Best way to clean out my HEI

By the way, try to get a Radio Shack catalog. I managed to get one of the thick ones, and you'd be surprised how much stuff they actually "carry". I say carry, not stock. They still have the ability to get a lot of good stuff compared to what they keep in the stores.

By the way, this was my favorite Radio Shack toy back in the day:

~jp

In the after market world there are two battery manufactures producing

85% of what's sold in this country, Johnson Controls and Excide. That's it. And one is no better or worse than the other. They both seem to go in cycles of producing top line products and then absolute junk. So price and warranty are my deciding factors when I buy replacements. The retailers, like Wal-Mart, Sears, AutoZone etc switch manufactures like yo-yos based on which one will give them a better price. So you can go to Sears and spend 59.99 for a 5 year warranty 12 months free replacement and then pro-rated the last 4, or go buy the exact same one from AutoZone for $59.99 but get a 7 year warranty, free two year replacement, then pro-rated the last 5.

Whitelightning

You were and are more in to it then me. My dad had a BBS, ran it from

88 till 93. He sat my brother and my self down in late 1993 and asked us if we had any interest in operating a ISP. He already priced the T-1 & a 25 phone line pair. Neither of us was that interested.

My brother who is 26 works in a I.T. Department at a Environmental Engineering firm. Our dad was A "I.T." department before their was such a thing (Jr Executive) at a Mechanical, proto-type, machine control & Electrical Engineering firm. I took after my dad's Mechanical Abilities (former NHRA SS/A racer, Pro Mechanic, Vehicle customs).

I used to be able to do simple design work in Auto Cad (don't ask the version), I used to slap computers together from parts (I can still do simple repairs on mine), used to fix broken car radios. For a few years I even did some Website design and graphic work.

These days... I can still use a Unix Terminal, do simple Electronics work, manage not to screw up my windows XP-Pro, or kill my P-II 450. I use a OLD Omni-Key 102 Keyboard (had it since 1988) made by North gate systems with a adapter to IBM PS-2 style plug. Charles

I used to have one of those! My uncle got it for me and my brother way back I think I was 8. When I was a kid I used to love those radio shack radio kits. They looked like a big wooden board game box. You wire them up in different configs and get different signals. If you did one right it would send a signal.

I like stores that have items in stock. Sometimes I don't realize what I need until Im standing in front of it. Works that way when I go to Jegs. It's like a 13 year old in a full nude strip club. Charles

The closest I got to running an ISP was back in like '96...Me and dad became resellers for a local ISP. They're still around, you gotta dig through the phonebook for one though.

If you know/knew AutoCAD you may be interested in this...I found a website called emachineshop.com. You can download their free Windows-based software and design a part. Then you can submit it over the web and get an instant quote on how much it'd be to have it built. They have several different methods of building metal parts and it seems it'd be really good for prototyping. I plan on using them to prototype some guitar parts I've had ideas for.

I wish I'd been exposed to Unix at an earlier age. It just wasn't important enough to have around the house. Dad was having good success when he switched over to a DOS platform with an application called MultiLink that allowed for memory management and multiple tasks (multiple terminals). The company later released a full OS called PC-MOS which did the same thing without requiring DOS as a platform. I'm running Linux at home now, but haven't got into it enough yet. I'm probably gonna take a Unix class to beef up my skills. Using it reminds me of when I was first starting with DOS and didn't know anything.

I take after my Dad too...He and I were both professional musicians. I did that exclusively for while. I'd like to get back to that. Sure beat working for a living!

~jp

Those RS kits were cool! I've actually thought of getting a more advanced version of one of the digital kits just to get a little knowledge on the subject, as I'm trying to get into embedded micro-controllers and need to get some basic D/A and A/D under my belt.

When RS still had a lot of good stuff, I couldn't leave without spending money. Now my biggest problem is eBay. Between truck parts and accessories, guitar related stuff, and just general crap that I run across, I'm always watching like 20 items. Luckily I can restrain myself from buying *most* of it :-)

~jp

When it comes to cleaning grese, im a fan of the "Fast Orange." After the grease is off, I use soap and water to get off any left over Fast Orange.

Whats your problem with water?

Cause water and metal distributor parts don't mix...

~jp

I dont see why not? As long as you dry them off you are ok!?

I'd rather use brake cleaner or something...just as long as it's non-conductive as Shades mentioned. I don't know if brake or carb cleaner is non-conductive stuff.

~jp

dont matter if its conductive or not. No matter what you use *all* of it must be cleaned away before you reassemble it. Thats why I think the only concern is that its not corrosive toward the parts.

Actually today I picked up a can of the non-conductive electric motor cleaner as recommended.

That removed a lot of loose debris and allowed the rest to be scraped off cleanly using a small precision screwdriver.

A few more short blasts of cleaner got it cleaner than it was before the fire. I didn't have to do anything to remove the cleaner either--it's super-fast evaporating.

~jp