Old car radio

[rp2813]

Let's not forget about the foot-controlled scan function.  Our '57 Premiere had that feature and it took years for me to figure out how the radio (with a Town/Country switch as mentioned above) seemed to be tuning itself because Dad would never let on.  The scan was mainly used in outlying areas where few, if any stations could be pulled in, so it was a phenomenon I remember from childhood road trips.

 

[stan]

Ralph

I'll let you know what I find out.
Your right.. The motor itself isn't too hard to remove, it's reattaching the linkage!
I finally took the cowl vent out so I could crawl on top of the car and work from the top down. In the past, I've taken the motor apart, but this time I didn't really want to... So I used a baby booger snatcher to add about a tsp of brake fluid in the vacuum hole while operating on the vacuum stroke. Felt like I had smooth operation. After attaching vacuum line, the motor worked, but not after attaching linkage.
So maybe I have a small vacuum leak? or maybe switching the arms of the linkage? If that doesn't work, then the motor has to come apart, and a new kit installed.

 

[johnrk]

'57 Lincoln

That '57 Lincoln was the most amazing restyle of the year. It managed to look so ery different from the '56! When I was a little in the late 50's our next door neighbor had a 4-door in pink with a white roof. I was always captivated with those taillights--and of course they were at my level. I'll bet those lights are scarce as hen's teeth now because so many customizers used them.

 

[tolivac]

Remember old car radios-they had GREAT sensitivity.Used them in the house-connected to an old EICO 12V "battery Eleiminator" supply.The radios I liked best had the vibrator power supplies and the 6X5 or 0Z4 rectifier tubes.I had a Cadillac radio that had a PP 6V6 output stage-sounded GREAT when connected to a good speaker-was a good DX radio.These got lost in a flood-Bought them for a buck each in the late 60's from a place called "Jalopy Jungle" in Rapid City S.Dak.Learned a lot of electronics from those old radios-the hybrid and early SS radios weren't as good as those old all tubed ones.Had a few hybrid radios-RF sections tube-the tubes would work off the 12V no vibrator step up supply-the output stage for the speaker was SS.A hybrid radio makes a loud thump when turned on-after the RF tubes warm up-then you hear the station.

 

[sudsmaster]

Stan,

I have that exact same radio in my '50 Plymouth Special Deluxe. I bought it used and not working in the 90's, and replaced the vibrator as well as all the capacitors. It works now, but I think I may have gotten the values of some of the square caps off when I replaced them with cylindrical ones.

IF you could please take some detailed photos of the existing components under the tube section, with shots of all the caps, esp the square ones, and post it here or email it to me, I'd be extremely grateful. It could help me identify now which caps are off and need to be fixed.

The radio works OK but the volume is fairly low, and some stations don't come in too well.

Thanks in advance!

 

[stan]

Rich

Will do.

 

[dartman]

The reason many car radios had better reception back in the tube days is most used 262mhz if stages plus a tuned rf stage on the tuning capacitor. It made them much more sensitive and they had tighter tuning and close channel rejection so they picked up just the channel you were trying to hear. I used and still have a mid 60s Zenith small plastic table AM radio that has 6 tubes and that third tuned rf stage on the tuning variable capacitor. It also had a big 6x9 speaker and a modern ferrite rod antenna built in that was directional so I could turn the radio to pull in weak signals. I used to shoot skip with it and it was better then a few dedicated short wave radios I had and could really pick weak signals out of the mud.
There was a reason back in the day Zenith radios were very sought after and old ones are collectable. They sounded great and usually had a better tuning system with all the latest advances except for dedicated high end military and short wave radios where cost was no object.

 

[tolivac]

Oh yes-the 262Khz IF in those old radios-you remined me of that.I was working with those something like over 40 yrs ago!Kinda wished I had one of those radios today!In time on my DX radio took out the vibrator and just ran the thing off a large 6V surplus filament transformer-IMPROVEMENT-no more vibrator noise!

 

[sudsmaster]

Thanks, Stan.

The problem I ran into was reading the values on the square capacitors correctly. And the place I was going to for help (Al Lasher's electronics in Berkeley) was no help in that. They just kind of thought it was a joke, I guess. Anyway, I read the color codes as I would have on a cylindrical cap, but I later learned (from the internet, years later) that I'd gotten things off by perhaps a factor of ten. Or, who knows?

Here's a reference. What I'm talking about are the three dot and six dot capacitors. These look like little dominos and apparently have a rather arcane coding scheme. The colors are the familiar BBROYGBVGW format, but the arrangement and what the values actually mean (percent? farads? watts? volts?) is a bit strange.

