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1983 4 note horns


Guest northmn

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Guest northmn

Does anyone know what the notes should be for the 4 note horn option? I have 2 F notes,1 A note (that all look to be original ) & the 4 th horn is a C note that is definatly the right sound with the other 3 horns. Two GM dealers say they should be 2 A and 2 F note horns but are not shure if there is a third note in place of the one A note horns. I pulled horns off a 80's Eldorado at the wreckers today that had 1A,1D,1C ,1F horns.I'am wondering if Riviera assembled a mix of the four notes at their own discretion when the cars came off the line?

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R

I'll bet that they're the same as other GM four note horns. I pulled two sets off two different Cadillacs last weekend. There was one each on each set of A,F,C, & D. The A and F are the two note horns, the C & D make up the four note horns.

The local U-pullit sells horns for $3.99 each. I paid $17 and change for each set.

The later horns have both a 12V and a ground wire in a rubber boot going to them, the earlier ones have only a 12V spade terminal and they ground to the inner fender through the mounting bracket.

Take the battery from your cordless drill with you (mine is 18V,) cut the wires from the harness about 3" back from the terminal and strip them back 1/4" or so, then connect them to your battery to make sure they work. Each horn is held on with one 13mm hexhead sheet metal screw. You'll need to remove the overflow tank to get to a couple of them. That will take a long 10mm socket.

Ed

Edited by RivNut
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Guest northmn

Ed,

I naturally agree with you on using 4 seperate notes but still would like to confirm this with an all original Riv. especially a T-type. It wouldn't surprise me though that Riviera just might have possibly custom mixed the horn notes to sound differently for the different models-types & specialty cars they came out with in the 80's .I just checked with the GM dealer and they said that the 80's Eldorodo did use all 4 seperate notes . ?????

Bob.

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The horns I pulled as well as the horns on my '63 are all makred somewhere. The '63 horns are metal and they're stamped with an ID # on the housing.

The ones I just pulled from the two Cadillacs are plastic and the markings for the notes are part of the casting. They're on the side of the flat surface close to the bell opening.

I have a list of the notes used in 63, 64, and 65. Bach then each year had a different combination of notes for the two trumpets (I'm assuming the sea-shell horns are all A's and F's.) Therefore, it's entirely feasible that the notes chosen could be different from company to company if they're different within a company from year to year. So, I would have to agree that the Buick horns may be different than the Cadillac horns. However, in later years, cars were more GM corporate cars with different names rather than totally different car companies within the same corporation. Did you check with your parts guy on the part numbers for horns for Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles?

After all is said and done, I must think that there are 4 separate notes no matter which four notes were chosen. If not, it wouldn't be a four note horn option it would just be a four horn option. (Two A's and two F's do not make 4 notes, only 2 notes twice as loud.;)

Ed

PS, If you'd like, I can post a picture in a day or two of the Cadillac horns I just pulled.

For info on 1st generation 4 note horns, look here.

www.chip.com/buick/techtips - four note horn restoration.

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Here are some pictures of one of the four note horn sets I got lasat weekend.

I took a silver pen and went over the notes so you can more easily see where to look for them. The pen flowed a little more ink than I would have liked, but you can easily make a reference for where the note is found. The part number shows up in each picture as well.

Ed

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Guest Alan Hawk

I hope this is on topic. Does anyone know which model years of the Riviera had the horn that sounded like a freight train coming? I want to put one on my motorcycle and not even the local Buick dealers know wtf I'm talking about.

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Guest Alan Hawk

What models specifically had them? I want to get the ones right off the car if I can find them. I've seen train horns and stuff like that online but I want to duplicate the riviera sound exactly and there's not much room for those large trumpet horns that all the train horn kits I've seen have. Motorcycle horns always sound pretty wimpy (actually most car horns do now too), but stock car horns don't seem to be much bigger and should be relatively easy to mount.

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Any 79-85 Riv-Eldo-Toro will have the same 4 note horns, even some of the other Cadillac-Olds-Buicks of that era will have the same horn, IF that car was ordered with the 4 note horn. Just look inside the front fenders and see if you see two horns on each side. That is the 4 notes provided no one has replaced them with the wrong notes. You can also look in newer GM Luxury cars for them - again just look for a total of 4 horns.

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Guest northmn

I put all 4 seperate note horns in the car and it sounds like a FREIGHT TRAIN (kind of freightening). I remember now disconnecting 2 of them years ago because they where scaring the wits out of other drivers.They might be a blast from the past though for little kids & adults in car parades & such.

Bob.

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Guest TwoDoorBuickMan

For what it may be worth, I just checked my 1984 Riviera. It has the 4 note horns and I believe they came from the factory. The driver side has an A and F note. The passenger has a C and D note. They are quite impressive. My grandkids want me to honk at everyone.

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