Updating a 33/34 radio.

[Graham Freeman]

Anyone had experience with putting a later style radio inside an original 34 radio box?
Want to retain the original radio box, head and cables.
What did you use?
Graham

[Ken/Alabama]

http://www.turnswitch.com/ These folks can help you. They did the radio for my 39 Zephyr.

[fortyonerag]

I just did something similar with a 41 radio. I installed an Amp to operate an MP3 player that will sit on the seat next to me. Knobs etc work. Happy to share if you are interested.

[Karl]

Gary Tayman did my 33/34 Ashtray radio Its now AM/FM Bluetooth and MP3 compatible , Delivers about 45 Watts of sound , Runs on 6V Positive Earth and looks completely stock standard and even has that warm valve sound and delay on turn on - I spent a lot of my teenage years trying to play bass guitar through valve amps in bands and I don't believe I would be able to spot that the radio is now solid state if I didn't know.

He's in Florida but the distance made no difference other than the cost of getting it there and back from New Zealand.
He kept me informed the whole way and was great to deal with.

I tried Turnswitch originally but never got a reply to my emails. I'm not sure why they didn't respond but very happy I went with Gary This is is website

http://www.taymanelectrical.com/

Karl

[cas3]

looking at the web sites, it looks as though gary tayman and electro tech are both dealers for aurora, the company that makes the radio. thats always seemed to me the best one out there, hope to have my own some day. not cheap, and you can only buy it thru one of they're dealers. they have several thru out the country. http://www.tech-retro.com/Aurora_Design/Home.html

[petehoovie]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by Karl

Gary Tayman did my 33/34 Ashtray radio
http://www.taymanelectrical.com/
Karl

Karl - Did you have to send Gary the radio-head or just the chassis box?

[Karl]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

Karl - Did you have to send Gary the radio-head or just the chassis box?

He wanted both . He even restored the chassis box with correct paint . He did pick up that someone had replaced the head unit cables with plastic sheathing which is not as stiff as the original cables so there is some movement of the cables with knob turning Making things feel a little sloppy- I suspect the original cable sheathing was quite thick. I have placed some metal conduit over the plastic - making them a bit stiffer and at least looking right and we will see how we go . Hopefully will be able to pick up some original cables one day but what I've got does work

[petehoovie]

It's that I don't understand why he would need the radio-head. Did he make a modification to it?....

Oh, and did he reuse the original speaker?

[cas3]

pete, look at the link that ken listed. somewhere in the photos they show a 36 head with the mods they did to switch the dials to electric and eliminate the cables altogether.

[petehoovie]

I see.... I don't know if I like it though. One would think that the wires from the radio-head could have been
run through the original conduits to the chassis to make it look more original....

[cas3]

thanks for the pix. i like the idea myself, but i wonder if the tuner dial is even remotely close to the numbers on the face. there was a thread last year, an aussie guy i think, who made the correct gear reduction for the tuner to be right, i'll look for it. and hey, if you keep those bud girls from snooping under the dash no one will ever know! could run the wires thru the cables too!

[Karl]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

It's that I don't understand why he would need the radio-head. Did he make a modification to it?....

Oh, and did he reuse the original speaker?

I think the reason he wanted to head unit was to calibrate the dial so it matched the frequencies the radio was reading and also to check that it was working as it was supposed to (he picked up the slop in the cables) I'm not aware he did any mods to the head . It reality it added little to the freight cost so I was happy to send it .

He also had to convert the radio to New Zealand frequency band

He replaced the speaker with a modern one to cope with all the increased power. That apparently is the most tricky bit ie finding a modern speaker to fit.

He was very helpful and I'm sure would respond to any email questions

Karl

[Karl]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

I see.... I don't know if I like it though. One would think that the wires from the radio-head could have been
run through the original conduits to the chassis to make it look more original....

Pete I saw this I think on the Turnswitch webpage I contacted them and asked if they could do this on a 33/34 head unit and a cost estimate . Never heard back . Not sure if this was because they can't or don't wish to do a 33/34 or perhaps they just thought I was a foreign time waster. Gary Tayman got the business ! Karl

[petehoovie]

With respect to sending the radio head, it's just that I don't want to be driving around with a hole in the dash. What is Gary's turn around time for this conversion/work?....

[Karl]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

With respect to sending the radio head, it's just that I don't want to be driving around with a hole in the dash. What is Gary's turn around time for this conversion/work?....

He may not need the head unit if you don't wish to send it. Maybe he just wanted to check mine was ok

It took him about 4 or 5 weeks but that included shipping to and from New Zealand Also he had some issues with some adverse weather for a week or so which meant he wasn't prepared to paint the box until her was sure it would dry properly.

He should be quicker now as he knows exactly what speaker to source and how to mount it .

Drop him an email- His first reply to me was comprehensive and reassuring.
He's been recommended on here by others which is how I found him

This is a link to a 34 Radio treated to the same conversion by someone else Obviously a Glovebox radio but will give you some idea of what you end up with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2focbPt1t8


Karl

[tubman]

That video was pretty impressive!

[FlatheadTed]

This is a informative thred , I would be happy just with that 34 Radio head just to fill the hole.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by tubman

That video was pretty impressive!

Yep amazing - If you look in side the box the unit that does it all ( The Aurora
unit ) is about the size of two packs of cigarettes .

[Karl]

Originally Posted by FlatheadTed

This is a informative thred , I would be happy just with that 34 Radio head just to fill the hole.

Ted if I find one with decent cables I'll give you the head -Karl