Would of installed the rebuild kit, swap out a few other components and gone from there. After I refresh the diode and springs I am hoping for a more stable image.
A pic for those who care.
I assume you know, but for anyone following, those aren't the springs. The springs are still stuck inside the boots. Those are just the 'contacts' of the diode, which they made by looping the leads around, to make a contact point for the spring to touch.
But now you can see the flaw in this design, as the springs only contact that coiled up mess at a single point. And when that point rusts or gets dirty, you get a bad connection, which generates heat, and the whole thing burns up. That's the achilles' heel of these HV cages.
You just want to make sure you clean all of the old grease out of the boots, using lots of Q-tips and Goof Off. Just keep wiping with freshly soaked Q-tips until they come out clean. Then I usually shine a light down into the boot, to make sure I got it all. If you did it right, you should see the clean metal cup inside the end of the boot, which the spring sits in. The inside of that cup needs to be perfectly clean as well, as the spring will seat inside it. Then make sure you soak the springs in vinegar, and then brush them clean with a brass rush (or tumble them in a rock tumbler, as I do), so there's no rust on them.
Anyway, sounds like you're on the right track. Let us know how it goes.