Unfortunately I didn't take photos before I replaced them. I probably kept the old ones (somewhere!) but I have no idea today which ones on the circuitry need to be replaced with correct values.

This is a photo from the link below:

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http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/funwithtubes/How_To-Reading_Codes.html

 

[sudsmaster]

PS-I didn't bother to rebuild my vacuum wiper motor. I bought a rebuilt one from a place I found in Hemmings. It works pretty good. Although come to think of it, I may have reassembled the rubber flapper valves in the vacuum pump under the gas pump incorrectly. But the wipers work fine everywhere but going uphill at slower speeds. Typical, I understand. One of these days I'll pull the gas/vacuum pump and see if I can get it to work better. I may also have purchases a vacuum motor rebuild kit; where it is today would take a lot of searching. One thing I learned: these little vacuum motors are deceptively powerful. Don't get your fingers in the way of the levers and linkages!

 

[johnrk]

vacuum wipers

The amazing thing to me is how long vacuum wipers existed here in the US. Chrysler went to electric wipers on all their brands in 1950; for most of their cars, though, they were single-speed and people didn't like that. But Ford kept them in at least some cars (including Lincoln) through at least 1960! At one point in college I had a stripper '61 Biscayne wagon that was really a stripper. It even had the recirculating heater instead of the fresh air one. And it had one speed wipers--but they were electric.

And American Motors used them at least through 1969 on some models! When I was a kid in the 60's my father had a 1960 Rambler Classic wagon for his 'work' commuting car. It had vacuum wipers and I remember them slowing down just when you'd need them the most. My mother had a '60 Bonneville and it had at least two speeds, and they were 'clap-hands' wipers that met in the middle.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

AMC used vacuum wipers into the early 1970s on the Gremlin and Hornet. Ford Broncos also had them as standard equipment until about the same time.

I've had at least 8 Ramblers over the years, and I can tell you that when all is right, the wipers don't slow down much at all when you stomp on the gas. They're also quiet, and don't cause radio interference. They also don't get damaged if someone shuts the car off before a winter freeze without first parking the wipers.

Looks like Steve Johnson has a download of the Mopar 807 radio schematic for $7.50 (see link below) It is very important to replace the buffer capacitor on the vibrator with the exact value and a high voltage rating.

Car Radio Schematics for Antique Automobiles and Classic Cars

Auto Radio Schematics, Wiring Diagrams, and Service Manuals for Vintage and Classic Cars

autoradioschematics.com

 

[rp2813]

Rich, the "black beauty" capacitor in your picture above is notorious for causing problems.  I've only seen a grand total of exactly one person ever dispute this claim, and I'm pretty sure it was someone on this web site.  If you do nothing else, make sure you at least replace that one.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

The black plastic cap with the stripes?  If if makes a clunk when it hits the trash can, it's bad.

 

[rp2813]

Yes, that black one.

Has anyone ever tossed a good one into the trash to find out how it sounds?   I don't know that I'd be able to tell the difference. 

 

[sudsmaster]

Ralph,

That photo is from the text link I posted. It's not of the components from my '50 Plymouth radio.

And the "Black Beauty" does not look familiar anyway. I do recall replacing the vibrator that hiked 6 volt positive ground to whatever higher frequency voltage the radio itself needed. That was relatively easy and worked just fine. In any case, I replaced ALL the capacitors so if there was a defective one in there, it's long gone.

No, the problem I encountered was with the square or rectangular caps, the ones with three dots or six dots. I simply couldn't find any explanation of how to read the dots; the electronics store was no help, so I took a best guess. The radio works but the volume isn't what I think it should be, and the reception could be better, too. So my suspicion is that the performance has been affected by capacitors with the wrong ... capacitance. Once I know what the values should be, it would be a relatively easy process to replace what I put in there in the mid-90's with the correct values.

 

[stan]

Will be

Pulling the radio sometime this weekend (pics for Rich) and will see what I'm able to do with the wipers.

 

[stan]

Rich

Sent you pics of radio, not sure if they show what you need. Let me know if you get them or need better ones. Posting here as well.. More eyes on may help.
Got the wipers working without taking the motor apart. With better light I found that I had previously mounted incorrectly.
Watch when it rains.. I'll bet the SOBs won't work LOL

 

[stan]

Now

I'm having trouble with the rear turn signals bulbs , and front running lights!
Service manual dose not indicate bulb numbers. I think 1157 for running lights? (Double filament) and tail lights?
Can't find out turn signal bulb numbers (ones there have the numbers faded or rubbed off)
Think they are listed in owners manual, but can't find my copy.
What next

 

[stan]

Found it

Also some specs for radio