[Ron Ramirez]

So I shut everything down, turned off the radio, turned off the Variac, unplugged both, unplugged the speaker, unplugged the 6K7G tube (after unplugging its grid cap and removing its shield), unplugged the 6F6G & 5Y3G tubes, and flipped the chassis upside down.

I then carefully tightened the 6K7G tube pin contacts.

I went over each solder terminal of the 6K7G first with the soldering iron and desoldering braid, then resoldered each connection.

Then, using some DeoxIT and one of those little brush things designed for use between one's teeth, I carefully cleaned each tube pin contact.

I let it dry...then flipped the chassis back over, reinstalled the three tubes I had pulled, reinstalled the 6K7G tube shield and then the 2nd IF grid cap lead.

I plugged the Zenith direct into the power strip this time, bypassing the Variac and...

...it roared to life, picking up some stations across the AM band. No more cutting out or dropping out. AVC was working properly. It was fixed!

Since it is up and running again, it was time to reinstall the dial scale, dial glass and related items.

I decided to purchase a new dial glass gasket from Mark Palmquist since the original was in pretty bad shape. I am glad that I did.

I cleaned the dial glass as best as I could.

And the clips holding the dial glass in place...let me tell you, it was much easier removing the clips than reinstalling them! (Just as Greg had said back in post #6, page 1, this thread.)

How it looks now:

   

I'm taking a break from it for a little while. I got a migraine a'ready.

Next step: Alignment.