On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 02:45:27 GMT, wrote:



Neither is the automobile business but there are people who make a
business of supplying obsolete parts or fabricating them when
necessary.


You've got to be kidding? An old piece of **** furnace is NOT the
same as a classic car.
Nobody on the face of this earth is into collecting and restoring old
furnaces.

And fwiw I ran into what sounds like the same conversion you have
about two months ago. The bizarre bi-metal setup that proves pilot
flame was hanging up. I managed to free the assembly and get the ol'
pile of crap going. The confused look on his face was priceless when
I told him 70 year old parts are no longer available.
I gave him our estimators phone number and told him to call it if it
goes out again.

Nobody with a shred of common sense is going to think there are still
70 year old parts in stock somewhere or that there are some craftsmen
out there in Mayberry that will "rebuild it", charge you $2.95 and tip
his blue hat and tell you to have a nice day.
I'm not going to WASTE my time trying to fabricate something that's
going to put me at a liability risk...not to mention being married to
it and expected to fix it for free everytime it takes a dump for the
owner who doesn't want to part with money to begin with.