few things that I said and almost said.

First, I used an example that had replacement caps in it for a reason. Even though I fully intend to find the originals (anybody have some?) the real point was in quality work. Not "nobody looks under the chassis" which implies - Anything Goes.

I am interested in other antiques, collector cars and such. It is always the objective to save as much if the original as possible. Second choice is making a replacement look as much like the original as possible. I see saving the cap barrels in this light.

To Arran, I did not get this deep in the blog - but, there is a skill to removing the existing leads/wraps. As I said, solder is weak. I will often grab the twisted end of a lead with GOOD needle-nose pliers and pull it out of the solder blob. If the lead is covered with solder, remove some first. If I want to remove all components/connections from a post I will find the top of the post and cut across the top with my side cutters. This removes the parts/wire and leave little U shaped lead/pieces behind that will fall off when the post is sucked clean. Overheating the components is a real risk if this is not done properly.

As to the wax - you are probably not going to believe this - I will pull the leads out of many brands of cap. The solid piece of wax will come out too.. I clip the lead and reinstall the original wax seal with the new part inside. This only works on some brands/series of caps. I use a modified version to "restuff" Solar caps (wax bodied caps). This takes some practice. Again, saving as much of the originality as possible.

The people that get annoyed at this say that I am telling them that they HAVE to do this. Actually I am telling them HOW to do this and WHY to do this. You can always cut out all of the original components/wire and go with whatever you have but it is hard to go back and fix the result. Learning how to solder is a good thing.

You may have noticed that I document everything with pictures/files. I have thousands of images and often use them in discussions and provide examples upon request - usually through my site.

It has always been my intent to do the best that can be done in anything I do otherwise, why bother.