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If your speaker has only a few small cracks in it, you can repair it by brushing on clear nail polish around the crack, then placing a klennex tissue in the wet polish, then paint over the tissue. Let it dry and it's fixed. Old trick my Dad taught me on his 49 Packard.

Thanks guys! I will try the nail polish on the speaker because my son poked a hole in it a couple of years ago. I read somewhere that the speaker is electromagnetic because regular magnets were not strong enough back then. That's why modern speakers do not fit. I bought most of the capacitors today. Hope to have them changed out by the weekend. If it still doesn't work I will try changing the OZ4 tube and/or vibrator.

Actually the electromagnet speaker was part of the rectifier system. They thought it was a neat little engineering trick to let the coil multi-task as both audio and noise suppression. It was a common practice early on.

1-10-15

Got most of the capacitors for the radio from Chester Electronics in Kenosha, WI. They were very friendly and willing to help.

The two capacitors they did not stock I had to purchase online.

So after I got the parts, I figured I would start with the hardest part first...the multi-section capacitor. I have read that you can "re-can" these capacitors with new electronics. That is what I attempted.

The solder would not reheat that held it onto the chassis so I bought a new 75 watt and 40 watt soldering irons. The 75 watt iron gave me a lot of trouble de-soldering. I managed to remove the can, but broke a mount/solder point in the process.

Most of the online posts said they cut the "can" of the capacitor. I tried to unroll the bottom. The can unrolled fine, but the guts would not come out. I even tried to heat it up but it would not give.

Since I cannot remove the guts I will try to drill them out. I am using a combo of a regular bit and a wood bit. I'm about 1/3 through. I hope the new caps fit in the can when I am done! It seems that they would not fit below the chassis.

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1-11-15

Took most of the day working on and off, but I think I have finally gotten the capacitors changed that were in the can.

I abandoned trying to restuff the can because the capacitors I bought just would not fit no matter what configuration I put them in.

I still used the base, which was difficult, at least for me. I ended up drilling small holes next to each terminal for the capacitors positive lead to go through. I made a larger hole in the middle for the negative leads. It got ugly in a hurry, but looked better after I added the heat shrink insulation.

I ended up adding some wire from the capacitors to the wires they were connected to to give me some room to work easier. I used 16 gauge since that is all I had and only had a limited amount of colors so it is not OEM. Had some trouble with the shrink wrap though. It would shrink while I was soldering so I have random pieces of it attached to wires for no reason! To solve this, I resorted to liquid tape.

The ground was relocated to a different mounting tab on the can since I broke off the original one.

I had a hard time getting the can back on the chassis because all of my soldering and bending terminals kept it from going back in the triangular hole. Once I added the shrink wrap insulation, I was able to move the terminals closer together and got it mounted.

Does not look stock, but hopefully it is functional. This should have been the hardest part of the project so I am glad it is over.

I have been referencing the radio from the '52 and it has definitely been worked on before. It has some capacitors that have already been replaced, but they look pretty old as well. If the '51 is successful, I will be replacing those as well.

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Reminds me of my experience cleaning out a capacitor cylinder/tube/body/whatever for Wade.

Yes you can feel my pain! I didn't think/read about putting it in boiling water. That is a pretty good idea. I don't think I am going to attempt it again though!

1-12-15

More work done today. I finished soldering up the wires from the can capacitor. Also, unsoldered the old capacitor on the right. You can see it in the pic as a large orange one. The old won was lumpy and gross.

I also noticed a strange looking part on the lower part of the radio. It is a silver tube with two ends soldered to the radio. At first, I thought it was some kind of fusible link. Luckily I have the other radio to reference. Turns out, it is a resistor! Somehow the covering is blown off of it! I would have never have known what it was if it weren't for the other radio. I guess it will be another hunt for a replacement!

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1-19-15

I repaired the speaker. My wife did not have any clear nail polish, but did have black so I used that. The damage did not look too bad until I realized it had turned into a tear that followed the speaker rubber boarder. I painted the damaged area with the nail polish, cut a piece of tissue and put it on top, and finished with another coat of polish. Seems to have worked like a charm!

Finished putting in the rest of the capacitors and replaced the 1 resistor.

Hooked the radio up to the battery. I had the buzz noise but no sound. No change with the volume knob either!

Frustrated I wiggled the speaker around a little. Saw some sparking so I thought maybe something was grounding out on the speaker frame. I painted the frame with some of the liquid electrical tape.

Put the speaker back in the middle and tried again....nothing except the buzz!

Left it on for 15 seconds. Nothing. Moved the speaker a little...scratching noise!

Turned the volume up all the way. Played with the station selector...and there it was...the faint sound of a radio station! I was shocked not oly that I heard something, but that I got a station signal because the antenna is not hooked up.

While the radio was still up all the way, moved the speaker some more. Tada! Station came in louder! Now I could lower the volume and still hear it! I call this success!

Wondering if it is still going to work when I put it back in the chassis. I'm pretty excited! Even at full volume though, I think the noise of the engine might drown it out. How loud do these radios normally get?

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Congratulations. As to how loud it will go, It may surprise you. Do believe if you connect an antenna and turn the volume up to max you will barely be able to stay in the room. You can buy a cheap universal antenna for around $10 at Napa & maybe other parts stores if you don't want to mess with the original.