Bought my first car this week!

[ggregg]

It seems that every time I go into one of the boneyards around here, when you go into the office, they always seem to have some older high end GM and Ford radios already pulled and sitting around, if it's a yard that has been in business a long time. If not you could always walk around the yard and try to find one. Pretty sure higher end Ford and Mercury's had the same radio as an option.

I came of age during this period and of all the factory radios, the Philco-Ford ones sounded the best.

Also keep in mind that if you could find a period, aftermarket, stereo, many of them were underdash. Sometimes you could mount them using the exsisting dash mounting holes so you wouldn't be modifying anything. The absolute best one of the time was the original Pioneer supertuner with the round dial. Craig Powerplays, with their whopping 12 wpc, were also another option.

[Electronic M]

I now have a working car radio with 8-track!
I got the sam's for the quad radio some time ago, and finally stole a couple of hours to properly trouble shoot it....It turned out to be a VERY simple problem. The B+ for the 1st RF amp is fed to it through a tuned coil. That coil, and all other tuned inductors in the AM section connect to the board through a plug. One of the contacts in the plug broke and was open killing B+ to the 1st RF amp....Since the plug is an odd type that would be a pain to try and find a replacement for I bypassed the open pin with a single lead with a plug inline with it. Now the board can be completely unplugged and removed as before and it works properly. I'm almost surprised that I did not find it probing blind...I only removed and reconnected that plug 1-3 dozen times.

Now I just have to find another couple of hours to steal on a warmish day to swap in the new radio.

The auto dimming feature of the high beams seems to be dead, but the foot switch working is good enough for me. Still there is an inline fuse just for the light sensor/amp module that I have not checked yet.

[Jon A.]

Awesome!

You ought to keep a tape partially stuck in there whenever you park in a public lot. I'm certainly impressed by these rare sights. Last car I saw so equipped was a 1970 Plymouth Valiant Duster (the only year both names appeared on the same car) last summer. It was an aftermarket stereo, which I can forgive because an in-dash 8-track stereo was never offered in the Duster.

[Electronic M]

Interesting idea. I have the perfect tape for that too...I just recently realized that a box of 8-tracks I bought a few months before I got my Lincoln has the stereo version of the period correct Ford "Stereo for Today" cartridge....There was a quad tape of the same name.

That Plymouth must have been a cool site to see. The last 8-track equipped car I've been in the presence of was a Ranchero, or El Camino that had a Hurst His & Hers shifter. About a year ago at Volo.

[sampson159]

worked for ford many years.the 70s thunderbirds had the best radios ever.quad systems were very rare but they produced the finest sound in car audio.my old 79 ltd landau had a really beautiful factory sound system.also owned some gms with the deatched 8 track units.decent performers.when the pinch roller bound up,i kept a cigarette in the glove box to roll the tape back in.had a malfunction one day and the famed cigarette was gone.gf smoked it the night before without my knowledge.she didnt know why it was there since i have never smoked

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by sampson159

worked for ford many years.the 70s thunderbirds had the best radios ever.quad systems were very rare but they produced the finest sound in car audio.my old 79 ltd landau had a really beautiful factory sound system.also owned some gms with the deatched 8 track units.decent performers.when the pinch roller bound up,i kept a cigarette in the glove box to roll the tape back in.had a malfunction one day and the famed cigarette was gone.gf smoked it the night before without my knowledge.she didnt know why it was there since i have never smoked

Haha. Better than lighting up mostly-spent smokes found on the ground. I've seen that a few times around here.

[Electronic M]

Sampson, There were two Ford quad radio models made that I know of. I don't know about the electronically tuned ones, but the mechanically tuned ones like mine were made by Motorola, and they do sound remarkably good with a decent set of speakers.

Jon, you just just reminded me of a song I have not heard in ages, Roger Miller's 'King of the Road'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whUjCqCEYBo I did not think anyone actually followed that line about smoking old found stogies...

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Jon, you just just reminded me of a song I have not heard in ages, Roger Miller's 'King of the Road'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whUjCqCEYBo I did not think anyone actually followed that line about smoking old found stogies...

