Brill_C-37M_Bus

I did try the horn by jumper cables straight from the huge bus battery, so lack of amperage isn’t a problem. The horn didn’t sound, but there was minor sparking when I touched the leads to the ground side of the horn, so it was completing a circuit. I’ll pop off the cover and try moving the adjustment nut. And I’ll check the ohm reading function on the volt meter. Now I’m second-guessing if the coil really is a dead short, or if it’s actually providing some resistance.

I’m trying to replace the Sparton “LO” note horn that came on my ‘51 bus. I got an identical replacement, but I think the coil may be bad on it. It doesn’t sound when tested with the battery charger in 12v supply mode. When I touch a continuity tester to the negative screw terminal, I can get a tone indicating conductivity by touching the other contact to all the metal parts of the horn. Am I right in assuming his means bad insulation on the magnet coil, or is that normal? Short of replacing the coil, does anyone know how to troubleshoot or repair this issue? For comparison, here’s someone who took their horn apart more than me. Mine is similar, but not identical.

Thanks in part to advice from some of you, I got the gauges for my 1951 ACF-Brill Motors bus cleaned up and reinstalled. The dash of the bus is pretty plain, aside from the gauge cluster. The only other features are the switch panel to the driver’s left. There’s a lot of restoration left to do before this will look as good as the other photos in this thread, but it’s coming along nicely.

Thanks everyone, those are a lot of good suggestions. I think I’ll try the theater lighting “gel” idea (it’s actually a thin sheet of colored film, not sure why it’s called gel). I remember working with that stuff in high school. Thanks again for the ideas, and have a great day!

Hello everyone, I’m still working on the gauges for my old bus, and I’m wondering about the plastic-like colored film that lets light in from the sides of some Stewart-Warner gauges. Does anyone know a name for this material, or where to get it? Or any suggestions for replacing it? My bus came with a mix of non-original gauges, probably from an Army rebuild. I bought more accurate 1950s gauges off eBay, but they all had different colors of this plastic film, and different overall condition. So I’ve removed all the colored film, and want to start from scratch with something that matches on all the gauges. I do want to drive this bus at night, so good backlight for the gauges is a must. If possible, I’d prefer to imitate the function of this material, but avoid opening up the gauges to replace it directly. I considered sandwiching blue seran wrap behind an acetate-like plastic sheet, but I’m wondering if that might melt from the nearby 12V light bulbs. I’d welcome any suggestions!

Thanks for the NAPA tip, there still is an old-school downtown location near me. I’ll see if they can cross-reference these numbers. I don’t think these would be specifically bus parts, especially the speedometer sender and temperature parts. But I am a member of the bus museum in Hershey, so if there’s evidence that these aren’t regular auto parts, I can try various bus connections. Can anyone suggest any good introductions to the different types of temp sender units? Even Stewart-Warner alone made so many different kinds, let alone everyone else, so I’m not sure what will work.

Hello AACA Forum folks, this is my first post here. Hope you don’t mind a twentysomething with an obscure old bus asking some amateurish questions! In my project to get my 1951 Brill bus roadworthy, I’m troubleshooting gauges and replacing ones that I know are not original. I have the factory parts manual, but ACF-Brill Motors part numbers seem pretty useless today. Most of the parts were commercial off-the-shelf parts from other manufacturers, and in this case, I’m looking for Stewart Warner parts. I found that a previous owner wrote the S-W part numbers in the manual, but so far, I can’t find any way to look up these part numbers. Google, eBay, and this forum don’t return anything for these model numbers. Can anyone help narrow down what these parts are? Description, photo, or a link to a sale or auction page would all help. Or general guides to S-W gauges, since I only know the basics of how to tell apart “wings” gauges, small logos, large logos, etc. The gauges used in this bus would mostly be WWII vintage or early postwar gauges. Air gauge: 409454 Speedometer “sliding bar and ball” sending unit: 417499D. (What even is that, and is it an electric sender?) Temp gauge: 442225 Temp Warning Switch: 438031 Temp Sender Unit: D362D I have found similar sender units to this temp unit, but I’m uncertain how precise I need to be. I found a D362DA, but I have no info from which to judge if this is equivalent or not. Can anyone recommend a guide to S-W temp senders? The non-working temp gauge is my top priority to fix before I do any more test runs. I appreciate any and all suggestions, especially since I’m new to all things related to automotive restorations. Have a great day everyone!