all the waxy white 1500 caps replaced.
tried again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id3OWPlHtVo
behaving a bit better now
still snow in pic, I got it this way bu visual adjust of 1st IF coil this time rather than trying to follow setup instructions.
not sure if the other coils are right or not, or if there may be problems in the tuner as well , out of spec resistors , there are a few of the same 150 ohm ones that were VERY bad in the IF strip, some almost 2x too high, but getting that thing out of there to get to them is a pain it the ass, and I dread attempting to try.
I wont have all the new peaking coils for about a week, as 3 of them are coming from Canada.
If i do try the IF alignment as per the procedure again, I will most likely try with a digital RF generator with amplitude control, but that may take a while to get one :/