I'm pretty sure I have heard that song, but I can't play it right now, I have no speakers on this computer yet.

At first I thought you were speaking of "King of the Open Road", which I had forgotten is by Red Sovine. I think that one was on the "Super Slab Hits" 8-track I had ages ago.

[Electronic M]

I decided to post some pictures of my work...
The before and after of the repair.


On further thought after that picture I decided to move the orange lead so that it would not touch any moving parts.

Since I have the manual as a source of (foolish?)confidence I decided to polish the outside rust off with Brasso and lacquer over the rusted areas to prevent re-rusting.









I figure it is just a good idea to have as little exposed rust in the vehicle as possible.

[Jon A.]

That white .03 mfd cap in the third pic is bugging me, I can't even tell if it's part of the stereo. My understanding is that they should be replaced no matter what they're in.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

That white .03 mfd cap in the third pic is bugging me, I can't even tell if it's part of the stereo. My understanding is that they should be replaced no matter what they're in.

It was un-replaced....I removed that cap from a tube amp, and because it was handy I used it to bypass the dead section of the tuner when I was flying blind without a schematic. That cap is gone now, and has been for some time.

[Electronic M]

The whether was warm and nice, and I was already outside variacing two new TVs I just got so I figured I'd do something between the periodic voltage increases.



Guess what I did?....






The Quad 8-track is in and working well. The thing sounds AWESOME!
It was relatively straight forward to do. All I had to do was remove two clips holding the black vent below, remove knobs and the nuts behind them, remove the rear angle bracket, unplug it, and then reverse the process.


Of course there were complications like not checking to make sure the nuts that were supposed to be flush with the face of the radio were actually flush, and loosing track of the cars power connector for the radio...Both of which made me uninstall it and reinstall it one time a piece...

I learned somethings along the way too. The original radio may not be original. It had it's power connector cut and re-spliced*, and some funky clips and three wires added to the radio's speaker harness.



Also I found a plug electrical taped to a vacuum hose that I have no idea where it came from(but you can bet your but I'll find out), and two light sockets hanging behind the radio (which I'll also have to look into).
That plug is near enough to the dead miles to empty gauge that it makes me wonder.

*With orange wire nuts....Hey Squirrel boy THOSE orange wire nuts you mentioned earlier were actually on the radio's power wires.

And here is the dealer 8-track tape I have.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

The whether was warm and nice, and I was already outside variacing two new TVs I just got so I figured I'd do something between the periodic voltage increases.



Guess what I did?....






The Quad 8-track is in and working well. The thing sounds AWESOME!
It was relatively straight forward to do. All I had to do was remove two clips holding the black vent below, remove knobs and the nuts behind them, remove the rear angle bracket, unplug it, and then reverse the process.


Of course there were complications like not checking to make sure the nuts that were supposed to be flush with the face of the radio were actually flush, and loosing track of the cars power connector for the radio...Both of which made me uninstall it and reinstall it one time a piece...

I learned somethings along the way too. The original radio may not be original. It had it's power connector cut and re-spliced*, and some funky clips and three wires added to the radio's speaker harness.



Also I found a plug electrical taped to a vacuum hose that I have no idea where it came from(but you can bet your but I'll find out), and two light sockets hanging behind the radio (which I'll also have to look into).
That plug is near enough to the dead miles to empty gauge that it makes me wonder.

*With orange wire nuts....Hey Squirrel boy THOSE orange wire nuts you mentioned earlier were actually on the radio's power wires.

And here is the dealer 8-track tape I have.

Was the original radio a Philco product?
The Motorola built radios were a lot better. I think Motorola quit building OEM radios, around the mid 70's.

[Electronic M]

I think so. The sticker was gone, but a radio sticker saying Philco/Ford Aerospace division (found in quality planes and rockets everywhere ) materialized during my work.
I want to open the original and see how it looks inside.

[Jon A.]

There's a lot more open space inside the AM-FM radios. Notice the easy-access dial lamp socket, not to mention a single, bigger bulb.

Quad Ford tapes pop up on the 'bay all the time.