[thews]

Originally Posted by rickschabener

That's great to know. Thanks.

I actually bought some of the foam. The trick is getting the 8 Track apart. One of the ones I bought off eBay rebuilt had the case split in half. If you figure out how to replace the foam let us know how you did it.

[rickschabener]

I usually bought the album and recorded it onto a blank tape. I would play and time the entire album and then divide that by 4 (4 tracks/channels). I then ran the new blank tape to a few seconds after that 1/4th time, opened-up the tape, removed all the excess tape, and spliced it back together. Then, I recorded the album onto the tape. I never liked the fade-out and fade-in at the channel change. I woud much rather be in the middle of a song, hear a short click, and then the song continued on. That's how I did it. And, a few seconds after the end of the last song, the tape changed to channel 1 and continued on (because I removed all the excess tape). Recording all my new albums onto a blank 8-track (or open reel tape), and then playing the 8-track left me with a lot of albums that have only been played once or twice.

Sorry for that explanation; but I tell you all of that so you know I have a lot of experience taking apart Memorex and Maxell blank tapes, as well as factory tapes.

On the back side of the tape there are small plastic tabs in the holes of the pinch and end rollers. There is another one in the center of the tape that holds the spool of tape. With a small screwdriver, push both of those tabs on both roller holes to the other side of the hole while gently pulling up on the (back) half of the cartridge. The "tape end" will very slightly separate.

Next, while still pulling slightly upward, do the same with the middle hole to release that one. You will have to poke a hole through the tape's label to get to that hole.

Next, on the other end of the cartridge (away from the exposed tape end) there will be 2 more tabs, or sometimes a lip click that will just pry apart.

Don't open the tape all the way until you flip it over onto it's back! Or, you will dump the spool of tape. Take note (a picture) of how the tape travels through the cartridge. Make sure you don't pinch the tape in all the open-end tangs when you put it back together.

Other tapes will have the tabs in other locations but all will have a tab in the hole of both rollers and the center spool. Some will have tabs on the front.

On the Machine Head and Alice Cooper tapes you can see the indentation of the paper at the center and 2 bottom tabs where the holes/tabs are.