No tooting old horn needs repair

[White Spyder]

I came across a lot of old horns in an auction. There was a brass bulb horn and all the other were no newer than 1940. Several models of Klaxon a manually operated Ugah, Sparton and AutoElectric. Bought them cheep. Out of the 12 in the box 5 worked when I put power to them so I have a total of 7 working.

3 of the non-working are Mopar and I would like to restore them. I did a search without much success as the ones I found were basically cleaning up things and adjusting the tone. All three show good with a test light but don't toot. I need more information about running down repairs and testing on the internal parts. Like testing the magnet, points and coil.

Thanks in advance.

[soth122003]

Hey White Spyder,

 

Don't know if this will help or not. You might try spraying the innards with some WD then clean it with electrical contact cleaner. The parts inside may just be gunked up.

 

Joe

[rb1949]

Never looked inside a horn. Good luck getting some great sounds. My wish list is to put a pair of the magnificent trumpet horns on my newer compact. They HONK!

[desoto1939]

On the autolite you need to take off the cap at the back of the horn. There isa screw and undo it and the cap comeoff.  There are points in theis section and you can adjust th points. You can test with a 6 v battery charger. Not sure of the other but would assume they work similar. This is how I adjusted my trumpet horns on my 39 Desoto. 

 

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[TodFitch]

On the autolite you need to take off the cap at the back of the horn. There isa screw and undo it and the cap comeoff.  There are points in theis section and you can adjust th points. You can test with a 6 v battery charger. Not sure of the other but would assume they work similar. This is how I adjusted my trumpet horns on my 39 Desoto. 

 

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

 

Your 6v charger must put out a lot more current than mine. I had to use an actual car battery with large wires for my horn to work when I was getting it adjusted after having it apart.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Use a good fully charged battery and directly wire the horns to test.

[White Spyder]

I tested these with a 6 volt charger. Since many older cars are converted to 12 volt shouldn't I be able to test and use the in a newer 12 volt system?

[White Spyder]

On the autolite you need to take off the cap at the back of the horn. There isa screw and undo it and the cap comeoff.  There are points in theis section and you can adjust th points. You can test with a 6 v battery charger. Not sure of the other but would assume they work similar. This is how I adjusted my trumpet horns on my 39 Desoto. 

 

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

Tried this no luck. Is there an adjustment procedure?

[White Spyder]

Hey White Spyder,

 

Don't know if this will help or not. You might try spraying the innards with some WD then clean it with electrical contact cleaner. The parts inside may just be gunked up.

 

Joe

First thing I tried was contact cleaner.

[White Spyder]

I pan to take the horns and mount them on a display board so at shows people can hear them. I can recall the days when you could tell a car by the sound of the horn.

[Young Ed]

What kind of battery charger are you using? Some of them may not be working because you aren't giving them enough power. I also wouldn't adjust them based on the battery charger use. Adjusting them to battery charger function usually means they won't work when put back in a car.

[48ply1stcar]

I'm very proud of proud of you all.  A thread about "Old Tooters" could have gotten out of hand.

[DonaldSmith]

It's not too late for this thread to deteriorate. But I'll resist the temptation to bring up a word that rhymes with tooters. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

ah but as an owner of many English cars....the horns on these cars are referred to as hooters....

Edited April 30, 2016 by Plymouthy Adams

[1950 Special Deluxe]

I am fixing up a 1970 Honda (PC50) 49cc Moped.

It's horn is called a squawker.

[White Spyder]

Tried disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the inner workings but no luck in making a sound. Does anyone know any further testing procedures for the electromagnet or gap settings?

[TodFitch]

Tried disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the inner workings but no luck in making a sound. Does anyone know any further testing procedures for the electromagnet or gap settings?

 

I think the air gap setting varies and I don't know the settings for your year/make/model. For my car there were two settings (one for high tone and one for low tone) total range between the two is 0.015" to 0.022".

 

When adjusting, you need to have the lock nut tight and one full turn of the adjusting screw goes from not working (too much one way) to not working (too much the other way). So you need to unlock the nut, change the adjustment by maybe 1/8th of a turn, lock the nut, try again. For my much older car, I have the procedure on my web site.

[White Spyder]

Tod, great info there. I will have some time this weekend to try the adjustments.