1969 GTX....The T stands for tetanus

[Glenwood]

my speedo is almost a perfect match for kph so I left it alone for now. The only problem is the odometer will be off too.

 

[threewood]

Got lucky on that one. I tried that as well but it only worked for a few miles.

There is a small plastic bushing mounted to the pivot, holding the spring assembly to the face. That was loose. By keeping the spring assembly in place with the tab it isn't going anywhere. I have 40 miles on it repaired and it is rock steady, no bounce. And as long as the 30 tooth pinion is close I'll be happy.

10/8/17
Been daily driving it and it has been great and gets plenty of looks. The speedo is still a bit low so I bought a 27 tooth and will probably call it good. At 65mph it show about 5mph slow, at 35 it looks to be closer to 8mph low. A $20 pinion is much more agreeable than pulling the whole dash again to tweak the needle tension.

 

[threewood]

I purchased a radio from a member here recently and installed it today. The tuner wheel has a white gear which was cracked and wouldn't tune so i superglued it to the wheel, cleaned up the internals, new bulb and slapped it together. For the speakers, I used two 4" speakers from Walmart wired in series to end up with 8 ohms. Mounted them to my existing mount. Words of wisdom...offset the speakers to the far right side of the mount otherwise the heater control panel will not fit! I had to do it twice.

I found the factory 2 prong outlet behind the dash and wired in a new Packard fitting for the speakers. Everything is in and working which I am surprised as I was fully expecting to have the radio rebuilt.

 

[69 GTX]

Couldn't get video to play..

 

[threewood]

Couldn't get video to play..

It's shown as public, maybe your browser? Unless you have never heard the keyboard cat commercial or seen a stock radio work you are not missing much lol.

 

[Billccm]

The tuner wheel has a white gear which was cracked and wouldn't tune so i superglued it to the wheel

WOW. The same thing was wrong with JimKueneman radio. It must be the age as in the late 1970s I must have had one hundred of these radios cross my bench at the TV Repair shop where I worked (until 1983) and never had a issue with the toothed wheel. The clutches used to be problematic and rubber cleaner would save them 50% of the time. I doubt you can get a clutch kit for the tuner mechanism today as everyone converts these radios to Chineseium Bluethooth 'modern' units.

 

[threewood]

WOW. The same thing was wrong with JimKueneman radio. It must be the age as in the late 1970s I must have had one hundred of these radios cross my bench at the TV Repair shop where I worked (until 1983) and never had a issue with the toothed wheel. The clutches used to be problematic and rubber cleaner would save them 50% of the time. I doubt you can get a clutch kit for the tuner mechanism today as everyone converts these radios to Chineseium Bluethooth 'modern' units.

I tried to gorilla glue the gear together and press it on the tuner wheel but the glue was crap so I just glued the entire thing to the wheel.
Were you able to get the video of the radio to play?

 

[Billccm]

Video played fine. Antique radios are another passion/hobby of mine. I appreciate a car with the original radio. Thanks for keeping the radio original.

 

[Billccm]

Video played fine. Antique radios are another passion/hobby of mine. I appreciate a car with the original radio. Thanks for keeping the radio original.

 

[JimKueneman]

Video played fine. Antique radios are another passion/hobby of mine. I appreciate a car with the original radio. Thanks for keeping the radio original.

It is awesome keeping the drifting FM LO tuned to the station after it sits in the parking lot all day and the interior gets hot then gets cold as the AC kicks in

 

[JimKueneman]

Need to get Bill to replace all the dried out caps to get the hiss and buzz out of it too

 

[threewood]

Video played fine. Antique radios are another passion/hobby of mine. I appreciate a car with the original radio. Thanks for keeping the radio original.

I enjoy the original radios as well. I was about to drop $350 on an am/ fm/ Bluetooth version from ebay because people want stupid money for unmodified 68-69 radios. A rebuild on an original is $400+. I was happy to find this for sale on the fbbo and offered $50 plus shipping not knowing if it would work. I love trying to tune in am stations on the road. It gives me a connection to the past I suppose.

The tube radio in my Belvedere is original and works very well. I have no intention of swapping either of them out.

 

[threewood]

Need to get Bill to replace all the dried out caps to get the hiss and buzz out of it too

I will eventually. I am in no mood to cut my hands up anymore behind that dash right now lol. It's like sticking your hand in a box of knives.

 

[Billccm]

The AM selectively and sensitivity of older radios are excellent. No phase noise and RF amp noise figures so low they cannot be measured accurately (I've tried).
A well aligned discrete (no integrated circuits) radio will always out perform any radio made today.
I recently restored a 1959 El Camino radio with tubes for a friend of mine. It receives several radio stations from LA and San Francisco easily in Tucson.

 

[threewood]

Still chasing little things.

Took it over to have the alignment done and the guy mentioned the strut rod bushings looked worn. The car had been pulling left during braking and they looked a bit crushed so I replaced them with urethane bushings. After I had the pass side loose I saw that the lca bushing inner sleeve had pulled out about 3/16" from the rubber so I replaced it while I was in there. Pull was still there so I re bled the pass front brake again and adjusted the brakes a little tighter and I think that did the trick.

I have also been chasing a thunk clunk in the trunk. Pretty loud in the cab and I can replicate it by bouncing the rear end. Removed everything and still there. Re adjusted the exhaust, secured any and all lines away from the body...still there. Soooo I started pulling the new KYB gasadjust shocks....sound went away. Put on an old, used set and no more sound. I can't say how much crap I have bought that goes bad or is bad out of the box.

 

[threewood]

I am really searching for stuff to do now lol. The shock plates on the x were "fixed" at some point and looked crappy, found a used set on here (thanks Steve!). Got em in today, blasted, cleaned and installed. They look much better.

 

[Glenwood]

Picking away at little things, I know the feeling. At least you can still go cruising! We're getting snow at the moment, so this year is done for me.

 

[threewood]

Picking away at little things, I know the feeling. At least you can still go cruising! We're getting snow at the moment, so this year is done for me.

Yea, the weather is very nice here during winter. I've been driving it all over, still running great. I don't know what I would do if I had to hibernate the cars.

I ordered a package tray and trunk divider so a few more odds and ends to keep me tinkering. Oh, and I have a rear bumper on backorder through AMD.

 

[threewood]

I finally got around to getting a package tray and trunk divider. I layered the bottom and back with sound mat, including the seat pans. I also had to weld the lower pass side seat latch wire which was loose from the frame.

 

[69 GTX]

Have you had time to drive it to see if there's a reduction in noise? I put sound deadener everywhere but under the rear seat. Wondering if it needs it?