1967 Coupe

[Rome]

Good process, Art. All that contact with thinner on the rag will suck the moisture out of your finger skin, so wear some thin rubber gloves. And another simple method for cleaning the wire terminals is to drop each one into a thimble or other very small container of molasses. After an hour, use a brass bristle brush to clean off the molasses and the surface oxidation, then spray off the terminal with brake cleaner spray (wear goggles).

[art_lessing]

gloves! that should have been the first thing on my list ....derp..definitely need them gloves..eye protection as well! safety first......the other thing I should mention is definitely get the correct wire diagram from the wires page here, and then print out an enlarged version ..photoshop or illustrator or have Kinkos do it..then laminate it or have it handy on your phone .... what you can do on a printout is go over each wire with a sharpie to black it out everytime you clean one off. eventually there will be no more wires to do!

[advCo]

Here's a little trick I use for soldering old wires that may be of use. I think it could be easily used to clean corrosion off these old connectors, but as a disclaimer I have not used this method for such purpose.

I use 2 shot glasses. Fill the first with a shot's worth of vinegar. Dump in a bit of epsom salt (as much as will dissolve in the vinegar). This is your acid. It will eat away the corrosion leaving clean bare metal. The second, fill with water and as much baking soda as will dissolve in the water. This will neutralize the acid.

Take your connector and dip it into the vinegar/epsom solution for about 10-15 seconds and swirl it around. Toothbrush may be useful to agitate a bit. When I'm soldering wires I'll often do a bunch of 5-6 and use a wire brush to get in between the strands. Once it looks clean, take it out and dip it into the baking soda solution for a few seconds, swirling it around. Done.
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