A recent inquiry about how to set and am radio brought to mind the way [right after the civil war ended] we had to maintain our ole 8 tracks. We needed to keep Janis singing Bobby McGee without having the tapes turn into spagetti [which there are prone to do]

In order to keep things running smoothly ya got to keep the head clean.

There's really nothing to it, but some of you younger guys might find this helpful. Get some long cotton swabs [like the Dr. paints your throat with]
Stick you finger in the door to the 8 track and hold it open. In the back you will see a silver roller thing-a-ma-jig and it most likely will have some black stuff on it. Dip your cotton swap in some alcohol and wipe the silver roller with it. The swab will turn black and your roller shinny again.

Tomorrow, I teach ya'll how to make home made biscuits.

 

With gravy... gotta have gravy poured over the biscuits. Preferrably with chunks of meat floating in it.

 

the silver roller thing-a-ma-jig is the capstan, responsible for moving the tape thru the machine. the head is a silver do-witch-it that the tape rubs across and converts the magnetic pulses on the tape to groovy tunes thru the speakers. Both need to be clean to to truly appreciate the work of the Cowsills and the Beach Boys.

 

Maybe after you tell us all how to clean the head, too!

The silver roller already cleaned is the capstan, which drives the tape.
To the side of it, is a (hopefully) shiney object the size of a sugar cube.
This is the actual pickup head. Use a clean swab dipped in alky and clean it also. Keeping this clean will keep the sound bright and clear without sounding muffled.

And to the side of the head, is the track sensor - clean that, too. This is a set of contacts that are closed when the metallic strips on the tape run past it, making the unit switch tracks automatically.

Okay, now pop in a good tape, crank it up, and lets have breakfast!

 

Thanks guys, There ya go sum new technical jargon. Capstan

Believe it or not, when I was a pup, I actually worked for a company that sold a colored alcohol bottle and 2 swabs neatly packaged on a plastic and cardboard hanging display that sold [in it's day] for a tidy sum.

If memory searves me correctly, the company was called Filmajic and also "manufactured" silicone clothes for cleaning records. [a.k.a vinyl decoders]

 

I tried it on my MP3 player, but when I put a cotton swab into the mini-phono jack on my MP3 player the head of the swab came off and got jammed in the player!

Now what am I supposed to do?

What is an 8-track anyways?

 

So you are supposed to wear silicone clothes when cleaning records?? No wonder mine do not get clean...
I bet you are supposed to use silicone cloths to clean them, too!
Will armorall work??

 

How old are you??

Geez. You are now supposed to insert the mp3 player into the 8-track player. With the swab stuck in it, the head will get clean and the music should play.

 

a very busy train station

 

I just turned 30. I can feel the myocardial infarction sneaking up on me.

 

I've got 8 track cartridges older than that!!

 

Sum days, it jes doesn't pay to start a thread.

 

are you not appreciating all this witty repartee between automotive enthusiasts??

vinyl decoder, capstan, myocardial infarction, biscuits and gravey. what other forum would be so diverse in just one thread?

 

I gotta go look up "repartee" and my biscuits are fix'in to burn.

Next Rob's gotta start correct'in my dangling participles and misplaced modifiers.


"Ending a sentence in a preposition is something up which I will not put."

 

This one of course!
It gets worse, too - see this one:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...auction-2.html

There is another thread that discussed everything from what the cow eats, how it comes out from the other side, and what the cow tastes like in the end.

damgling?

 

A true classic thread Rob,

 

Lets get back to the biscuits and gravy I haven't had breakfast yet.

Them young pups don't understand any thing gotta be over 50 to have your Sh*t together

 

same forum, different thread.

how do we work in bovine flatulence into this thread?

btw, what would city dwellers reactions be seeing a herd of future quarter pounder donors standing in a muddy pond, drinking, pooping, and peeing, all at the same time?

 

They couldn't relate, as far as they are concerned meat is born raised and then sold in those little Styrofoam packages at the grocery stores.

No back to 8-tracks

 

The man obviously knows a black baldie from a charlois from a simmental

 

8 track minds maybe...

Now send some biscuits n sausage n gravy over this way - I'm hungry!

 

Nope,

You hurt my feeling jes cause I've gto dyslexierasxasaa

Enjoy your Pop tart

 

I remember having something like that, but it also had an 8-track cartridge, instead of swabs. In the cart. was a "cotton" tape that you put the alcohol on, then ran it through all for tracks.

 

Ironically, I DID have one of those stupid nasty things this morning...
That'll teach me not to forget my real breakfast when I leave the house.

BTW, I have one of those cleaning tapes (somewhere). I have the cassette version, too. Special high dollar fluid to take the place of alky.

 

God you guys make me laugh!! Thanks for starting this thread, Jamesbo! Almost as good as trying to get the chair for Citcapp! Cows peeing on rocks, that still makes me laugh! I used to have a portable 8 track player I carried everywhere with me.... thought I was sooooo cool!

 

Why don't car makers give you a complimentary CD or DVD to show off their amazing sound systems like they used to. I guess most of us would just throw away anyways. For those of you still not sure what an 8Track is, have a look. It is not a train, but sounds like one when they switched track in the middle of your favorite song. They make really nice noises when getting chewed up while playing.

Adam

 

They do I got one with my Caddy, no cleaning instructions though!
Any one notice Cadillac is using the old Cutlass ad campaign
" Not your Fathers Oldsmobile"
" Not your Daddy's Caddy"

 

My mom's 86 Cutlass came with a complimentary cassette tape and it had some pretty cool songs on it.
Too bad the tape is all I have left of her car..............

I did find an Oldsmobile LP the other day that i forgot I had. It was prolly a dealer promo item that was dated 1964.
It has a cool picture of a polycast-looking wheel with a gold spinner on it.

 

I've got one too, but I have no Idear what an MP 3 is

 

For those with the original Olds tapes, I advise you to record them to CD or MP3 as backup, should the player decide to eat them.
If that ever happens, a blank 8 track (or a prerecoded one you do not care about)can be rerecorded witht he Olds content and the tape from the new cartridge be transfered to the original Olds tape case.
This will also make it easier on the mind to play the tape without worries of it being damaged.
Just food for thoughts...

 

Back when I had an 8-track in my 66 Impala I also had a cartridge for cleaning that you would sritz on cleaning fluid onto the tape , which looked like a white felt , then plug it in and play for 10 seconds .pretty high tech stuff and dont imagine any of you old timers would have been using your 8-tracks by then

 

Very cool Rob, by chance was it this one?



I picked this one up at a yard sale for 25 cents about 10 years ago. I never even looked at the vinyl. Put it in the trunk.
After unloading every I bought i checked the LP and it is cracked. Don't know if it was like that or my poor handling of it.
It still looks cool hanging on the wall. I love the old marketing stuff. I wish I could afford more, but the car comes first.

Adam

 

That's the one! However, I had to pay twice that amount.
The jacket is almost mint and the record itself looks playable. However it needs a good cleaning before I put it on the changer.