Horns
It’s not uncommon for horns to operate only some of the time. Sooner or later they will blast intermittently and sometimes not at all. You will likely one day find yourself over doing it on the horn button with hopes to get those bad-boys blasting. And incidentally, I believe this is one reason those pretty plastic horn buttons become crazed over time, because we stand on them a little too heavily; a normal reaction when the Windtones don’t sound off when we need them to!
Well, I recently discovered that the primary reason for weak and even more often, a no show of the Windtones, is poor electrical ground connections. No mystery here, but it’s the ground “path” I’m talking about. The path, in case you’ve never given it any thought, is through the steering shaft, down through the flexible rubber steering couplers and on to the chassis through the steering rack and ground strap.
The culprit is two-fold; 1.) the grounding straps that weave through the flexible steering couplers, (check for breaks and loose terminal ends, and 2.) the splines that connect the sections of steering shaft and flex-couplers to the rack. The unpainted metal to metal splined joint will rust with time and this rust you cannot see! Rust is the leading reason for poor, intermittent grounds or even open circuits in the worst of conditions.
So what’s the fix? Answer: conductive grease. Be careful here because when I went into a local auto parts store and asked for a conductive grease to use in an electrical application they all said to use dielectric grease. What? A dielectric is an insulator which blocks the flow of electrons! So I got online and looked up some very good but very expensive silver based conductive grease. At about $45.00 an ounce, I decided to try my luck at obtaining a sample, so I asked and guess what, …it worked! I received a free sample through the mail but it was hardly enough for all (4) splined joints. I used most of it for the horn brush in the steering wheel just under the horn button, (be sure it’s all clean of residue from the prior stuff before application here).
The next day while driving down a local road wondering how I could get my hands on just a little more of this conductive grease for the splines, I saw a team of power company linemen up in their cherry-pickers and I had a brainstorm! So I pulled a you-ee, parked the car and walked over to the team and asked what they use for their electrical connections. “Conductive grease, keeps the power flowin’ and the moisture out!” one guy said. “Why?” he asked. I explained my problem and what I was doing in about 20 seconds. He turned went into one of the trucks came out and tossed a partially used tube of conductive grease right at me and said “keep it”. WOW! …I thought. I gave him $10 for coffee-an but they wouldn’t take it. That was a great day!
That next weekend, I wire-brushed the shaft splines bright and clean and used a plumbers wire brush pipe cleaner to remove all rust in the coupler splines, then coated the surfaces with the grease the linemen gave me and re-joined all the splined components. Now the joints are rust free with a layer if rust inhibiting conductive grease to assure electrical flow and keep the rust inducing moisture out. I never knew how strong those Windtones are until I did this job. WOW! Now I never miss a beep.
Have fun and enjoy the ride! de
Thanks DE. I have also experienced the electro magnetic vibrator inside the horn getting corroded. By taking a fine brass wire brush and my wife's emory board for her fingernails, I was able to clean the contacts and have a great sound again.
Oh yes trthree, this is a great tip to keep em alive! Nice addition. I've heard from a couple friends who dumped their horns because they couldn't get them to sound off. I'll bet this might have been the issue, but they tosed them before we could do a complete diagnosis. Oh well, lessons learned... which is the reason this is such a significant forum. Way to go Ann!
A good idea for all us TR gear heads may be to copy and paste all this good stuff into a personal pocket-book, ...a how-2 tips guide for quick reference, Hymph, another project? Maybe this can be another page for the forum, how-2 tips by category. Think about it. de
While we're on the subject of horns, here's my problem. TS-27 was only equipped with one horn on the left side. There is no mounting hardware or wiring for the second horn. The electrical part and vibrator are usable, but the potmetal casting for the sound chanber is badly damaged, holed through.
The horn is not marked high or low as on later cars.
Any suggestions for original type replacements or repair of the pot metal casting?
What say the experts?
Earl Ferguson
I can't suggest anything suitable for the repair of the casting, but a replacement could possibly be found. The early WT614 horns are more difficult to find than the more common WT618s but Jaguar used the same horns in cars like the XK120 which might broaden your search parameters. Most of these came in pairs, so you might need to look for a single and live with the note, or go for the pair which would suit most current harnesses, but not be correct for your car (not that anyone would know...).
I am no expert, but I have some interesting facts regarding Windtone Horns. Do you know how to tell if the horn is high or low, if the casting does not show an H or a L. Turn them over and look at the spiral tubes leading to the opening. H is shorter, L is longer.
These are off my Triumph Mayflower which I am restoring, non concourse!
The two horns in the next picture are different brands. The red one is a Lucas from my 49 Mayflower. The black one is a Clear Hooters brand, also made in England with a date of January 1957 printed on the inner housing plate. Look at the difference of Horn Mouths and the Domes.
Both these units are High Tones. The black one is all original.
