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Repairing a Ford Capri Radio Knob

Is your Ford Capri fitted with a period digital radio / cassette player?  It is quite likely if it is that one or both of the original radio knobs are broken.  My tuner knob broke when the internal plastic parts that clamp onto the radio tuner shaft disintegrated with age.  This is more likely to happen on the radio tuner shaft because there is a a bit of force required to turn the “click” shaft.

The knobs on these radios often disintegrate and cost a fortune on Ebay


Very occasionally these rare and sought after knobs appear on E-bay.  I have been watching some recently and they sell for unbelievable prices.  Usually more than £40.00 each for a single knob.  Yes that it correct £40.00!!

If the front of the knob is still in good condition there is a high chance that you will be able to repair it to a good standard and the repair is invisible.  The trick is finding an insert from a new and different knob that can be cut and fettled to fit inside the old broken one.

After trying several knobs form various places I have finally found one that fits the job perfectly.  You can buy it from Farnell here:

CLIFF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS  CL178886  ROUND KNOB, D SHAFT, 19.3MM

 Manufacturer: CLIFF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS

Order Code: 2473102

Manufacturer Part No CL178886

Most importantly you need a knob which will fit a 6.35mm D shaped shaft.  These are not that common and some I bought had a D that was too big to physically fit over the old Ford radio shaft despite looking correct.

Assuming you can get one of these then you will need the following

1) A Dremel with some cutting discs and stones

2) Some Araldite

3) A bench mounted illuminated magnifying glass if your eyes are as bad as mine

Using the Dremel you need to slowly grind out the insides of the old Ford radio button.  I cut mine away with a small cylindrical grinding stone and kept going until there was about 3-4mm of original material left.  Don’t go too deep or you will split the button and ruin it.

Next you need to cut the new button’s exterior part away (I used a Dremel with a cutting disc) until you can cut out and remove the interior clamp part.  This is held together with a metal collar and comes away intact.  This should be carefully fettled and ground down further so that it will sit in the centre of the old button so that the top is flush with the rest of the button.  This can take a while to get right.  Once you are happy with it take a drill bit that fits jut nicely into the new plastic clamp (where the radio shaft will go) to support it.

All you need now is a blob of Araldite carefully placed in the bottom of the freshly ground out button.  Then insert the new clamp and use the drill bit to manipulate it so it is dead straight.  Keep eyeballing it and spinning it to make sure it is not tilted.  I actually used a super strong acrylic adhesive called Penloc - this stuff is expensive but amazingly strong and very smelly!

After everything has set pull out the drill bit and go and gently push it on to your radio shaft.  As you spin it you should feel it slide and lock into place jut like it did when it was brand new.  

Result!


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