My uncle's old wool coat lasted forever too, riverp37.

Totally agree with @oliviadixon about letting it soak. For the really bad stuff, I'll wrap a rag soaked in the warm soapy mix right against the putty and leave it for like an hour. Peels off like soft clay after that, zero fight.

Read a forum post a while back where a guy had the exact same thing happen with a 2001 Montgomery. He rebuilt the motor, saved the customer maybe eight hundred bucks, and then the whole winding went out two weeks later. The customer was mad about the second shutdown and he ended up doing the swap for free just to keep the account. Stories like that are why I just don't trust rebuilds on anything that's seen twenty years of daily use. The hidden wear gets you every time.

Vertical grain looks way better though, and sometimes you gotta just go for it.

Ugh, that's the worst. I only use Anver cups for anything over 100 pounds now.