1952-59 Ford Got the old 6bf tube radio working.

After a few hours of replacing capacitors and resoldering connections, the old Bendix radio is up and working again. The tubes are old, and take a while to warm up, but otherwise it sounds great. Too bad there's not much left on AM radio around here. The next project is to build a connection for an iPod or XM radio player to play into the old tube unit. I've got the schematics and parts lists for the 6BF if anyone is interested in fixing up theirs. If anyone is interested, i'll put up plans for the iPod hookup when it's finished as well.

 

I'd love to see these plans.. I want to put an aux input into an old radio but don't know how...

 

I'll put it up once I get it worked out. Havent decided if I'm going to try to modify the current circuit (there's some crazy high voltages in tube electronics) or build something more along the lines of this. http://www.redirad.com/

 

Thanks!

I have an original radio for my 54, no clue if it works... I'd like to recap it, convert it to 12v and put an aux plug into it.. I figure this way I can listen to my iPod through the original radio, which would be very cool.

 

Where did you find the parts? I want to restore a town and country for my '56.

 

I found a lot of places that sell parts for old radios, but I ordered the caps from radiosupply.com , mostly because they didnt have a minimum order and I only needed about $6 in parts. They arrived very quickly and were correct. I found the schematic for mine on ebay, but there's probably other sources.

 

That is really great to hear ! There is nothing like trying to get a good old AM working and trying to find stations that don't keep fading out ! I grew up on AM until my later teens when FM really came in strong ! I had a FM receiver around 1967 and didn't find very much to listen to but cl***ical . Couldn't get any Rock n Roll on FM back then . Then 2 years later the FM air waves were filled with Rock and all kinds of music , then the rest was history !

Jim

 

My radio stopped working last fall. I'm running an 8v battery in a 6v system so it was bound to go sooner or later. Replaced the fuse and I can see the tubes light up from behind before the fuse blows again. Man, I miss my am radio!

 

There is a guy that lives near me that converts the old AM radios to FM, the only problem is he is very expensive.

Does anyone here have the plans or knows how to make this conversion at home?

 

Guys,
I recently had my old AM for my 54 Customline revived at a local TV shop in the Northern KY area. I also had them add an auxilary plug for my IPOD/Crackberry. I love it and the price wasn't bad at $125. He replaced several parts and it plays like new!!
Trikepapa-RonC

 

I'd like to see them as well.