I have an old Skil Saw model 77 from the 1960's or so. There was a
problem with the switch, so I took it apart. There are two wires from
the motor that need to be replaced, so I then took the whole thing
apart. I thought replacing the wires would be an easy thing, but the
wires feed into something I don't know what it is called as seen in
the following pictu

http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=010gy9.jpg

I'm fairly confident someone will offer up the solution to take it to
a repair guy, and I did, an authorized Skil Saw service center, and
the fella' there said it would be too much work. Now I am taking it
upon myself to make this thing work again.

In the picture there are two wires in the upper left hand corner.
These two wires need to be about 1/2" longer so that new terminals can
be attached in order to attach them to the trigger switch. You may say
to yourself, or me, to simply add wire to the existing wire. Well, the
existing wire is very old and is falling apart by just looking at it.
So, I would like to replace these two wires.

Questions:
What is the thing the wires connect to?
What is this method of wire connection?
Why are the wires attached this way?
How do I replace the wires?

If there is a better place to post this, please let me know.

Thanks!