31 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

Maybe they needed something else to maintain pliability. This calls for a Google search...that didn't reveal anything.

Have you considered treating with petroleum jelly or glycerin after the wintergreen oil has done its job?

 

I'm not really sure what to use. It would be nice to come up with a recipe for a longer term solution

Eh.. I have had very good results with symply putting the rubber parts in a lot of washing powder and hot water.. after a few days, the water gets very black and i repeat it ones or even twice.. THEY STAY very plyable!

I got a old inlet pipe of a 280zx fueltank and it was very hard. I put it in a mix of water and some extra strong washingpowder and after years still soft. works also on window rubber on the botttom of your doorwindows!  And MAN they where VERY hard! (It took a few weeks but it went a lot softer.)

What is exactly is "washing powder "?

I think we would say in detergent in American English.  In the U.K. and in other post Empire English speaking countries they say Washing Powder.  An example is Tide powder detergent. 

Here's an informative, UK-based website that explains the process of rubber hardening and offers some procedures for restoration. 

https://www.martins-rubber.co.uk/blog/restoring-damaged-or-weathered-rubber-seals-a-guide/ 

In line with dutchzcarguy's comments, they say:

"For smaller, lightly weathered rubber seals, a simpler method is sometimes just as effective; boil some water in the saucepan, add a small amount of soap, and submerge the seal. Every 5 minutes or so, remove the seal using tongs and test its flexibility and condition. The time taken for the rubber to be restored will vary from case to case, but it can be just as effective, and less labour intensive than the previous method! Scrubbing smaller, lightly soiled rubber seals with almond oil is also an effective, simple option, restoring lost flexibility and cleaning away dirt and grime."

19 hours ago, Patcon said:

What is exactly is "washing powder "?

Hahaha.. Funny.. Washing powder=That white powder you use to wash chothing..  For softening rubber we specific use "BIOTEX green"  But that's a very local brand name, that's why i didn't mention that..

And.. yes heat is a big help but i always better take it easy with just a few times new hot water on it and that's okay.. you can put it on a stove and heat it but be carful not to ruine it..

Looks like in Denmark they also know this brand...

On another note: I worked years in security system services and the fire-security system of the biotex factory was one of the big systems i serviced!

I thought that's what you probably meant but wanted to be sure. Sometimes things get lost in translation

Yeah, better safe then sorry.. You let us know how it went, i always leave it in the solution for a few days and put new hot water and  "detergent"(washing powder) on it and hot water.. (not higher than 50-60 degrees Celcius!) (We have forgotten herr Fahrenheit..hahaha) 

You can repeat the proces a few times. Very hard parts can take a week or 2.. but i always got them soft again..  I must say parts from very hot area's are the toughest to get soft.. 

I also remember some rubber rings out of a pinball machine, they were so bad, they had lots of little holes in them when you stretched them, after a good soak there was not a single hole in them it rejuvanated completely!  They were white rubbers from the flippers and a lot of dirt came off. they where whiter and looked like new!

Enough talk about rubbers! 😏

On 5/14/2023 at 1:12 AM, Patcon said:

Worked on the dizzy some more

I used some Ospho on the spring steel plates in the advance mechanism. It took the "blueing" off them.

I might get the rest done tomorrow. We'll see. Hopefully it still works!

It looks great. I didn't expect it to turn out so good when I saw the photos in the April post. Hope it performs as good as it looks.

I finally finished the distributor. The cap clips were tough to get plated properly. I did them 3 times. They will have to do...

On another note, is there a source for the plug and boot for the module? The one I have is pretty ratty

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

The cap clips were tough to get plated properly. I did them 3 times. They will have to do...

I had a bunch of parts plated professionally a while ago and noticed that the hardened ones came back very different than the non-hardened parts. And not in a good way. I'm guessing it comes down to the amount of carbon in the base steel. Seems the extra carbon makes them harder to plate?

Those distributor spring clips would certainly be a higher carbon content than the typical hardware used on the Z.

You might be right. I have found some bolts like the crank pulley bolt can be hard to plate too. My biggest concern when plating the cap clips were concerns about embrittlement. They also don't like to plate evenly because of their shapes