I have been thinking of bumping up the Watts on old blue and run a bunch of LEDs--now that it appears they will work on an AC power system_--- but I have heard a bunch of murmerings to stay away from Ricky Stators parts--  Am I better off staying stock?  What problems exactly have there been?---have the problems been addressed?

It wasn't Ricky Stator, it was the "Ricks Stator" products that got a bad rep.
Due to how similar the two different businesses sound, Ricky Stator's reputation suffered from the poor quality of the imitation, but didn't affect their actual products.
You can probably still find Ricks Stator on Ebay trying to peddle their sh!t parts.

A few questions--The entire stator assembly looks like its plug n play----What exactly is involved in just swaping out the lighting coils?  It looks as if it is secured with two screws and a lead wire.  How is the copper wire removed and attached---Is it just cut and soldered or is it secured with a set screw.

Also what exactly does the third "yellow" coil do.  I believe it is called a source coil.    Just wondering on a 25 year old machine if I would be better off replacing entire stator---or  if it aint broke dont touch it.

whats the process for changing out just the lighting coils--specifically the copper wire.