[R-390] Wiring harness removal and cleaning

[Tisha Hayes]

Do not be too worried about using distilled water. Chuck's videos show the
garden hose cleaning method of working on the radio and it is just fine.

Since you are pulling the decks and modules for individual cleaning and
hopefully removing the panel meters you can treat the chassis like one big
object for cleaning.

Hot soapy water, lots of it, a soft scrub brush or paint brush and a bit of
scrubbing power similar to doing pots and pans. Work the hot soapy water
into all spots, clean out the bushings and all of the mechanicals on the
front panel of dead grease and dirt. Rinse it all down with a garden hose
(blast things a bit if you like).

At the end you could use a gallon of distilled water to just do a
splashdown rinse of the chassis to chase away any mineral-laden water. Blow
it out with compressed air, then either leave it in the hot sun for a day
or two or bake it gently in an oven at around 120 F for a few hours.

Be nice to the potentiometers on the front wiring harness if you can. After
things dry they might like a little bit of De-Ox-It, the same thing with
the connector contacts.

Since these radios were probably exposed to much worse than what you are
going to do to them with the bath, what's the net-loss?

Lots of the flat metalwork that may be dinged up or bent can be pulled off
and re-flattened with a hammer and a hard surface. Some of the metalworking
wizards could do even more.

-- 
Ms. Tisha Hayes. AA4HA

*""It is not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It is
because we dare not venture that they are difficult." -Seneca"*