Conion C100 resto

So I threw out an offer on a recent estate find, not even thinking that I'd win, because it was so low. The seller was only at 95% so I didn't want to invest too much in it.

I found a tuner knob straight away. The only piece obviously missing is the lower deck trim, although one of aerials doesn't have a tip. Radio tunes in and plays loud with treble and bass, and both sets of VUs bounce. battery cover and feet are intact, although one of them is missing the rubber strip underneath.

I was afraid that the upper tape deck door flap was missing, but it turns out to be sitting loose inside the slot. Lower tape door is intact, as is its label. The tape drawer only has short (~1/2") cracks on each side. It must have been in outside air for some time because the chrome doesn't seem to be perfect, and the battery terminals are fully rusted. I'm not expecting the insides to be much better, but the fact that it does as much as it already has with a quick mains power-on is extremely promising.

Tomorrow I'll know more about the insides, Crossing fingers!

Looks nice!

Definitely one on the short list of must haves......looks promising & hope it all goes well...

Cpl

Your offer wasnt that low, because it was higher than mine!

Hahahaha mine too!

Cool box - nicer build quality inside than you'd think. Certainly not a Hi Fi sound to these C100s but an honest, powerful style of output. After cranking a C100F for around 15 minutes on a new set of D's, I noticed a drop in bass performance! Yep, the batteries were almost drained! AC only these days unless you've got shares in Duracell!

Congrats on a great box!

James....

Hah! I figured summa you's might've been in the mix!
Holy.... 15 minutes? Really?? Yowza. I see a lead acid battery in its future. That is ridiculous.

Congrats! Looks real nice.

Great looking box - it's the one at the top of my must get list

Congrats bro! Cant go wrong with one of those, shine it up goooooood

Thanks guys! I promise SLO, it is my solemn guarantee I haven't been able to stop looking at it since I got the tuning knob in the mail today. I still can't wrap my head around how wonderfully large it is. I forget for a while that I have it, and then I walk back into the kitchen and see it again and smile.

The hardest chore will be locating the lower deck trim. It seems that there are lots of places that will create your own custom screenprinted name plates out of brushed aluminum. This seems like a no-brainer, but then I remembered that they'd have to be able to laser cut all the holes for buttons. Probably doable, but maybe only for large batches.

I swore I read about someone here actually recreating the graphics for the lower trim. I was thinking of making that and having somewhere like this place make a label that I could just cut holes in myself (VERY carefully, ) for the buttons. That wouldn't be as durable, but I could order a bunch and just replace them when they start to go bad. I suppose anything's possible, so if anyone reading this knows who might actually have an original, let me know, I'd be forever grateful!

Very nice Conion!!
It's one of the firsts on my must have list which I'd down to only 8 more boomers then I'm done!!
Beautiful!!!

The insides look untouched, at least by humans that is....

Nasty little speaker spider. The Conion recluse

I finished documenting all the wires and recapped/rebelted, now I just need to reconnect it and make sure it still works. Still to come:

Replace rusted battery coils
Acquire lower deck trim or make one from sample/drawing
Find new antenna or pair of good-enoughs
Reinstall upper deck flap, plastic hinges are cracked
Fix locking mechanism for tape drawer
Polish, un-dent, and re-glue metal trim
New paint?
New rubber footpad
Plastic-weld two cabinet screw posts
Make lower door eject spring
Deoxit switches on amp board
Push dent out on left grille and strip/repaint both
Reglue the record button
Repaint chrome on tweeter grilles
Polish dial glass
Adjust VR001 for FM
Fix rattles with upholstery lining

Quick note about the belts: I used the commonly known sizes that are proven to work: SBS8.9 for the lower deck's counter and secondary belts, an FBM9.6 for the flywheel belt, and for the upper deck a single SBS10.0. Some members, including myself, have experienced weak rewind after installing new belts on the lower deck. This has to do with the tape run LED pulley. It's right next to the counter pulley. The belt tension pulls on the shaft and skews it, causing it to rub against stuff it shouldn't be, causing too much load on the belt to let it work at full force. Some members have successfully used the next higher size belt available, an SBS9.2, but that's not the best solution. I lost too much tension and the belt would slip intermittently. The solution is to stabilize the gearbox's pulley shaft. I glued a small washer right in the middle of it, but it's pretty important to pick one with a hole big enough to let it spin but not so big that it can still wobble. If you don't have a good selection of washers then you can always craft something out of a piece of plastic, carefully making the hole bigger with a hobby knife until it's just right. At that point, rewinding should be nice and strong.

Apparently the previous owner blew an amp chip, so that was replaced and in the process melted the beat cancel switch and part of the I/O bracket. He didn't trim the pins either, which were all bent every way. I also missed the fact that there was an electrolytic on the back of the lower deck board, but I could make the value I needed with three of the extras I got in my order.

I might as well post the info I put together for the recap...

