Continuing... Here is the 3d printed bracket bolted to the existing holes (I designed the bracket so it would fit in those holes, lots of measuring and exact placement). I did make the holes slotted so I could move the bracket forward and back to make sure the button is pressed exactly where it needs to be.
And here’s the finished product. The bracket swings down and perfectly hits the button, pressing it! Just need to wire the button up now!
I noticed one issue with the 3d printed gears on the rotational emulators I made could slide off the shafts with some vibration, so I went back and redesigned them so that there’s a lip. That locks them in place with the gear, and there’s no way you can take the gears off without taking apart the entire assembly. It also ensures perfect contact with the brass gear every time.
As mentioned earlier, I wired the radio so that this switch on the bottom of the radio, originally used for LO/HI fidelity signal of the audio, would turn on/off the radio.
The original power cable for the radio ended up in being bad condition. So I went on Amazon and found a vintage-style wire that closely matched the original. I then soldered the original connector, which joins with another wire that, together, forms a long shaft for an in-line fuse for the radio (this is an original thing).
I then began to mount everything back into the main radio body. I had to make sure that all my custom 3d printed brackets and gears did not cause any reinstallation issues. Everything fit perfectly, even with the wiring. I was able to use some of the holes in the metal plate interior to route the wiring.
The first thing I checked, once it was all together, was the lights. They came on! I also make sure the volume knob could spin freely. Good so far!
Then I checked the other light, and the manual station changer spins… perfect! And the station indicator moves with it, as it should (though this is just ‘for looks’).
So, with everything installed and all the dials spinning freely and all clearances checked, it was time to activate the entire system.
One of the nice things about the radio is the rear access port. This allows me to be able to plug in a micro USB cable to the Arduino microcomputer in order to tweak its programming, test things, etc. Here it is loading one of the many revisions of the radio station generator programming. With my laptop plugged directly into the Arduino, it supplied enough power to actually power the entire system (so I didn't need to hook up the 6v car battery). Made it much easier to test! The system was working really well (which I'll explain in a bit)
So, the final step (and my most nervous one) was to see if it works in the car using the body tub as a ground, which it will be. I put the 6v battery in the engine bay and hooked up the positive ground to the body tub as it would be. I then have a direct power clip going from the negative on the battery to the radio’s power cable. The battery will be directly feeding the radio power through the wiring harness, so that simulates this since the new harness is not installed yet.
The radio would be grounded via the dash normally, so I have the radio for this test grounded to a spot where the dash would be bolted into the body.
And it works! Radio came on and I had what appeared to be a fully functioning Zenith radio picking up '1940s stations' (more on this in a few). I can’t wait to use it when driving, it will give the Ford such a better atmosphere than modern AM channels!
