Fitting new pressure pads

So you won an 8 Track Beatles tape on eBay and it sounds crap. The most likely reason is that the foam pressure pad has deteriorated to the point where it has become a sticky black gooey gluey mess. At this point I should mention that if you are going to poke around near the tape do it with a Non-Ferrous material. Anything made of or containing steel will likely be magnetized enough to affect the music on the tape, so Copper, Aluminum, Plastic etc only.

The cheap mass produced popular music type 8 Track was most likely fitted with foam rubber or foam plastic pressure pads. Some good quality 8 tracks were fitted with springy metal and felt pressure pads which even 30 years later do their job very well. The foam ones, however, lasted 10 years tops before degenerating into a sticky mess.

I'm going to show you how to replace the foam pads without having to take apart the 8 track tape.

You will need the following.

1/ Replacement foam. Easy this, go down to your local DIY and get some foam draught excluder. I bought some from B&Q which was so cheap one roll will do my whole 8 Track collection. It is called  B&Q Door And Window Ultraseal Draught Excluder and it comes in 10 metre rolls. It is Brown in colour (Black would be better but Brown is ok), 8 mm wide (which is about 0.5 mm wider than the original foam but it doesn't matter) and 5 mm thick (slightly thinner than original but again ok). It is sticky one side, the other side being a transparent shiny plastic film (which is important as the tape rubs against this surface).

2/ A non-ferrous pointed object for poking about. It should be pointed enough to penetrate the old foam and the surface of the bit of plastic the foam was stuck to. You need to be able to exert enough pressure on this plastic to move it slightly.

3/ A bit of patience. If your short of this get someone else to do it.

This is how you do it.

	Start with the 8 Track this way round.
	Pull an inch or two of tape through this hole.
	Use finger to hold to one side while you use a pointed instrument to push the foam and plastic strip leftwards into the 8 Track about 3 or 4 mm.
	Pull the tape through this hole without pulling more tape out of the 8 Track. The plastic strip should be free at this end but may need a bit of persuasion with your pointed instrument.
	Grip foam and strip between finger and thumb and pull out.
	Typical sticky black mess.
	Clean plastic strip, apply new foam, cut to length. try to cut back one end like so.
	Insert cut back end into this hole. It goes under a plastic spigot, the cut back edge encourages it to slide through, though you usually need a bit of persuasion with the pointed instrument.
	Slide it fully to the left and a bit more as you did when removing it.
	Ensure it is flat then slide it to the right 3 or 4 mm so the right hand end goes under the plastic retaining spigot.
	use a non ferrous object to press the tape against the rubber wheel and at the same time rotate it to the right so pushing the surplus tape inside. Don't use your fingers unless they are grease free.
	Now we have a nice sounding 8 Track of Tangerine Dreams Rubycon.