Okay it was suggested that I post some radio information to help out everyone on the board. Lets start with an easy one: SHOULD I HAVE MY STOCK RADIO RESTORED? The Stock radio from its inception until about 1975 is actually a pretty robust piece. The radio will withstand abuse better then most modern replacements. For example, short the speaker leads on a modern radio for a second and the output chip blows up- an old radio will actually survive this for several minutes. No need to test this, just trust me The basic answer is this, If you plan to use the radio then YES you should have it restored. At the very least electrically and mechanically (Cosmetically is a plus) To understand WHY I say this, lets go over some things that go wrong with car radios after years of use. 1- Capacitors (Caps) dry out- This is the biggest reason for a radio restoration and usually the first reason a radio shop will give you when you call. Electrolytic and paper capacitors contain a fluid. Over time this fluid with dry out. Once the fluid is gone, those capacitors begin to cause problems. I have seen dried out capacitors cause everything from Dead shorts to noise and weak reception in a radio. At the very minimum, ALL electrolytic and paper caps should be replaced. This can be done by a professional or if you are electronically capable you can do it yourself with most caps available from Radio Shack (For 1955 and newer radios- older radios may need to order caps). WATCH POLARITY and PLACEMENT. Most radios use a "CAN"- basically 3 capacitors inside one large aluminum can. This "CAN" can be replaced by 3 individual caps but be sure to place the correct cap in the correct location. Placing the caps in the wrong location most commonly leads to very low sound output. I use this as a test when training new techs- How long until they can locate the problem 2- FUSE Resistors- These resistors are used on 1958 and later radios as protection for the output transistor. These resistors are easy to spot- Large WHITE rectangular and usually have a resistance of 0.47 printed right on them. These resistors open causing NO SOUND. These resistors should be checked and replaced if any signs of overheating are present. Common Causes for overheating are shorted Output transistor, wrong speaker used, not adjusted correctly. 3- Dirty/ Broken Controls- Over time, dirt can get into the volume/tone control. This causes a scratchy sound when adjusting the volume or tone. In most cases, this can be fixed by spraying some contact cleaner into the control and rotating it back and forth through its full travel. If the probelm is more severe, such as a WORN control, a rebuild will be needed. The radio controls can also be hit or jammed causing the control to separate or break. If the control has separated then it can be repaired by taking the control apart and re-crimping the mounting tabs. If it is broken the only options are rebuilding or replacement. 3b- Bad ON/OFF Control- this is related to the above. Over time the on/off swith tends to HANG up and not switch reliably, if at all. The only cure for this is rebuild or replacement. MOST can be rebuilt- I have done thousands 4- Misalignment of electronic tuner- Unfortunately this is very common. This could happen as a result of time and "settling component values" but If your radio has ever been in the hands of an inexperienced tech or "Tinkerer" you could have this problem. When the previous tech opened the radio, they decided the way to fix the radio was to start adjusting anything that could be adjusted- tuning coils, variable capacitors etc... anything with a screwdriver slot in it. This could cause problems from no stations to weak/drifting stations. The only cure is for the radio to be re-tuned by an experienced radio tech. 5- Misaligned mechanicals- The mechanical tuner of an old car radio is fairly simple but needs to be properly aligned for optimum performance. The biggest problem area is the clutch. The clutch is just that- a clutch for the dial. When you tune the radio with the knob, the clutch is engaged. When you press a push****on, the clutch disengages the knob. If the clutch is not properly loaded and adjusted your radio could suffer slipping, hanging up, hard to press push****ons and slow reaction to name a few problems. Heres a test- Run your radio dial all the way to the right. Now watch the DIAL pointer as you turn the knob back to the left. If your dial pointer moved immediately then your clutch is set up correctly, if it hesitated then it needs to be reloaded and/or adjusted. 6- Too Much/ Too Little Lubrication- Mechanical tuners require lubrication. Everyone knowns that but you can over lubricate the tuner which usually allows lube to get where it is not supposed to. A lubed clutch is bad!!!!! Also old lube can harden over time and cause problems. As a general rule, mechanical tuners should be cleaned of old lube and relubed correctly. NEVER USE WD-40 AS A LUBE FOR A RADIO TUNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you pick up a radio at a swap meet that is oily or smells like WD-40.. expect it will soon need mechanical restoration. 