maxima_tyler Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I have another thread on the go for my truck, but i thought i should make a separate topic for this. I bought my '72 521 with the original radio stashed under the seat. according to the PO it never worked for him, so he just took it out of the dash. it looked like either him or the owner before him tried to wire in the radio with some tweeters screwed into the dashboard. There were wires hanging everywhere that werent attached to anything, looked pretty bad. So i've cleaned all that up and taken everything out of the truck that was radio related except for the antenna. I have the knobs as well. Correct me if im wrong, but im pretty sure the top black wire is the plug in for the antenna. Then there are three wires coming out at the bottom of the picture. These look like the positive power and two speaker wires. i opened up the radio, and with my untrained eye (im an electrical novice) everything looked ok. Clean, no burn marks, no loose connections, didnt look to be tampered with on the inside. Good. Now the one thing i know im missing here is a ground wire. I've been searching the interwebs and ratsun high and low, and cant find where the ground is supposed to be connected on the actual radio. If i can get help figuring this out, i have a feeling this thing will actually work. There is also the black switch and dial on the bottom of the radio (Second pic) that im not sure exactly what they do. Can someone shed some light on that? If anyone has pictures of there stock radio, and where the ground, power, and speaker wires are supposed to be, that would be awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 The switch appears to indicate negative ground or positive ground. Your 521 would be negative ground (so it is switched correctly), but some of the earlier vehicles were positive ground. There might not be any ground wire, just ground the radio chassis to a vehicle ground. As you can see, the antenna shielding is already grounded to the radio chassis. If you still can't get it to work, know that electrolytic capacitors can go bad. Also, there are a bunch of different brand/model radios that were installed in these trucks, so finding someone with the exact same model may be harder than you think. 1 Quote Link to comment
maxima_tyler Posted October 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 to test it so far, i have just touched the power wire to the postitive terminal of my battery, with a wire connected to the radio chassis to bare metal on the body. the radio did not light up, and i got nothing from the speaker. Is it possible that the radio wont work unless it is connected to the antenna? i figured without the antenna it would power up, but i would only hear static... 1 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 No, antenna connection wouldn't matter. 1 Quote Link to comment
maxima_tyler Posted October 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Success! i think. All the radio needed was a better ground than what i was previously trying. the internal light doesnt come on, but that isnt a problem for me. With the antenna in plugged in all i got was static. Luckily i dont plan on using this to listen to good ol' AM. i'll be following this link to put an aux plug in... http://community.ratsun.net/topic/55621-make-yer-very-own-aux-input/. The only thing that has me worried is that the volume was very quiet. that'll be something i'll need to figure out. Im assuming right now this is a potentiometer problem. Anyone have any suggestions on what to look for in particular? i'll attempt to clean what contacts i can on it, but besides that im all out of ideas. 1 Quote Link to comment
MicroMachinery Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 That's a great mod! Have it on my am radio in the 610 and I love it! Your volume is quiet.. Might not be the radio. Perhaps the speaker(s) shot? 1 Quote Link to comment
maxima_tyler Posted April 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 Havent been here for a while, but i thought i'd update for future reference.. I got the radio installed with working auxiliary port! the write up in the link above is very good to use. i got my aux port and resistors off ebay for around $5 and the rest was knowing how to solder.The low volume problem did end up being the speakers i had. I bought a new cheapo 3" speaker off crutchfield and it works good enough. I can hear it while doing 55mph, so all is well. some oics... made up a template to mount the speaker in the original spot, and sent it to a local fab guy to cut and bend Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted April 2, 2016 Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 The stock Datsun 521 radio grounds to the dash. Once the radio is installed, you have to tune the radio to the antenna for the AM to work. On the bottom of your radio, it looks like there is a screw close to where the antenna coax lead goes into the radio. Tune the radio to the high end of the band, and find a place where you are NOT on a station, just static. Then turn the screw on the bottom of the radio to the highest noise. You may have to turn the bottom screw either way. 1 Quote Link to comment
Elkie Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Appear to be mising the trim ring as well. Quote Link to comment
maxima_tyler Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Im not worried about not having any AM. the needle doesnt turn on my radio as someone glued the gear to the pressure plate for the presets and it wont turn anymore. yeah, im looking for that bezel to complete the radio, or a whole properly working radio if i can, but with this working now, im in no rush. i can wait out till i find the right one. Quote Link to comment
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