I've already stated my own philosophy a little in previous posts in this thread. But I will add that modding Mac 128k's and 512k's isn't really necessary or desirable. Unless you want to conduct some research into how compatible Brainstorm upgrades are, there's really no good reason to do those upgrades now. Why? Because you get the same thing, without hacks, without risking your analog board, for a very cheap price in EBAY in the form of a Macintosh Plus. That's right, quite nearly all the 128k and 512k upgrades basically convert those machines into a Plus. True, some added faster CPUs (e.g., 16MHz 68000 chips), but so did some upgrades for the Plus. That's why 512ke's are so cheap on EBAY. Nobody wants them! They are a stripped down Plus! If you want the new ROMs, get a Plus. But if you want a stock 512k, get a 512k with 64k ROMs, not a 512ke.

And so you can see that I prefer to keep my 128k and 512k machines stock, including the floppy drives and ROM. Yes, I do have an 800k floppy drive externally attached to my 512k, but I didn't have to mod my 512k to attach it. I just connected the cable!

The SE and SE/30 machines are a bit different story though, since they were built to be upgraded. The original 128k, 512k and even the Plus were not designed that way. That's why the SE stands for System Expansion -- so you can upgrade it. That is precisely why I don't feel my "upgraded" SE/30 is "far from stock" because it was meant to be upgraded that way. But if you yank out the guts and throw a Mac Mini inside, or swap the CRT for an LCD, then that is truly "carving up your machine" and is in no way, shape or form a "stock" classic Mac.