Amp board:

C285 1@50
C279 2200@10
C280 2200@10
C281 2200@10
C278 2200@10
C259 3300@25
C206 22@16
C207 22@16
C272 100@10
C270 100@10
C266 100@10
C262 47@10
C268 100@10
C264 100@10
C204 10@16
C205 10@16
C201 100@16
C273 100@10
C271 100@10
C267 100@10
C263 47@10
C269 100@10
C265 100@10
C253 1@50
C255 4.7@25
C239 100@16
C238 1000@16
C256 4.7@25
C254 1@50
C286 1@50
C287 47@10
C241 47@10
C249 100@10
C252 1@50
C240 220@25
C251 0.1@50
C248 4.7@25
C242 47@10
C244 33@10
C230 220@10
C232 100@10
C246 47@10
C253 47@10

Woofers:

4.7@25
4.7@25

I/O board:

C120 4.7@25
C121 4.7@25
C158 10@16
C132 1@50
C126 47@10
C133 100@10
C125 47@10
C101 47@10
C131 1@50
C163 100@10
C156 10@16
C157 10@16
C162 10@16
C144 0.47@50
C145 0.47@50
C155 10@16
C161 10@16
C166 330@10
C164 0.22@50
C165 0.22@50
C148 100@16
C147 2.2@50
C146 2.2@50
C141 47@10
C140 47@10
C137 1@50
C143 10@16
C136 1@50
C142 10@16
C134 0.1@50
C135 0.1@50
C110 22@16
C109 22@16
C108 100@10
C106 1@50
C107 1@50
C118 1@50
C117 1@50

Lower deck board:

C325 1@50
C324 47@10
C315 1@50
C316 1@50
C323 10@16
C331 100@25
C307 47@10
C308 47@10
C302 4.7@25
C301 4.7@50
C321 220@10
C317 2.2@50
C318 2.2@50
C326 100@10
C309 0.47@50
C310 0.47@50
C327 10@16
C328 10@16
Cxxx 100@25 (Underneath CN304)

Upper deck board:

C420 100@10
C416 10@16
C418 10@16
C415 100@10
C417 10@16
C419 10@16
C421 100@10
C412 1@50
C413 1@50
C407 47@10
C409 10@16
C410 10@16
C411 100@10
C403 47@10
C408 47@10
C405 10@16
C406 33@10
C404 10@16

Tuner board:

C064 47@10
C046 1@50
C048 47@10
C044 220@10
C050 4.7@25
C026 1@50
C024 1@50
C058 1@50
C053 100@10
C059 2.2@50
C060 2.2@50
C055 2.2@50
C056 1@50
C057 0.33@50
C019 1@50

Upper tape deck:

10@16
100@25

Summary:
Value new value Qty. size(s) new size price subtotal order qty. Digi-Key link
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.1@50 3 4mm, 5mm (5mm) .30 .90 3 http://x.co/8Jnl5
0.22@50 2 5mm (5mm) .30 .60 2 http://x.co/8Jnlu
0.33@50 1 5mm (5mm) .30 .30 1 http://x.co/8Jnmx
0.47@50 4 5mm (5mm) .30 1.20 4 http://x.co/8JnoB
1@50 24 4mm, 5mm (5mm) .30 7.20 25 1 extra! http://x.co/8Jnoz
2.2@50 7 5mm (5mm) .30 2.10 7 http://x.co/8Jnpw
4.7@25 (4.7@50) 9 4mm, 5mm Only available as 50V
4.7@50 1 5mm (5mm) .29 2.90 10 http://x.co/8JnrG
10@16 (10@50) 22 5mm (5mm) .31 6.82 25 3 extra! http://x.co/8Jns8
22@16 (22@25) 4 5mm (5mm) .41 1.64 4 http://x.co/8Jnst
33@10 (33@25) 2 6.3mm (6.3mm) .52 1.04 2 http://x.co/8Jntc
47@10 (47@25) 20 5mm, 6.3mm (6.3mm) .54 10.80 25 5 extra! http://x.co/8Jnu6
100@10 21 6.3mm (6.3mm) .58 11.60 25 4 extra! http://x.co/8Jnus
100@16 (100@25) 3 8mm Only available at 25V
100@25 3 8mm (8mm) .53 3.68 6 http://x.co/8JnvL
220@10 3 8mm (8mm) .71 2.13 3 http://x.co/8JnwN
220@25 1 10mm (10mm) 1.19 1.19 1 http://x.co/8Jnx5
330@10 (330@25) 1 10mm (10mm) 1.30 1.30 1 http://x.co/8Jnxq
1000@16 1 12.5mm (12.5mm) 1.59 1.59 1 http://x.co/8Jnyx
2200@10 4 16mm (16mm) 2.08 8.32 4 http://x.co/8Jnzs
3300@25 1 18mm (18mm) 2.41 2.41 1 http://x.co/8Jo0b
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(61 subs) 137 66.72 150

Price breaks at 25pcs. for four of them takes it down to $57.64 and yields 13 extra capacitors.

EDIT: I found ten more electrolytics while reassembling for testing, on the LED meter boards and the mixer knob board. Here is how to adjust ordering if you want to replace them as well.

Mixer knob board: (4 total)
C501 0.22@50 - Order one more of 0.22@50
C503, C504 0.1@50 - Order two more of 0.1@50
C505 100@10 - Instead of 4 there will be 3 extra from qty. 25 order

LED meter board (right), LED meter board (left): (6 total)
C601, C701 4.7@25 - order two more of 4.7@50
C603, C703 1@50 - no longer have one left over from qty. 25 order, need 26 now
C605, C705 47@16 - Instead of 5 extra of 47@25 there will be 3 extra from qty. 25 order

Super stoked for you, bro. NOTHING beats the c100 in shear power, sound quality, and looks all in one box. Its the total package.
The m90 is top notch, but if you just want to blast the **** out of some bomb ass music with no remorse....then the c100 is the one to own.
Nice work on the resto.
Blast that thing like you stole it and tell everyone here how it felt.

OMG!!! Amazingly clean work overall. The gold caps look slick too...

Cpl

Amazing box.. Good work!

Fantastic work and dedication! They are such a mess to work on but yours should be perfect forever now.