Picked one up for $30 at a flea market. Nice cosmetic condition, vendor claimed it worked, but no means of testing at the flea market. I was very suspicious of his claim, because I don't think I've ever seen a 45 year old 8-track deck which still works with the original belt, and it wasn't represented has having been serviced.
Anyway, tried it, not working - opened it up, and found decomposed belt goo all over everything inside the deck. Cleaned up the goo, cleaned the capstan really well, cleaned the head and tape path... oiled the capstan bearings, oiled the motor, and tried it with a rubber band in place of the belt - worked, but of course sounded horrible.
Since the unit needs a flat belt, I made a temporary belt out of a short length of 1/4" recording tape, with a drop of super glue to make a loop. Unit sounds great, way better than I remember 8-tracks sounding. It has a bit of the hollow 3.75IPS sound which all cheap tape recorders have, but I'm pretty happy with it. Definitely not lacking treble or bass, and no signs that it's out of alignment or has a worn head.
Service manual and schematic aren't on hi-fi engine, anyone out there got one?
Anyway, tried it, not working - opened it up, and found decomposed belt goo all over everything inside the deck. Cleaned up the goo, cleaned the capstan really well, cleaned the head and tape path... oiled the capstan bearings, oiled the motor, and tried it with a rubber band in place of the belt - worked, but of course sounded horrible.
Since the unit needs a flat belt, I made a temporary belt out of a short length of 1/4" recording tape, with a drop of super glue to make a loop. Unit sounds great, way better than I remember 8-tracks sounding. It has a bit of the hollow 3.75IPS sound which all cheap tape recorders have, but I'm pretty happy with it. Definitely not lacking treble or bass, and no signs that it's out of alignment or has a worn head.
Service manual and schematic aren't on hi-fi engine, anyone out there got one?