DonaldSmith

I didn't know the difference for gray wheel vs ivory wheel. I think my wheel started out as ivory. I've repainted it. Here's my steering wheel:

My wife had cataract surgery, in both eyes (one at a time; a few weeks between). Simple operation these days. It went well. The eye clinic and the endoscopy clinic both have a deal with the nearby Big Boy restaurant, 10 percent off on the next meal. The cataract patients wear those giant sunglasses that they receive, to protect their eyes. I kept my wife's giant sunglasses, so that I can go to the restaurant under false pretenses after the next colonoscopy. "That will be 10 percent off your bill. How did your cataract surgery go?"

My carb, for the semi-automatic transmission, has a kickdown switch and dashpot. A carb for a three-speed transmission would not need these, with or without the fluid coupling between the clutch and the engine. "Fluid Drive" refers to the coupling, not to the type of transmission.

My strap-style gizmo is attached to the steering wheel with screws into threaded inserts in the plastic, so that the gizmo is not grounded to the hub of the wheel, thus the wire is not grounded, until the spring comes into play. I haven't checked whether my horn ring is grounded. It shouldn't matter. The ring pushes the spring down, and is grounded by contact with the spring anyway. The lugs of the horn ring push down the spring without contacting the gizmo. Normal condition, spring pushed away from the gizmo, horn doesn't sound. Pushing the horn ring in any location is supposed to pull the opposite lug(s) up and away from the spring, so that the spring contacts the gizmo and the horn sounds. Your photo shows the hex-shaped thing that holds the horn ring down. Have you tried installing the horn ring without the decorative cap and sleeve? Maybe this would allow you to see the movement of the horn ring and spring. I hope this helps.

Pot metal is non-ferrous, a magnet won't stick, but it is conductive. The horn ring is isolated from the grounded parts, otherwise the horn would sound when the horn ring presses the spring down. The bafflement continues. It looks like you could leave the emblem and trim ring off, but install the hex-shaped thingie that holds the horn ring down against the spring. Them maybe you could see how much motion you get when the ring is pushed. (Maybe you did this already and I didn't catch it.) Are the horn ring spokes distorted, so that they bottom in the grooves too soon?

I'd hate to have you filing down the lugs on the horn ring, or doing something else beyond a point of no return. Does someone else have a steering wheel of that vintage Chrysler, who could take photos of the parts for comparison? My DeSoto is quite different. But here is a photo of the business end of my horn ring. (It's a two part ring, and my gizmo is straight across instead of being "Y" shaped.) Pardon the poor focus, but you can see the lugs that push the spring down.

I used really small screws, and painted the heads black. I madfe sure the screws were driven in all the way, so that the heads didn't protrude.

Hold up a sign that says "Honk!"? The spokes of the horn ring fit in recesses in the spokes of the steering wheel. The ring can't go on backwards, and you would know if there were obstructions in the rocking motion. Triple Hmmm.

From time to time I've caught snippets of the misadventures of Austin Powers, but I didn't catch all the double meanings. So this is another one? I've led a sheltered life.

You said that you jumped the wire from the gizmo to the spring, and the horn blows. It sounds like this was with the plastic spacers in place. With the wire plugged into the "Y" shaped gizmo, and the spacers removed so that the gizmo is contacting the spring, does the horn blow? It should. If it doesn't, rocking the horn ring won't do anything. I don't know why I would imagine that there would be no continuity with the spring contacting the gizmo, but who knows? Maybe someone coated something with a clear spray. It's wild guess time, and this is my WAG.

I share your bafflement. I misunderstood your post #23. Plastic spacers - good. Everything is OK, til the horn ring is installed. Hmmm. I had an incident with my DeSoto horn. With the horn ring installed, it would only honk the horn if certain parts of it were pushed. There is a cup that the spring fits into. I had the spring on first, and the cup last. It pushed things off center and prevented parts of the horn ring from being effective. But your horn ring rocks perfectly. Double Hmmm.

Shag-o-mania!

"In the day", some jurisdictions did not allow the driver to enter the car by the left door if the car is parked in the street. So the dome light was activated by the right door only. Some cars only had the key in the right door. The small light under the dash was called a "map light". It could also help when fumbling with the keys. t

Wait a minute! If the spring is held away from the gizmo, the horn should not blow. This is the normal condition. If your spacers are metallic, they are shorting the spring to the gizmo. The horn ring is metallic, but it is isolated from ground, and never contacts the gizmo, so in the normal position the lugs of the horn ring push down and hold the spring away from the gizmo. In the normal position the horn does not blow. Now, the horn ring, when pressed anywhere, is supposed to rock, pulling one of its lugs away from the spring, allowing the spring to contact the gizmo. Maybe something as you assembled it is keeping the horn ring from rocking. It's counter-intuitive. The horn ring assembly is what's called a "normally closed" switch, but which is usually held open by an outside force.

