Heater rebuild

[Bud English]

Jeremy- Thanks for the link. It's just what I needed. I can do that!

[stugilmour]

Bud, for sure give adding the heater box inset a shot during your rebuild. I did a similar mod when I had it to bits.

However, the modern DIN unit I selected still would not fit in my dash. Perhaps I could have made the inset a bit deeper, who knows. Anyway, what I realized looking around at head units is that the DIN standard does not actually include a maximum unit depth, so it varies somewhat by model. Also, the specified depth generally does not include sufficient space for RCA conectors if the unit uses a remote amp. Something like this might work, although I never tried

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/90-degree-rca

I ended up using a trunk mounted radio, but that is a whole different deal. At any rate, the Crutchfield site is excellent for comparing available units for mounting depth.

Sure will be great when we get the Wiki going, as the post Jeremy linked to pretty much covers it all!

HTH

Stu

[Sea Ranch]

I know this might come from left field for some of us, and certainly I don't want to suggest something that will do "violence" to sensitive ears (I myself am a musician but have never really worried about audiophile sound in a car, given all the "accompanying" road and wind noise), but . . .

I just took delivery of this unit,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121129452939&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:CA:3160#ht_6881wt_1124

and - surprized - it sounds great, all things considered. Further, the amount of control code written into this shirt-pocket-sized device is astonishing. Reads USB memory sticks with your song (or podcast or audio book) files, SD cards, and plays analog audio from your phone/mp3 player . . . very slick. Did I mention it costs $10 including shipping? Available from many vendors. Plus other versions around. Also a verion out there you can hard-wire into a power source and your radio's antenna cable for significantly improved fidelity, apparently).

Just a thought . . . you get to keep your stock/original raido (and let's remember that FM radios from the late '60s sounded really nice - a mature technology by then) . . .

Randy

[Sea Ranch]

Oops . . . forgot to mention that a second alternative (one that I'm planning on attempting myself later) is to take your original radio to a repair shop and ask them to put in an auxilary input jack (in the back, of course). A fellow could plug an extension cord (male to female) into the back and bring it out through the ash tray . . . a perfect place to store the cord during concours shows or run the cord into the glove box . . . all ready for your phone/mp3 device to plug into.

Again, you get to keep your stock radio, for those of us who care to . . .

Regards,

Randy

[Bud English]

Randy, my original radio is the UK two or three band version even though my car is a fed spec car. It was purchased in the UK and has been back and forth twice. It worked great there but was pretty worthless here in the states. On top of that, it hasn't been powered up since '81 and I don't hold out much hope for the electrolytic capacitors.

That FM transmitter does look slick for anyone with an original radio that actually works.

[billwill]

Re Electrolytic Capacitors.

Do a Google search for "Reforming Electrlytic Capacitors" and you will find articles suggesting initially feed the capacitors through a 30K resistor for a few hours or a day and measure the voltage across the resistor. When that drops to very low you know the capacitor is no longer leaking electricity and is probably now OK.

~~~~

Yesterday I decided to try power up a NEWBRAIN AD computer, which was last powered on in 1987.
But that is way off-topic here so I've moved it to a new topic in Free Parking.

free-parking-f45/repairing-old-electronic-equipment-t30726.html

[Sea Ranch]

Great tip on reforming electrolytics, Bill. Thanks.

I've observed that, for the do-it-yourself builder/repairer/restorer type guy, electrical and/or electronics are often the final frontier. Something about electrons being invisible, as opposed to motors and chassis and suspension, etc. It's interesting to see how many diverse specialty areas and skills a private non-professional car restorer will take on, learn and master as part of the restoration process . . . except radios A radio seems to scream, "You can't touch me! I dare you!"

And yet, with a little background knowledge, a schematic and layout diagram, and a parts supplier, it can become just one more specialty that can be conquered by the home builder/restorer.

If all else fails, there are lots of radio repair shops in every town, and specialty vintage car radio repairers around, too.

Anyway, hope it works out for you, Bud. I see some of these new radio/mp3 players are very shallow (no disc or tape drives to take up space in the chassis); perhaps one of those will work for you, too.

Regards,

Randy

ps Here's a pic of my car's Phillips; if not original, then darn close to it. All I've ever heard from it so far is a light thump from the speakers (original, too) when I turn it on. But I'm determined to make this beauty hum

[billwill]

Way back when originality was not a priority & modernisation was the in-thing, when I got Vegantune of Spalding to do a complete refurb for my Elan S3 Coupe, I supplied then with a new FM+Cassette reciever To be fitted BEHIND the new dash with just the necessary 3 holes for the display/buttons and the control spindles. It is still in there & working fine. It was the era of car radio thefts & so I designated it that way so it is IMPOSSIBLE to get the radio out without taking the dash off.

I should hace asked Vegantune to return any bits they took off but who cared about a 15 year old radio in 1982, huh.

It was also the era of CB radio, before mobile phones, so in my new dash, the glove box was reduced in height and below it is a small rectangular extra box to hold a CB transceiver with a little rectangular door to hide the CB stuff while the car is parked.

At present neither box is behind the dash so they are doors to nowhere.

[stugilmour]

Hey Randy, I like the MP3 devise. The one that goes into the antenna cable would probably be a lot better though. I used a similar antenna switch for a Sirius install on my BMW, and sound quality is OK; no static or fading, sound quality as good as an FM station. I think the Sirius switch cuts off the antenna source when it sees a signal from the sat receiver. This would be potentially a big advantage in the Elan; I have a lot of radio interference with the fibreglass body and no metal ground plane at the antenna. here is the Sirius adapter; don't know if it would work with a different input.

http://www.siriusxm.ca/Help-and-Support ... ation.aspx

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product. ... uage=en-CA

HTH

Stu

PS Booked @ Airport Sandman for ABFM in May

[Sea Ranch]

Yes, nice piece, Stu. That would do a fine job. Install the antenna "tap", and plug any player device's audio-out into the other cable and away you go. Having said that, the complaints online are having an audio cable AND a power cable going to your "formerly portable" player, all cluttering up the cabin; nothing like a fully installed/integrated system. This was the enticing feature of the unit I bought (aside from the price): one piece, no cables (plugs directly into cigarette lighter for power) and no extra player required (just bring along an SD card or USB stick for source material).

Not that $10 gets you a bomb-proof (I've already re-soldered an internal power line, due to over-rotation of the swivel joint ) or permanent solution. It was really just an experiment, and a source of entertainment for an upcoming road trip (and both our daily drivers have no cd player or aux in jacks). If the concept worked, I would opt for a hard-wired fm transmitter for the Lotus, I suppose, or a modification to the radio for an aux in jack.

Great story about the Elan, Bill. Times do indeed change, don't they. But you've no doubt enjoyed the coupe a lot over the last 15 years.

See you at ABFM, Stu. By May I might even have started taking the Plus 2 apart!!

Randy

[Bud English]

...back to the heater rebuild. I've modified the housing for the radio, painted it up, replaced all the baffle seals, cleaned the motor commutator and put it all back together. Has anyone sourced replacements for the four rubber mounts or should I have a go at making some up from rubber grommets and sheet rubber?

[Simon White]

Hi, I have just started taking my heater box apart and wondered if you had an answer to the question about removing the flap rods, is do the levers on the ends of the rods come off?

[john.p.clegg]

I prised the levers off by using fine nosed pliers behind and a small hammer and punch,but only because I had lost my chain link extractor ( as someone suggested earlier.)

John

[Simon White]

Many thanks John.

[Robbie693]

Same here - used a punch to knock them out. They came off easily. Getting them back on again, in the correct position, was another matter!

Robbie