Speaker Box Refurb

[70-1600]

Nice sunny day to finish up an interior project. Refurbished the original speaker box for the AM radio. Stripped, primed and painted the metal box. Sourced a 6", 4 ohm replacement speaker off the web. Re-assembled and installed. One step at a time...

[snolan1]

any chance you could share your ebay avendor , looking to repair my speaker also I have a 1968 with a Toshiba AM radio

[70-1600]

snolan1 -

I found a replacement speaker that fit perfectly here:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball ... 5-12929-00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wanted to match the resistance (ohm) rating from the original as well as the size. The mounting holes lined up perfectly. I transferred the wiring from the old speaker to the new one, making sure I matched the + and - connections to the new speaker. I used some black, pan head, allen screws to mount the new speaker. I recovered the fiberboard spacer with some new grill cloth (the old stuff just flaked away); I actually used some fiberglass screen material from the hardware store. I also was able to find a rubber grommet to replace the older one that was also dried out.

Here are some pics of the work. The most difficult part of this was mounting the assembly. I wasn't able to feel my way to line up the screws for mounting the box to the mounting bracket. I ended up removing the battery and coil in the engine compartment to dismount the bracket, attached it to the box, then mounted it back to the firewall.

Good luck!

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[tjp]

Very nice.

[RCMike]

Nice work! Looks really good!

[spl310]

Great! Now you have those bitchin AM sounds again!

[70-1600]

Great! Now you have those bitchin AM sounds again!

Yeah, not much in the way of bitchin AM sounds here in the SF Bay Area other than sports or talk radio. I've been juggling a few different ideas to get some really good tunes into the car...there are MANY options.

Question: I believe that there was an AM/FM radio option for the 70 year Roadsters. Any one know the radio model number...? Or better yet, have one around...?

I also saw this site today that will convert your stock AM radio to AM/FM stereo with an aux input.

http://www.turnswitch.com/radio1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now that would be bitchin!

-jt

[70-1600]

Traded emails with the guy at Turnswitch. He had never done a Toshiba 7CN-15T (the stock AM radio from the Roadster). He quoted $410! Ouch! I think I'll stick with the stock AM and get something else going for my iPhone/iPod, like an MP3 amp with a bluetooth receiving unit at the front end so I can stream my tunes.

I think I answered my other question about an AM/FM offering in the roadsters (vertical mount); my original owners manual only references the AM radio, and at that it was an option "back in the day".

-jt

[spl310]

There was the Citation radio that can be made to work.

[Zogster]

There was the Citation radio that can be made to work.

Here is a discussion around radios when I looked at mine and realized it was not stock that lists some vertical radios:

http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20073

[len62]

back in the day, i used a FM converter in my 69 SRL. The unit fit in the glove box, went in between the antenna input and the radio, was cheap, and worked fine. You will still be limited by the one speaker, but tunes are better then talk.
Another thought.....I use an Anker bluetooth speaker and my IPad mini to add music to the cruz.
The little speaker is awesome, you get to play the tunes you like, and you don't mess with the original equipment......

[Gregs672000]

Pretty cool speaker rehab. I bet you could fit a low power demand 6-8" subwoofer in there run with a small amp, add a couple of surface mount tweeters and some 6" rounds in the side panel behind the seats and have a very nice system for not much money. I did similar, but used the two previously cut holes in the back panel for the 8" subs.

[spl310]

Gee, I like talk...

[Solex68]

Weird...my AM radio works...I just can't find my stations from the early 70's any more. Ha ha ha.

[excalibur]

Well I went the other route. My car came with Miata seats (thank you P.O.!) so I added the speakers in the headrests. For a deck, I got a basic pioneer unit and mounted it in the glovebox. To do this, you do have to cut out the back of the glovebox, but I do have a spare if I ever want to make it stock again. I put a bazooka tube on the package shelf, and away I went. No holes drilled, and simple. I'm not a huge fan of the tube on the shelf as it can get in the way of folding the top, but it does dramatically improve the sound quality.

Another idea I used on my boat - buy an amplifier board, put it in a small project box and mount a male headphone jack somewhere. Use an ipod or iphone or something similar to control the music playing and the volume level. Easy as long as you can mount some speakers somewhere.

The amplifier board I used is here http://www.parts-express.com/2x25w-at-4 ... y--320-332" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If your radio is DOA anyway (mine is), you also might be able to open it up, remove its guts and replace it with the above (or similar) circuit board. You could then carefully drill a hole for an aux input adaptor somewhere in the front bezel or somewhere else hidden, and there you go. One example of what I'm talking about is here http://www.amazon.com/iSimple-IS335-Mou ... roduct_top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It would end up looking 99% stock, but you could use a modern input device.
It was cheap, easy to hide, and worked perfectly.