Damn , Ford was on it , headers , dual plugs . 
I was raised a GM guy because of my dad. The older I got, the more I learned about cars, the more of a Ford fan I’ve become.
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My son and I just took the Danger Ranger for a test drive. Idles like smooth as a kitten, cruises good, pulls like crazy WOT. Great oil pressure, coolant temp 195 F, and zero leaks. We had a few stupid struggle issues… but I think he learned to never give up!
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Awesome!
Dahlquist DQ-10 update.
Got the mid in, still sounding weird. Upon further investigation the tweeter on this one was also bad. Impedance sweep showed very bad. I took it apart to see if it could be saved, nope. Pole piece shifted and was pinching the VC. Luckily same eBay seller had one of them. Tweeter in route.
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Started a project to add VU meters to my Hafler amplifier.
The VU meters are out of my dad’s old reel to reel. I remember as a kid seeing them and thinking they were so neat! I later aquired said RTR, but all the tape reels had really degraded. The reels stopped working (belts) and it had head issues, so I robbed the VUs and donated it for parts to the local vintage hifi shop I’m doing work for.
Now the meters will live on…
I also converted the backlighting to LED, they’re warm white and with a resistor change totally look the vintage glow. The picture doesn’t do it justice.
The case is off to a machine shop to mill the opening. The driver board I think is from AliExpress or eBay and had the ol Rad Shack Xformer, which will have a home in the chassis.
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Cool project. Good luck with the retro fit operation. Akai X-1810? I have an old Akai X-2000S that I picked up from Matt (@S7910) several years ago (IowaDIY 2016). I’ve been trying to restore it but lost interest because it was missing the 7 1/2ips capstan bushing and could therefore only record and play back at the slower speeds (3 3/4 or 1 7/8ips). But last year I found one, so the project is back on track. Here is a photo from the IowaDIY event. If I get it running, I’ll bring it to IowaDIY 2026. It also plays 8-track tapes and I will be restoring that part of the machine as well.
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Yup, X1810D, Bill. Good luck with your project! Mine also played as well as recorded onto 8 track.
Went garage sale’n with my kids this morning. I scored pretty big! Got this brand new set of Forstner bits. Was marked at $15, he accepted $10:
At a different garage sale I found this heat gun that looks brand new and only paid $10:
And this 24" steel scale for $0.50:
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Nice score!!
DQ-10 update
Received the replacement tweeter, ran an impedance sweep, shit.
Same issue as the one I have, pinched voice coil.
Apparently the Visiton DT94-4 is a viable replacement option. People stating you have to remove the Ferro fluid.
Guess I’ll try the route next week when PE has their 4th of July sale.
Very nice heat gun.
Wow - that’s an amazing score! A good Forstner bit set is a great thing to have on hand.
Does anyone out there in speaker dude land use the twisted pair wire for internal speaker wiring? Seems silly to me.
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I have in the past, but only because I had a spool of surplus stuff.
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I have that same set of forstners. They ran about 35-40 bucks from a mail order catalog about 20 years ago.
I found a set of Forstner bits at the Habitat Restore that look just like those except there’s no foam padding in the case. Each bit came with a plastic cap. My set was missing a couple bits. I got them for $20.