7- ******** bad- Old tube radios use what is called a ********. It is a large metal can that makes a humming noise (If it is working). It is used to step up the input voltage to a higher voltage needed by the tubes. You can (And I recommend) replace your ******** with a solid state replacement. They are cheap and work very well... plus they dont hum. You can rebuild your old ******** by uncrimping the can and removing the "Guts". The two most common reasons for failure are Dirty/Damaged contacts (which can usually be fixed by filing the contact points) and the spongy insulation material can sometimes breakdown and jam the moving parts. I recommend Replacement of all ********s with solid state replacement as they are more reliable, but that doesnt mean you cant practice rebuilding the one you have for fun. You will need to replace the buffer capacitor connected to the ******** on most units also. 8- Cold solder joints- Some radios left the factory with these. If it didnt, it most likely has some now. Cold solder joints are bad connections in your radio caused by lack of solder or broken solder. Over time, heating and cooling causes the solder to expand and contract. This expanding and contracting causes the solder to break causing an intermittent connection. Proper solder connections will last a long time, but poor solder connections experience this almost immediately. You can identify most cold solder joints by looking at them. On a circuit board you can usually see a "ring" around the soldered terminal. In most cases you can add new solder to this and fix the problem. Sometimes all old solder needs to be removed and possibly the terminal needs to be cleaned/s****ed. 9- WONDERBAR Tuners- Wonderbar is a GM version of the mechanical signal seeking radio- Ford and MOPAR used "Town and Country". Basically this fits for all mechanical seeking tuners. SIGNAL SEEKING TUNERS NEED TO BE COMPLETELY RESTORED PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. These tuners are awesome when working properly... unfortunately after 40+ years, old lube, misalignment etc cause major problems. For proper/reliable function, the tuners need to be completely dis***embled, cleaned, lubed and realigned. Some shops only spray the tuner with a cleaner and relube- This is not enough. there are many parts which need to be dis***embled and cleaned. I do not recommend anyone not familiar with the tuners to do this as it is not easy unless you have done alot of them. Trying to operate a "Gummed up" signal seeking radio could burn out the main solonoids and, if it gets hot enough, start a fire. 10- Rust/ Corrosion- This can be a big problem. Rust in the tuner mechanism cuases stuck push****ons, rotted springs and broken parts. The only cure is to remoe the rust and coat with a rust inhibitor. Corroded switch contacts can cause problems like no AM/FM switching, no power and loss of reception. Typically electrical corrosion can be cleaned of and a light, non-conductive lube added. Those are the most common problems for radios. There could be hundreds of other reasons your radio doesnt work. Hopefully this gives you an idea of some things a radio shop has to deal with when restoring a radio. There are alot of shops out there. Some are reputable, some are "Less Experienced". Do your homework and deal with someone that makes you comfortable. It is defintiely worth the money if your radio is important to you and a good shop will impress you with their work! There is no such thing as an "Un-restorable" radio, only ones that are "Financially prohibitive". In over 10 years I have only turned away one radio because it looked like it was hit with a hammer and stored in a mudhole for 30 years. Always operate your stock radio at the proper voltage and only use the proper impedance speaker. Using the wrong voltage or speaker could damage your radio and your car! Let me know if you have any questions.
no new radio sounds quite like an old tube radio they have a warmth and tone that sounds right in an old car problem is there are very few if any good stations around that play music I like how can I play my music, CD or other, through an old AM radio?
Thank you for the information, very, very interesting. A lot more to those old beasts than I thought!-MIKE
Joe, What about the radio conversions that we hear about. Taking an old AM or AM FM and converting it to stereo and/or MP3 capable? I have several mid to late sixties AM and AM FM radios that I would like to use but I would like to have a better sound than just mono. What can be done? Are any of the conversions worthwhile?
Thanks for the timely post Radio Joe. I was just up under the dash of my 49 Hudson last week and was checking out the radio that hasn't worked since I got it. Power wire isn't even hooked up. Now normally I'd just hook it up to see what I had,but this cars been changed from 6V pos ground to 6/12 negative ground. Its got 2 of the 6V Optima batteries wired in series. Starting,charging,and most of the lights are 12V and it pulls 6V off the one battery for the overdrive, gauges,and interior lights. The radio has a sticker on it from a radio shop in Ma. dated 1977. Not knowing if it was serviced before or after the voltage/polarity swap I'm not about to hook it up until I figure this out. Cosmetically the radio looks great,even the ch***is is still shiny. The dial lights up with the dash lights but thats a seperate feed from the headlight switch. You've got me thinking I'll just pull it out and let a professional take a look at it.
