Secret Sound System for Miss Daisy

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Tonight I test drove Miss Daisy with the final (I hope) sound system try out in my '60 Finnie. Several weeks ago I wrote about my successful test of a 200 watt Pioneer amp.
I had planned on mounting the amp under te back seat, only to discover that my Finnie has NO space under the back seat!
2 weeks ago a friend, who is selling his '75 BMW 3.0Si gave me the old 100 watt amp out of his trunk. It was not connected and he wasn't sure if it was any good. Well, IT WORKKS!

My system uses a pair of Japanese 2 way 'cube' speakers, one under each front seat,
wired to the 100 watt amp mounted under the dash. This amp is about 1/3 the size of the bulky Pioneer and fits easily on the fiberboard under-dash cover, above the hood release and handbrake. The amp has a pair of input 'phono' jacks to which I've connected a cable from a Sony Walkman headset socket. Eventually, I'll install a power switch for the amp, but for now, it works fine powered off the cigarette lighter.

Cost for this sound system - $10 for pair of Kraco 'cube' speakers from flea market, $5 for wiring and lighter plug, $3 for auto-reverse Sony Walkman from local thrift store. Total cost $18 (not including the $95 Pioneer amp!) Sound is pretty decent now.
If I want more perfect sound, there's a micro-sized Kenwood equalizer unit availible for a whopping $250!

Happy Motoring, Mark

P.S. Anyone want to buy a 200 watt Pioneer amp, nearly new, barely used, with box and papers?

[joshhol]

The most amazing part of this story is that the cigarette lighter works on your 43 year old car!!
Awesome job. Although it looks like you probably had to fix the lighter to get it working.
Is that still running off of the tube radio or do you have a portable cd player?
I like the final cost of the upgrade, now you have plenty left over for window tinting and lowering!
Josh

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Well, the lighter has always worked since I got 'Miss Daisy'. I wanted to install a small switch and indicator light too, but I was in a hurry to get it playing for yesterday's trip out to Haymarket Va.. It played fine on the 2 hour round trip. No blown fuses, channels or speakers.

For now the music source is a Sony walkman. I don't plan to connect to the Becker tube radio, which will be mainly for show. I hope the FM section in my Walkman can serve as the stereo radio as soon as I can figure how to connect it to the car antenna.

My goal is to keep the basic amp and speakers hidden but connected to the headphone jack on a Walkman, CD player, Minidisc, MP3, Satellite radio or whatever new music format comes along to obsolete the previous format. It's kind of a 'modular' system. Why rip out a whole system when something new comes along? Just change the music player. Whatever player I choose, can sit in the center tray and be unplugged to hide in the glovebox or be removed from the car when not being used.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[joshhol]

Nice

[Mark DiSilvestro]

While trying out my 'new' amp, Saturday, I also installed my 'new' Ebay sunvisors. It's nice to have visors with intact foam padding, that aren't smashed and collapsed and don't twist when I try to use them. The new visors came with the later style plastic hinge brackets. When I pulled the chrome hinges from the old visors to transfer them to the new ones, all this brown, icky powder poured out of the old visor - the remains of the old foam padding!

Next on my list - replacement of my dead VDO clock with a working one, that I grabbed on a 1975 trip to the salvage yard to find a rear bumper and brake master cylinder for Dad's '60 220SE. It's been sitting in a dresser drawer for a quarter century, waiting for when it would be needed!

Happy Motoring, Mark

[joshhol]

That was some forsight, grabbing that clock!
Did you find that brake master cylinder for your dad?
I suppose in those days you could still get a rebuild kit.


I still have to pull mine and inspect it to see if it really is shot.
My buddy said that an option is to take the old cylinder to a hydraulic shop and have them bore it out then make custom seals for it.
I'm more of a purist and would be more willing to pay the 400 bucks for the Mercedes original than pursue that option.
It might seem that if you bore it out and put bigger seals on it BUT use the old plunger, than there is less stability of the seals on the old plunger. However, I'm sure the amount of bore increase is so minute that it isn't a problem.
What do you think?

My clock works but it is loses about an hour a day.

Also! when the sunroof leaked on the 4.5, half the water collected in the visor but it seems to be okay.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I eventually got a master cylinder but it took two trips. The first one I got was off a 220b, without the power brake servo. It had the wrong number of line connections and a different bore size.

I'm not sure why I grabbed that clock. Maybe I thought it was neat looking and the hands were (and still are) bright and unfaded. I think at one time I wanted to mount it in a nice block of wood as a desk clock.
(I recently saw one that had been converted to a desk clock, with a quartz battery movement, on Ebay for about $150!)

The reason for seeking a used cylinder was that, while my Dad was driving the 220SE, the brake master cylinder broke off of the firewall, causing him to run into a trailer hitch on the back of a Chevy Vega. I also got to straighten Dad's grille and his left front fender. It turns out that, on the original brake master cylinder, one of the mounting ears had been broken for a long time. The broken cylinder had been hanging by just the one remaining ear and nut!

The correct way to refurbish one of these master cylinders, if the bore is badly damaged, is to bore it oversize and install a stainless steel sleeve insert of the correct size. White Post Restorations, near me, does this but I think it runs about $250. I doubt you could find oversize pistons and seals to match the oversize bore and a bigger bore cylinder would requre heavier pedal pressure to stop.

It may still be possible to rebuild your old cylinder. Brake cylinders that have had regular use are less likely to be badly rusted or pitted. (But DO check the mounting ears for cracks!)

Happy Motoring, Mark

[joshhol]

Thanks Mark,
If it runs $250 or so to bore the old one out and sleeve it, it's not that much more for a Mercedes Original replacement.
I still haven't pulled it to inspect the condition of the current one. But, I don't think anyone will sell me a rebuild kit. Liabilities?
I think that next paycheck will go into that master cyl.
I'll let you know how the old one looks.
Have a great day.
Josh

[1967250s]

Originally posted by joshhol
Thanks Mark,
If it runs $250 or so to bore the old one out and sleeve it, it's not that much more for a Mercedes Original replacement.
Josh

You can get it remanufactured for way less.....go to http://www.fencoparts.com/ the site is under constuction right now but there is an email link, ask them for the nearest garage that use's fenco. They don't retail so it's the garage that will tell you the price. For example mine would have cost me $92cdn. fenco is a company that secialise in master, pump and other specific macanical part remanufacturing, it's located in Toronto (or near). the service via email or call is polite and curtious.

Dan

[1967250s]

Originally posted by joshhol
. But, I don't think anyone will sell me a rebuild kit. Liabilities?
Josh

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2414305153&category=33566 check this one out, it may be what you are looking for!?

[joshhol]

Dan!
Your awesome,
I'm going to verify the part numbers with Gottlieb and then I'll bid if it's the right one.
Thanks a ton.
Hopefully my master cylinder is still serviceable.

[1967250s]

Originally posted by joshhol
Dan!
Your awesome,

All my life I knew I had something special....now I know

.

[joshhol]

All my life I knew I had something special....now I know

Get over yourself, man!

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Yeah Jim,
Drove 'Miss Daisy' over to a friend's place with my new system playing a tape off the local jazz-radio station, and then a Mozart Concerto and I felt like 'King of the Road'!

Now I'd like to find a source for a NEW compact amp, similar in size and power to mine, so others will be able to have nice music without hacking up their vintage rides. (Or, in case my used amp dies!)

Happy Motoring, Mark