[37silverstreak]

Hi Eric, I'm finishing up the chassis on my 40-190 which is almost the same as your 40-180 except the 190 uses one more tube. I've also restored a 40-150 which uses the same chassis as yours. It's pretty easy to work on this chassis. if you remove the four screws that hold the preset caps and coils to the back of the chassis, you can flip the assemblies out of the way to work underneath. I found that the rear right corner of the chassis as you look underneath was the hardest part for me to work on. just take your time and make diagrams of where things go and you should be fine. As for saving the cardboard cap tubes you can heat them with a heat gun, the wax will start to melt and then you can pull the guts out leaving the shell for restuffing. Then just place the new cap in the shell and fill with hot melt glue. Also check out "Just Radios" link on this site. They sell capacitor kits. For like $90 the send an assortment of the most often needed values for pre and post war radios. I've dealt with them many times and have had great luck. they also have resistor kits as well. I recommend replacing all of the rubber insulated wiring in your chassis. it's almost always dried out and brittle. When you start moving it around and heating it up it usually disintergrates, a lot more work but worth it. As for the dial pointer, I'm in the same boat. Mine is missing as well. I'm going to make something up, it's a pretty simple item and I have my 40-150 to look at for a pattern. here are some pics of my project.
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...dc1653.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...5764ab.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...b081e4.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...309451.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...b10d02.jpg]
The best of luck with your project!
Kevin