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Are there any complete horn assembly on the steering wheel for sale? If so. how is it put together? I’m thinking there is a ring, and a button, and a wire that runs thru the steering column, and a spring. And how is the spring and button and wire all connected to make the horn work? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Dave Stephens….St. Louis, MO. This is for a model 1928 81 5 passenger sedan.
Call Greg Long, he can help you. He is in the roster. Ed
David,
Do you have any of the pieces?
There is a spring loaded button that that is held on to the horn cap with a screw.
The horn cap has a brass plate installed on its bottom side and it screws on to a brass plate that is mounted on to the steering column.
In the center of this assembly there is a steel shielded wire that has a metal tip on the end that electrifies the horn when the horn button touches it.
The shielded wire runs down the steering column (through the center tube / tubes that adjust the spark advance and the carburetor run speed) and comes out the end of the steering column.
The wire then loops up and is eventually connected to the horn.
When connected properly, the horn goes: BEEP!
I attach an old photo during an engine block strip down that shows the shielded wire (silver colored) coming out of the steering column and looping UP the column on its way to the horn (not there in the photo).
I hope that this helps.
Peter
BTW, all of you NEW Pierce-Arrow Gents should go out and buy a 6V Lantern Battery and a set of alligator clips so that you can easily check your wiring connections / connectivity without having to have the car battery connected.
You can see the shielded wire near the bottom of the photo going up the steering column to where it is taped to the column with the red / orange tube,.
You can see it again, further up at about 1:00 and then again dropping down at about Noon.
The engine bay looks better these days!
Peter,
Thank you for the advise on the Lantern Battery and Alligator Clips.
I will head over to my local Sporting Goods Store.
Ken
Peter,
Instead of a lantern battery I use the trickle charger set on 6v and 2amps, then if you check a 12v car set it to 12v and 4amps. Disconnect the batt first of course. Jim
The advantage of the lantern battery is that it is totally portable, so you can, for example, take it to the headlights and check the connection of the bulbs in the sockets, or aft to the tail lights to check those sockets and wire runs.
I rewired my Series 80 and spent plenty of time lying under it with the battery checking the wire runs before final assembly of the difficult to assemble light cans, etc.
After you get everything working, you will have a 6v battery that sits around on your shelf for years waiting for something else to fail.
I have only used them for a few times since the rewiring.
A $9.99 VOM [volt-ohm meter] off of eBay, or for $4.99 in the bargain-bin at your local auto-parts store will act as a continuity tester, just like a battery and a bulb with alligator clips.
And the VOM also allows you to see if the 6.2volts at the battery make it to the light bulb as 6.2 volts or has lousy corroded connections and is only 4.5volts, resulting in dim, yellow lights.
Greg Long
Back on topic: Dave, the horn button assembly is a bit complicated.
First, Series 81 cars had two different for button assemblies. Ne s identical to th Series 80, the second top looked much line a ’29 steering wheel.
If your friend wit the Sries 81 can wait, when I get back to Michigan, I’ll take a scan of the parts-manual page with the horn button drawing and post it here.
Can you post an image of the existing steering wheel and what horn parts are there?
Greg Long
I agree with Greg. One BIG concern with using a charger is that the output of the charger is not true DC voltage, but rather some modified form of AC. If you use anything other than pure DC on a 6 or 12 volt radio with a vibrator, you will likely burn up the vibrator or the rectifiers. Best way to deal with this is to put a battery across the charger to help provide acceptable DC voltage and current.
Greg’s comments about the voltage loss is spot on, and was discussed in other recent threads. If you have or suspect this as a problem in your car, run a copper wire between the positive side of the battery (which is ground) and the closest frame to the light, horn,whatever device seems to be at issue. Clean the frame to ensure a good solid connection, and try again. If you find what we used to call a “cold” joint, either clean it, add a copper jumper across it, or, if it is not a show car, run the copper line permanently to the load side of the cold joint. You may be able to see at night without a white cane in the front of the car…