Sanyo M9998LU : Restoration and modifications (eventually) :)

Hi guys,
12 days ago I visited a little car boot, and felt unfortunately on this beauty...


Before cleaning :








I negociated it for 20€, thinking it wasn't working (no sound at all, but after inspection I found it was set on external speakers) !!!
And the 9998 came with 10 fresh batteries in the originals tubes too !!!

After a little cleaning :







Radio is OK, sound is so goood, with strong bass, far better than my beloved Sharp GF9494... Really impressive, never heard a sooo good sound from a boombox...
There's no life coming from the cassette deck, but I can hear the motor, so I guess I must rebelt it.
The problem is that both cogs (take-up and supply spindle) felt in bits as soon as I inserted a tape... :'-( Brittle old plastic, and known problem as I have read.





I was after those things, having read they are the same (well almost, but they fit well) but in far better quality in Sharp GF-8989 (and I saw these in my 9494 too, but I won't remove them), or Panasonic RX series, Teac V40, Aiwa 950...

I asked on Stereo2go (I was not inscribe here), but didn't find, so I decided to try to make them myself :
I picked up the 2 spindles on an old dead Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K+2 tape recorder, cut them with a Dremel, sanded them inside with a little file, and the result is perfect !!!



Now I'm in a hurry the belts I ordered from Turntableneedles arrive home...

Despite a few battle scars it looks pretty good, I wish you well on the project.

Belt replacement is a piece of cake! I can do it in my sleep. I did it on all my 3 boxes.

BoomboxLover48 said:

Belt replacement is a piece of cake! I can do it in my sleep. I did it on all my 3 boxes.

Click to expand...

It's a 'piece of cake' for you sir but NO-ONE ELSE!!!!

jimmyjimmy19702010 said:

Belt replacement is a piece of cake! I can do it in my sleep. I did it on all my 3 boxes.

Click to expand...

It's a 'piece of cake' for you sir but NO-ONE ELSE!!!!

Click to expand...

James, I might have opened it and put it all back together so many times..... so now I know it all by heart. Even replaced the broken cassette buttons with the ones you send me! Actually learned a lot from mistakes and forgetting something to put back in place. Still scratching my head to figure out a way how to fix the take up reel slipping from the contact wheel. So hard to get inside that. Also a motor that runs for more than 45 minutes and just give up. ~Royce

The belts arrived yesterday, so I began to take the 9998 apart.
Will post pictures tomorrow...

And here we go... :

I opened the box and marqued all the plugs and wires I disconected with model kit paint, and took a lot of pictures...






The woofers. So are they different and better from those of 9998K as some says ?

model paint. hadn't thought of that idea. well played
would like to get mine working 1 day too.

Work in progress...
Yesterday I removed the chassis.
The 3 small belts are in good condition, but the flat one has turned into goo !!! I have to clean that...

And cleaning done now...




(to be followed...)

I'd replace all the belts - they're all ancient.

Yes, of course, I replace the 4 belts, not only the dead one...

New belts are in place...

The main belt is now sliding over the brass post of the motor mounts! You might have corrected that mistake.

The next step is a bit hard when you put it all back together. Patience....needs lots of patience..

BoomboxLover48 said:

The main belt is now sliding over the brass post of the motor mounts! You might have corrected that mistake.

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I didn't... I forgot this and closed the box like that last friday !!! Then tried to play a tape, it was working, but slooooowly...
So I re-opened the 9998, and as you said before, now it's an easy operation, I know it very well, and having let painted marks of different colours on every plugs was a good idea So, in half an hour, the belt was at the right place, and the tape deck was finally working very well !!!




Then I made its first mod : A Li-po battery (4S/5000mAh). I had to mod the battery too, because it was too big for the battery compartment (same as in my GF-9494 in my other thread), so I removed the protective film and separated the 4 elements in 2X2...
Finally I demagnetized the head, and now the sound is perfect. I really love this box




Next mod : diods...

Nice work, those 9998's are a real pain for mere mortals to work on. Wish I never opened mine. Superb sound though, before I killed it..

Led mod time ! Here we goooo...

First part :

Nice! We need a how to on the LED kit please

bugpat said:

Led mod time ! Here we goooo...

First part :

Click to expand...

Great Job!

I have question for you. One of my 9998 stops in a few seconds. Auto stop engages within seconds. Any thoughts on this problem? I suffered enough .for that reason I opened and closed the box more than 6 times... I was unable to locate the real cause

bugpat said:

Led mod time ! Here we goooo...

First part :

Click to expand...

Nice. My lights not working so this would be a good option