Caution thank you for the links for the belts. Appreciate it! You guys and this 3D printing have me amazed. A new foot? Now that would be awesome!
The box arrived today with no damage. I am pleased to say it was packaged very well. Now for my first impressions...
Aside from the chipped foot area and a small superficial scuff on the tuner lens face I am quite pleased. No damage to the rear cover and aside from being dirty the color is great. Once I removed it from the shipping box I realized that the seller did not include a power cord. In the search for a power cord through thousands of packaging peanuts I found a long screw in the bottom of the box. I decided to remove the rear cover straight away and see what we had. One rear screw was "missing" and it turns out it was the one I had found so disaster averted.
Once I got the rear cover detached I noticed that the wire for the antenna to the board had been unplugged and was looped around the power button assembly. It became apparent pretty quickly that this box may have served as a home for a family of mice. That or it was down wind of one for sure. The inside has remnants of nesting, seeds and you know what. I surmised that the seller had likely removed the rear case to remove the majority of the nesting material etc and forgot to plug the antenna plug back in. Do I know for sure? No but seems to make sense. The circuit boards and the back of Tape 1 mechanism are covered in milky white stains. From the mice? Perhaps. As for how they gained entry? That remains a mystery.
I gather someone has been in it before. The different color caps and markings on the metal support are what brings me to that assumption. Hopefully the internals are correct and 100% accurate. Perhaps someone more experienced with a trained eye can chime in and let me know.
Tape 1 cassette door will not open. It's not 100% closed either. Not sure what caused this but will have to learn when we get into it. The tape storage drawer is long gone but the side mounts are intact and undamaged. I didn't see the spring that goes with it.
I decided to power it up after i inspected closely for any chewed up wires or signs of anything burning. There were no signs of battery leakage either. I borrowed the power cord from our apple TV receiver. I couldn't believe it! This thing has so much power that I was in shock. It picked up FM channels nicely and the green stereo light and meters worked great. The LED bar on the right seems more responsive than the one on the left so hopefully that can be addressed. On top of that the burglar alarm works and there was no static. Volume response is just incredible as is the bass and treble. Loudness switch works as well. I don't have a cassette to test Tape 2 so that will have to come later. One thing I noticed is that one of the tape deck motors is running non stop. I'm guessing it's coming from Tape 1. Maybe the mech is stuck or it thinks there's a tape present? I Just don't know at this point. Still, with some TLC and some much needed attention I think we have a winner. Let me know your thoughts! Here's what I found...
I'll add a few more pics tonight.
The box arrived today with no damage. I am pleased to say it was packaged very well. Now for my first impressions...
Aside from the chipped foot area and a small superficial scuff on the tuner lens face I am quite pleased. No damage to the rear cover and aside from being dirty the color is great. Once I removed it from the shipping box I realized that the seller did not include a power cord. In the search for a power cord through thousands of packaging peanuts I found a long screw in the bottom of the box. I decided to remove the rear cover straight away and see what we had. One rear screw was "missing" and it turns out it was the one I had found so disaster averted.
Once I got the rear cover detached I noticed that the wire for the antenna to the board had been unplugged and was looped around the power button assembly. It became apparent pretty quickly that this box may have served as a home for a family of mice. That or it was down wind of one for sure. The inside has remnants of nesting, seeds and you know what. I surmised that the seller had likely removed the rear case to remove the majority of the nesting material etc and forgot to plug the antenna plug back in. Do I know for sure? No but seems to make sense. The circuit boards and the back of Tape 1 mechanism are covered in milky white stains. From the mice? Perhaps. As for how they gained entry? That remains a mystery.
I gather someone has been in it before. The different color caps and markings on the metal support are what brings me to that assumption. Hopefully the internals are correct and 100% accurate. Perhaps someone more experienced with a trained eye can chime in and let me know.
Tape 1 cassette door will not open. It's not 100% closed either. Not sure what caused this but will have to learn when we get into it. The tape storage drawer is long gone but the side mounts are intact and undamaged. I didn't see the spring that goes with it.
I decided to power it up after i inspected closely for any chewed up wires or signs of anything burning. There were no signs of battery leakage either. I borrowed the power cord from our apple TV receiver. I couldn't believe it! This thing has so much power that I was in shock. It picked up FM channels nicely and the green stereo light and meters worked great. The LED bar on the right seems more responsive than the one on the left so hopefully that can be addressed. On top of that the burglar alarm works and there was no static. Volume response is just incredible as is the bass and treble. Loudness switch works as well. I don't have a cassette to test Tape 2 so that will have to come later. One thing I noticed is that one of the tape deck motors is running non stop. I'm guessing it's coming from Tape 1. Maybe the mech is stuck or it thinks there's a tape present? I Just don't know at this point. Still, with some TLC and some much needed attention I think we have a winner. Let me know your thoughts! Here's what I found...
I'll add a few more pics tonight.
Talk about jaw hitting the floor! I have never seen that kind of reaction from him and I must tell you it was a proud Dad moment for sure. He actually gave me a hug which is a tough thing for teens to do these days! LOL. I bought him a logitech bluetooth unit that plugs directly into the RCA input jacks and he's been enjoying it with us now for about 2 hours. The more it's used the better it sounds it seems. Unfortunately 2 or 3 small cracks have suddenly appeared that we'll need to address but oh well. Must have been stressed in shipping so I guess that comes with the territory. Still, he's stoked and so am I. He asked me when we can get started restoring it and I told him we'll start on Thanksgiving while mom cooks! LOL. The new antenna's have arrived along with a special delivery from Caution as well! One more expected tomorrow so we're well on our way! Gotta enjoy this time with him while I can. He's preparing a spot for it in his room now and I've explained to him that this could only be possible with the help of some folks here on the forum! He has expressed his gratitude and will no doubt chime in here once we get under way. Thank you again to all for your help and suggestions! This is gonna be a blast! 