Here we go- (My head hurts, and my eyes are burning from looking though the French dictionary,but here's my take.) The New Chrysler Chrysler Windsor Four-door Sedan including special équipment… You will love its Quiet Comfort and Pleasant Drive! Look into the magnificent new Chrysler! You will find that it has been conceived to assure more security and comfort while providing greater efficiency. The dignity of its lines, and of its spacious bodywork and sumptuousness will please you. The new Chrysler, although more spacious, doesn’t take up more space. It maneuvers even more easily in dense traffic, in parking, in garaging. The new Chrysler drives smoothly, without effort. In the Chrysler “Royal”, smooth power is transmitted without jerks, through the oil of the Fluid Drive, minimizing the frequency of gear-shifting. The Chrysler “Windsor”, with its “Presto-Matic” transmission, is driven without changing gears. Upon seeing the magnificent new Chrysler, you will agree that it is well the car that meets your idea of comfort and pleasant driving, and also your innate sense of style. Choose a Chrysler and the pride of the true connoisseur expert that you are will increase each time that someone says to you: “i see that you drive a Chrysler” (Edited)

I'll give it a shot- without referring to my LaRousse: The new Chrysler... Chrysler Windsor, four-door sedan You will love your seating comfort and pleasant ride! Examine the magnificent new Chrysler! You will find that it was conceived (designed?) to assure more security and comfort all in giving a better (rendition?) The dignity of the lines and the spaciousness and sumptuousness of the bodywork will please you. The new Chrysler, well more spacious, does not occupy more space. She maneuvers herself more easily in dense traffic, in parking, in the garage. The new Chrysler drives sweetly (easily) without effort. That's enough for now- my head is starting to hurt. Someone fluent in languages can fix what I have started and pick it up from here.

Did the Chrysler Traveler have a fold-down rear seat, or other access to the trunk? The Suburban was a long-wheelbase car with three rows of seats, the third seat being a small folding seat. The 49 and later Suburbans had a full size rear seat that closed off the trunk when in seating position. There was also a DeSoto Carry-All, based on the standard sedan, with a folding rear seat. Here is a brief side-bar feature on the Traveler, from an article on the Suburban. It doesn't mention a folding seat.

The 3-leg gizmo and the wire are not grounded when the assembly is, well, assembled. The spring is always grounded. The horn ring has three lugs which hold the spring away from the gizmo. Push the horn ring, and one or two lugs will pull away from the spring, allowing the spring to contact the gizmo, the circuit to be completed, and the horn to honk.

That engine seems to be sitting kind of low - you are going to need a giant, tall air cleaner to fill the space.

As I figured out on my DeSoto, the wire through the steering shaft wants to be grounded, to close the circuit to the horn relay and honk the horn. The wire is plugged into a metal gizmo which the big spring wants push against. The spring is grounded through the steering shaft. The three-spoked ring keeps the spring compressed, so that it doesn't contact the gizmo at the end of the wire. (The steering wheel is insulated, so there is no ground where the ring is connected to the steering wheel.) Push the horn ring anywhere, and the three-spoked thing is tipped, allowing the spring to contact the gizmo and complete the grounding. Until the ring is fully screwed down, the horn circuit is grounded, so disconnect something to keep the horn from sounding. Otherwise, it would add more urgency to the assembly. Pardon the technical language.

That's not a barn find, no doo-doo or mice gifts. It's an insulated-heated-air-conditioned-storage-facility find.

I used Borgeson U-joints on my column adaption for a power steering gearbox. They caution that the angularity of the shafts should not exceed 35 degrees. I just made it by juggling the location of the steering box.

That's a lot of amps to push through a voltage reducer. Usually the kind of resistor the boys are used to are for low-amp items like gauges. And it may be counterproductive. For the same oomph, 2 volt systems need half the amps as 6-volt systems. So by the time you reduce the volts, you have half the amps as a 6-volt system. There are threads here about jump-starting a 6-volt car with a 12-volt source, but the caveat is that radios and other stuff must be off, so they don't get fried.

Here's photos of the new wiring in my DeSoto. I removed the headliner. (I probably should have found another way; I didn't get the headliner tight enough. Oh, well. While the headliner was out, I primed the exposed steel roof and stuck on an insulating duct wrap.) I had problems feeding the bundle of wires through the windshield post. I think I wound up using a pull cord to pull each wire through.

I didn't like the idea of loosening the water pump bolt to adjust the alternator, so I used a stud (or threaded rod) and nut to secure the water pump, with lock washer, and sealant on the threads in the block. Then I loosely threaded a nut on the stud after the alternator arm was on, and drilled through the nut and stud. I ran a cotter pin or just plain wire through the nut and rod, to keep the nut from backing off. No leaks at the water pump, and alternator arm free for removing, replacing and adjusting the alternator.