CrownVic97
Member
This beacon was done for the Fire Academy of ND. This will be going on a service vehicle in the near future. It needed a lot of help, but I got it to where it's ready to serve once again.
Upon arrival at home:
It had seen better days, but the skirt was in good shape and the badge was not tarnished!
The dome was very rough on top, but at least the main face of it did not have stress cracks. I decided that the top will receive a black-out treatment after the dome was fully polished.
Well now, this beacon would never work at all in this state!. No risers under the 4 bolts, power spade under the skirt, and the shaft pulley was on top of the contact plate. This is how the beacon came when the Academy's chief received it, but it was not used on anything or even looked at after its initial decommission until I opened it up. Somebody didn't know how to get this back together properly when they serviced it...
Siren driver and motor was in great shape! Siren driver popped and crackled using the 9V battery test, and the motor ran smooth and quiet.
This CJ184 rolled out of Federal in December 1973. It'll be 44 next month
!
After tearing all components down, I noticed the original shaft sleeve was cut down. Therefore, if you went to put the shaft pulley over the top, it would've sat too low for the belt to operate the rotator and run off-kilter. A clear piece of tubing the correct diameter of the sleeve, cut to correct height, and leveled off, solved that problem. After this pic, I placed liberal amounts of petroleum jelly to the tubing to facilitate good rotation of the shaft pulley.
Installed new speaker wire and leads.
The best replacements for the factory risers was small diameter cable crimps, and they fit perfectly around the bolts! This task was done quickly and much to my relief (did NOT want to use washers).
After completing the mechanics, I reinstalled the skirt, put the rotator assembly into place, and fired up the beacon. This was with the stock pulleys and belt. You can tell that when the rotator hits a certain spot, it lagged very slightly.
I wasn't happy with the lagging spot, even after adjusting the belt a few times. So, I went with the rubber grommet-over-motor-pulley modification. I liked this result immediately.
The dome underwent the usual wet sanding and polishing, but I wasn't going to keep the unsightly top of the dome exposed with the stress crack and all. I used industrial flat black spray paint to cover the top over and it turned out nice. Acts as a good sun blocker too so you actually see the pops of the beams! Buttoned up everything, polished the skirt and dome clasp, and made a rubber skirt gasket from leftover 1/4" rubber hose. I think it turned out good for the purpose it's going towards!
Upon arrival at home:
It had seen better days, but the skirt was in good shape and the badge was not tarnished!
The dome was very rough on top, but at least the main face of it did not have stress cracks. I decided that the top will receive a black-out treatment after the dome was fully polished.
Well now, this beacon would never work at all in this state!. No risers under the 4 bolts, power spade under the skirt, and the shaft pulley was on top of the contact plate. This is how the beacon came when the Academy's chief received it, but it was not used on anything or even looked at after its initial decommission until I opened it up. Somebody didn't know how to get this back together properly when they serviced it...
Siren driver and motor was in great shape! Siren driver popped and crackled using the 9V battery test, and the motor ran smooth and quiet.
This CJ184 rolled out of Federal in December 1973. It'll be 44 next month
! After tearing all components down, I noticed the original shaft sleeve was cut down. Therefore, if you went to put the shaft pulley over the top, it would've sat too low for the belt to operate the rotator and run off-kilter. A clear piece of tubing the correct diameter of the sleeve, cut to correct height, and leveled off, solved that problem. After this pic, I placed liberal amounts of petroleum jelly to the tubing to facilitate good rotation of the shaft pulley.
Installed new speaker wire and leads.
The best replacements for the factory risers was small diameter cable crimps, and they fit perfectly around the bolts! This task was done quickly and much to my relief (did NOT want to use washers).
After completing the mechanics, I reinstalled the skirt, put the rotator assembly into place, and fired up the beacon. This was with the stock pulleys and belt. You can tell that when the rotator hits a certain spot, it lagged very slightly.
I wasn't happy with the lagging spot, even after adjusting the belt a few times. So, I went with the rubber grommet-over-motor-pulley modification. I liked this result immediately
.The dome underwent the usual wet sanding and polishing, but I wasn't going to keep the unsightly top of the dome exposed with the stress crack and all. I used industrial flat black spray paint to cover the top over and it turned out nice. Acts as a good sun blocker too so you actually see the pops of the beams! Buttoned up everything, polished the skirt and dome clasp, and made a rubber skirt gasket from leftover 1/4" rubber hose. I think it turned out good for the purpose it's going towards
!
