Radio finishing touches

[DonaldSmith]

This tale takes the long way around, sort of like working on an old car.

When I removed the windshield molding, to remove the headliner, to re-wire the cabin, I noticed a brown stain had migrated from the windshield and down the instrument panel. The stain was water soluble. Rust? But dark. Before replacing the molding, I water-tested the windshield and found a leak at the divider bar. I removed the inner and outer bar, applied clear glazing sealant to the gasket adn outer bar stop the leak, and reinstalled the bars. I water-tested the windshield again, and then noticed that the carpet was soaked.

Tip to the not-so-swift: Close the cowl vent, or at least the fresh air intake under the dashboard, before water testing the windshield. After removing the carpet, drying it and re-installing it, I concentrated on the radio.

Radio to-do-list:

1) Make a water shield for the back of the radio and for the circuit breaker I added, for protection from the air intake and cowl vent which are just above the rear of the radio. Old rust in the radio casing was testament that this wasn't the first time water came in the vent.

2) Take the front of the radio off and re-set the dial pointer.

3) Play with a stereo speaker abandoned by one of the kids, to replace the Mopar speaker which had one too many punctures through the cone. Sounded funny when the volume was turned up.

While I had the radio out to re-set the pointer, I fashioned a water shield from a sheet of gasket paper, and secured it with one of the screws of the radio case. Then I layered clear shipping tape over the gasket paper.

That takes care of 1) and 2). Of course there were two attempts to reset the pointer to get it close enough, and several trial fits of the radio, so that the circuit breaker which I added at the bracket would not interfere with the mounting bolt.

I hooked up the new speaker temporarily. It worked. I removed the old speaker from the car. (Should have removed it one of the times the radio was out today.) To the bench!

I removed the old cone, drilled out the rivets and removed the large, heavy electromagnet. I snuggled the new 4" speaker within the metal shell of the old one, and bolted it in place. I salvaged and reconnected the plug.

The modified speaker assembly, being less bulky, went in more easily than the old one came out. It works, sounds good, and didn't costy anything. My kind of project.

[BobT-47P15]

Sounds like a pretty thorough job there, Don. Here is one thing I discovered about my current radio speaker---the volume level is OK when sitting in the garage. But when driving down the road with some wind and engine noise, it is not quite loud enough. When I turn up the volume of the radio past a certain point, the speaker gets fuzzy and not so clear. So I need to find a little stronger speaker....with a bit larger magnet. Just passing this on for whatever it may be worth.

[Tony_Urwin]

Some speakers are more efficient that others. usually speakers are rated by sensitivity. The higher the dB, the louder the speaker.