My horns on jmy 1954 Champion do not work so with nothing to loose I took off the large metal half covering sphere on them and found the wiring corroded and things kind of dirty and rusty inside. Connected a
6V battery line to the attached wire and grounded the other wire to the horn mounting bracket. Little tick from the horn each time I touched the battery wire. IIRC a working horn should toot when connected like this shouldn't it?
Googled around a lot but could not find any detailed info on horn cleaning or repairs. Appears I have entered another twilight zone dimension where there is no information is easily found.
With nothing to lose I might just sand blast the rust and corrosion out and see if they start working. Is there any way to repair horns?
For curiosity I'll probably take the horns apart just to see if I can. Appears they have some kind of potmetal rivets that get sweged when they are assembled. Anyone ever take them apart and put them back together. The potmetal rivets will get damaged when I take them apart. What do you use to hold them together again?, nuts and bolts?
Appreciate any tips on cleaning them up or repairing horns?
If you have a decent working pair I'm probably going to be interested. My email: snipped-for-privacy@isd.net. Email from alt.autos.studebaker does not reach me.
Henry, I recently worked on the horns on my '54 Champion. You're right, there is not much on the net on repairing horns. I have messed with a number of horns, and they are not really difficult to get working again.
IMHO, I wouldn't take the horn apart yet. I'm also not sure blasting the coil and associated parts would be worthwhile, unless they are really rusty......in which case you may want to find a horn in better shape. If you do blast them, use a 'gentle' abrasive media.
First, knock the horn body on a piece of wood or knock the body with a rubber mallet to break loose any debris (or mud dauber nests in my area) inside, and shake it out. Horns work by moving a diaphragm and this movement of the diaphragm moves air inside the curled body and makes the horn sound. (All of you horn techies, I know this is a very un-technical explanation, but we don't necessarily need to know all the detailed physics on how the horn works to do this repair!) The coil (electromagnet) on the horn is mounted around a 'stem' attached to the middle of the diaphragm, and this coil pulling on the stem is what makes the diaphragm move. There is a set of contacts (basically a set of points) on the top of the coil that make and break the current, which causes the coil to move the diaphragm up and down. Normally, aside from wire problems, these contacts get dirty, burned, and out of adjustment and the horn doesn't blow. So, we'll concentrate on these contacts first.
Take the sheetmetal cover off the top if you haven't already. Clean the whole top of the horn (coil, contacts, etc) off with an electrical spray cleaner, and blow it off good with compressed air. Repair any bad or frayed wires. If the wire itself is in good condition, but the cloth cover is frayed, you can put shrink wrap over it, or use some of the 'liquid electrical tape (made by PlastiDip, the same company that makes the liquid rubber like you use for coating plier handles, etc) or both.
Get some crocus cloth (not emery paper!) and WD-40 and clean the contacts really good. Clean the WD-40 off with a good contact cleaner. Hook the wires up, and see if the horn blows. If not, or if it is weak, loosen the lock nut on the adjuster and adjust until you have a good tone, and then lock the nut back down. Replace the sheetmetal cover, and you're done!
This will take care of 90+ percent of most horn problems. If it still doesn't work, it may have worse problems like a cracked diaphragm, the stem broken off the diaphragm, coil windings bad, etc. Normally there is nothing that goes wrong inside, AFAIK, unless something stops up the passageway. If you did take the body apart, I suppose you can use some small stainless nuts/bolts or similar to put it back together. I think there is also some sort of gasket between the halves, but I have never had to take one of these apart so I am not positive.
Disclaimer: The above is my experience, and I don't claim to know much about them 'thar horns except what I have related.
You may find the tin diaphragm is rusted. If so, it's a goner. Parts are hard to find, expecially the paper gaskets that dissolve in your hands. Check the coil for continuity and play with the screw adjustment. It might light up
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