grundig: Grundig 5299 . My first restoration

Hello,  Well I have finished my first radio restoration, which is a 1961 Grundig 5299, complete with the original stereo speakers ! 

 Well let me tell you , when I got this in the mail and opened it up, my heart sank a little.   I bought this on Ebay, and was told that the cabinet was mint, and the speakers only had  little chips in the top corners and thats what the photos showed.  Well the stereo unit itself had been dropped on its end, and the tunning knob hardly worked.  The stereo speakers had been in water, there was a water line 3 inches up the sides.   This radio had a bad ELL80 tube, which you could tell just by looking at it.  The plate inside glowed a pritty red.   After asking many questions I ended up recaping the whole thing, papers and electolytics.  I had asked in the forum about electrolytic capacitor physical size, and got a lot of good feedback.  But as you will see the the pictures I went ahead a put in Sprague Atom caps,  I was able to get them in.  There were around 34 paper capacitors and 6 electrolytics that were replaced.   The unit came with some nice tubes, which were 3 ECC83 which are Valvo's with the 45 degree getter. Those tested very well with my newly purchased Precision tube tester.  I have also added 2 NOS Amperex ELL80's made in Holland. The other tubes are Buggle Boys, and Amperex made in holland tubes. 

  I used contact cleaner to clean all of the swithces and push buttons.  The dial now works like new.  I was having problems with the clutch mechanism that moved when switched from FM to SW, so I used a lubricant that is waxed base,  it dries fast and does not attract dust. Just what the doctor ordered.  Everything is smooth as silk.

   Now came time to turn it on, when I did, nothing bad happened.  The tubes all warmed up, and the ELL80 tube that had problems , no longer had problems.  The surgery was a success, and a smile came across my face.  I have been bitten by the bug. 

  Now I decided to leave the cabinet alone, and just clean it up.   It does have cracks in the laquer, but it has character, and I got it to shine very nice.  

   The speakers needed a little attention.  I had to sand the sides down, and restain.  I did not laquer the sides, instead I used tung oil.  They were a dull finish anyway.  The tops I left alone. 

  The woofers had to be refoamed so I found some and did that. Also I replaced the electrolytic caps going to the mids/tweeter assembly.  I was able to find 2 pin din connectors and 5 pin dins for the speaker connections.  The 2 pin are at the stereo and the speakers have 5 pin.

  The sound is very good and powerfull.  This radio picks up a lot of stations, and with no noise in the background, on FM..    SW is good, the only thing is, I do not get much if anything on LW. 

  I want to thank everyone who answered my questions in the forum.  It was a help.  

    The only thing I did not do is get pictures of the radio when I first got it.  I did take one of the chassis, when I pulled it out of the cabinet, but I lost it.  Thought I had saved it, but guess I did not.

 So here are some pictures of my work.

 

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Joseph........

      Nice job with your restoration.....VERY nice.  

 Looks like you have been very careful and methodical.   I think the finish on the cabinet looks just fine.  Was the condition of the chassis when you received the radio as it is in the photos you've supplied - or did you have to do a cleanup of it ?  It looks to be in very good condition.

Once again......well done !

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Hi Joseph,

The result looks GREAT !

My question: The chassis seems to bee very clean. How did you clean it?

Reagards

Ake

 

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Hello Dennis and Ake.    The Chassis was dirty when I got in .  A lot of dust inside and the outside back side had a lot of old finger prints that did not want to come off.  I scrubbed with Brasso and 0000 steel wool.  I bought some Flitz that cleans a bunch of metals including nickle.  I used that with 0000 steel wool and  then went back over it with the cleaner and a rag..  Thats how it turned out.  I was quite happy with the results.  

 

  Stay tunned.  I am working on a 1939 RCA V-201.  It was given to me by my father-in-law.  I am keeping the cabinet as is.  Some chipping in the laquer but it shines great.    I will be posting that soon.  I also will be adding some schematics for the radio. 

 Thanks for the kind words on my work.

  Regards Joseph

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