An early 1980s vintage molecular beam epitaxy system, a Varian Gen II system, originally used for HgCdTe epitaxy, was converted into a system capable of growing thin-film complex metal oxides. The nature of some of the alternative oxides requires a thorough cleaning and, in some cases, complete replacement of system components. Details are provided regarding the chemistry of the etchants used, safety requirements for properly handling, and disposal of large quantities of etchants and etch by-products, and components that can be reused versus components that require replacement are given. Following the given procedures, an ultimate base pressure of 2x10(-10) Torr was obtained. Films grown in the system after reclamation contained no evidence of previously present materials down to the detection limit of secondary ion mass spectrometry.