53 SPECIAL HORN WIRE IN COLUMN

The horn wire which comes up through the shaft has a flanged brass end on it (round and about 3/8 inch in diameter) which apparently is supposed to make contact with the recessed brass plate of the horn ring assembly. It sticks out of the shaft about 7/8 inch when pulled tight. It has some remains of a spring attached to it . There are obviously parts/including spring missing which insulate it from the shaft and allow it to remain stationary while the shaft turns but I don't know what they looked like. I suspect I will have to improvise here but a picture or words would help. I checked it out electrically and all is well there. The horn blows when the end is grounded. Thanks, Bob

Sounds like this is the pic that you might be looking for.

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

Thanks Al. I have to get one of those books. The service manual doesn't always get it. Looks like what I need is q,r,and s. I wish I had a close-up of the bearing. It must be insulated against the shaft with rubber or fiber.

O.K. I misspoke. I confused the upper shaft bearing (S) with what I thought goes in the end of the shaft for the wire to come through. I don't think whatever that is ain't shown in the picture. Anyway, I made something by grinding down a small firewall type grommet into a t shape. The ground end slips inside the shaft and the upper remaining flange rests on the end of the shaft with enough clearance for the steering wheel nut to clear. Then I ground a flanged nut so it slips over the wire and inside the grommet with the countersunk flange providing a base for the small spring to rest on. For the end of the wire which sits against the brass plate in the horn ring assembly I used a hollow one inch brass rivet , the upper half of which is solid,which I drilled out for the wire to go through to be soldered. Hopefully all this will provide good insulation from ground and Peggy Sue's horn will soon blow.

That grommet at the top can't be metallic. I have used plumbing grommets before.

That grommet at the top can't be metallic. I have used plumbing grommets before.

That's right. I just made the metal base to give the spring a more solid place to sit. The rubber insulates it from the shaft.

Just making sure you knew that, Bob, or your horn would never shut off.

Carry on.