I have a wonderbar that operates ,but does not seem as good as it should. Is there a ballpark price for restoring one of these. Thanks Joe
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Well I shouldnt tell you this top secret method but will anyway cuz im a nice guy basically think of your radio as a big block diagram with the Tuner section in one block and the amplifier section in the other block. To play your AUX source through the radio's amplifier, you need to interrupt the connection from the tuner block to the amplifier block and connect your source only to the amplifier block. You will need a schematic to figure it out. You can use a switch or a headphone jack to make the audio connection switch but PERFORM THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Doing this creates a connection directly from your Ipod to your radio... shoudl the radio have an "Issue" it could send too much voltage back into your Ipod or aux source destroying it. I have not seen it happen yet, but it is a possibility. No im not telling everyone where to hook up an ipod to their radio. First off, if you have an AM/FM radio, dont convert it. It is worth more unconverted. If you MUST have a converted radio, sell the AM/FM and buy an AM only... or ask the shop doing the work if they can do some sort of trade in. Most shops now do an ****og conversion based on the Antique Automobile Radio conversion.. basically they are dealers. The conversion replaces the circuit board in your radio with a modern AM/FM board with high power, more speakers and AUX input. I do not currently perform these conversions in my shop at this time but have heard very good things about them. Other shops (Okay just mine that I know of) do a digital conversion. It basically takes the stock radio cosmetics and builds them into a new radio using a modern digital radio. The recent version will have a digital display, CD Changer/IPOD/SAT/HD Radio controller, high power output, remote controls, amp/sub outputs and a ton of other features including ALPINE AI-Net (Means it will communicate/control ALPINE equiptment like Sound processors and amps). It is more expensive then the ****og conversion but has more features and options! PM me if you want more info. There are ways to add more speakers/Power to a stock radio but they vary depending on what you want to do. If you dont know anything about radios, your best bet is to take it to a shop. Since it shows it had work done on it already, you may luck out and it may work.... but there was probably a reason it wasnt connected
JOECOOL- I am sending you a PM To everyone else. I really dont want to turn this into an adverti*****t for my shop. If you want to know prices or have specific questions please sedn me a PM or Email. Thanks
Thanks for the post,very insigthfull,ive got a 51 buick that has the original radio in it,i would love to get it restored,i looks brand new but its not working at the time,i also have an old replacement thats rusty in my trunk,so i have 2 questions 1)where can i get the radio in the car fixed? 2)is there a market to sell my other rusty radio and if so what do they go for?
I'm with paul on this one. Around here if you like talk radio then is Am and if you want music its FM. Unless you have a rare FM option on an old radio you're just SOL other than to say my radio even works, or if you're into Rush Limbah and the likes.
Great info! Too bad I had to narrow my '52 dash 6" to fit it into my '37. Guess what is almost 6" exactly right in the middle of the dash!!!
Joe, terrific info..............Thanks for posting it. I'm now looking at my old Mopar radio (with its jukebox looks) with a new eye. And should I have problems, its good to know you're only about 40 miles away!!!
Joe, Not to sound like a know it all but if I remember right the ******** changes the direct current to a pulsating current and did not effect the voltage, only the frequency of the current. Then the current was sent to a setup transformer that supplied the high voltage that the tubes needed to operator. Of course I have not played with this type of device for around 40 years, gees it seems like yesterday. If I am wrong I bow down to the master, even if I am not wrong you are still a master. Ed.
Restore your radios to stock. You don't need to convert anything to play new tunes through them. There is an Alliance vendor (I don't know his screen name) that sells a gizmo called a RediRad adaptor. I've bought three so far. It's a little box you hang between your radio and your antenna. You plug your antenna into it and it has an antenna pigtail that goes into your radios stock recepticle. The box has a pigtail that you plug into your ipod or cd player. When you turn your ipod on, the adaptor cuts the link to the antenna so there is no interference from the outside. Your tunes play through the old sound system. It sounds great. The owner gave me a great HAMB discount and even helped me make an antenna for my '32 5W. Aloha
Why Restore a Stock Radio 1. Because they are freaking cool. 2. As mentioned they just sound GOOD. 3. AM station availibility is an issue, but still, the old radios are freaking cool, end of post.....
Frankly I only hear out of one ear and then only about half of the sound coming my way with the other. I have no need of stereo. haha Truth be told if there isn't 50 & 60 music coming out of a radio I prefer it be off. I have a hard time telling the whether it's Marty Robbins or Elvis singing. Fat's and Chubby I can handle for a while. I really rather hear and feel the sound of the blower and 3 inch exhaust. Even the 4 inch diesel exhaust is a more pleasing note than the GD stuff they call music today. I'd say if the radio is part of the dash styling then go ahead and restore it. Just don't play it. haha As far as the ********s, I well remember them. I hear there are much better uses for them today.
Paul - this is what I'm going to use, these guys are also on the alliance vendor list http://www.rediscoveradio.com/
Thanks for all of the information. i've got two radios, one in my '56 Olds and one out of a '55 Olds. Neither of them work. I think I am going to get one or both restored at some point and get the RediRad. I was looking into them at the Symco Shakedown and it seems like a great solution and worth the $$. Trouble now is finding a reliable no-bullsh*t place around here that can restore my radio(s)...
Thanks for the bump, this a really good thread. There is just something about the hum of an old radio as it warms up. How about some pictures?
ANyone know how to get in touch with this "Radio Joe" I've tried PM-ing and Emailing him but no reply... Anyone have his phone number or can recommend a place to restore a 38 Buick radio???
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