vacosaurus
Well-known member
Your Zenith radio
is in beautiful condition and when properly restored is an excellent sounding radio. Be careful of the front corners you do not damage or scratch it the finish on it is called photo finish and not easily repaired. I collect Zeniths this model is very common and does not sell for too much money mainly because of the plastic wiring insulation problem and also the styling is too modern looking for most collectors of that era. 1941 and 1942 Zeniths have the wiring problem. Zeniths from 1939 and earlier and most 1940's used a cloth covered wire that to this day remains in good condition.Do not let the wiring bum you out you just have to replace it piece by piece. What I usually do is replace the wire with the same gauge size and color and run the wire the same exact way as original as sometimes varying will make the radio do strange things. one trick I learned with the original solid wire is to just un solder one end and clean off the old insulation chunks and take a piece of new wire the same color and just a little bit bigger gauge and strip the insulation off it intact and slip the new tube of insulation on the old wire and re solder the wire back again. I have done this to wires as long as 7 inches. if it hesitates slipping on shoot a little silicone in the tube. Some wire is easily just replaced if so replace it.Pay attention to where you clip a wire from and make note as it is very easy to instantly forget where it came from. If you were talking about your big power transformer they usually are good on this model the wires coming from it might look black and shiny but that is how they usually look. You have to change the big electrolytic capacitors with new ones just make sure they are the same micro farad size and voltage rated. Also if you want it to play reliable replace all the smaller capacitors with the same exact micro farad size. The voltage rating can be the same or more. replace the power cord if needed and try it out. Sorry to be long winded but it's easy to screw up a radio with this much work involved. A good source for information and parts is ( Antique radio forums )it is a forum dedicated to radio restoration and there are people there that would be happy to help with any questions. Good Luck Bill,
is in beautiful condition and when properly restored is an excellent sounding radio. Be careful of the front corners you do not damage or scratch it the finish on it is called photo finish and not easily repaired. I collect Zeniths this model is very common and does not sell for too much money mainly because of the plastic wiring insulation problem and also the styling is too modern looking for most collectors of that era. 1941 and 1942 Zeniths have the wiring problem. Zeniths from 1939 and earlier and most 1940's used a cloth covered wire that to this day remains in good condition.Do not let the wiring bum you out you just have to replace it piece by piece. What I usually do is replace the wire with the same gauge size and color and run the wire the same exact way as original as sometimes varying will make the radio do strange things. one trick I learned with the original solid wire is to just un solder one end and clean off the old insulation chunks and take a piece of new wire the same color and just a little bit bigger gauge and strip the insulation off it intact and slip the new tube of insulation on the old wire and re solder the wire back again. I have done this to wires as long as 7 inches. if it hesitates slipping on shoot a little silicone in the tube. Some wire is easily just replaced if so replace it.Pay attention to where you clip a wire from and make note as it is very easy to instantly forget where it came from. If you were talking about your big power transformer they usually are good on this model the wires coming from it might look black and shiny but that is how they usually look. You have to change the big electrolytic capacitors with new ones just make sure they are the same micro farad size and voltage rated. Also if you want it to play reliable replace all the smaller capacitors with the same exact micro farad size. The voltage rating can be the same or more. replace the power cord if needed and try it out. Sorry to be long winded but it's easy to screw up a radio with this much work involved. A good source for information and parts is ( Antique radio forums )it is a forum dedicated to radio restoration and there are people there that would be happy to help with any questions. Good Luck Bill,
