R.White Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 ....or in other words.....a working horn. This was not working on my car; or at least not by any stretch of the imagination working as it should. Fortunately, all that was required was some cleaning of the motor and adjustments; most of the time taken being given over to removing dents from the trumpet section and a repaint to finish. Attention needs to be given to the thickness of a new gasket between the two halves; too thick and the ratchet wheel will not make contact with the tang. Oops! The mechanism is delightfully simple. Just an electric motor with a type of ratchet wheel on the shaft coming into contact with a raised tang attached to a bakelite disc which transmits the sound to the trumpet. Properly adjusted, the sound is very loud - as it should be - but surprisingly so, given the limitations of the design.Again I have opted for a gloss finish which is not quite authentic but will do for now. When I come to engine bay detailing I will tone it down to a satin black. I have posted some photos for the benefit of anyone who may be interested.Ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1930 Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Big improvement over the silver Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 8, 2013 Author Share Posted May 8, 2013 Yes Jason, the horn may not have been the most pressing job on the list but that silver color was irritating. It just had to go!Ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BretK Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Very cool to see how they are made and work, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 8, 2013 Author Share Posted May 8, 2013 I agree, Bret, I would not have thought such a loud sound could come from a simple device. Under all the layers of paint I found the original North East name plate which I have left exposed. One other interesting thing is that the horn had been trying to work with the motor wired up in reverse but a closer look at the ratchet mechanism shows which way round it should be connected up. Although I have not shown it, the horn is mounted on the cylinder head. The bracket is held on by one of the head holding down nuts. This has made me stop and think. As the head nuts should have been torqued down in sequence, would it be asking for trouble to release one of them to remove the bracket? I think I will wait until I am ready to remove the head for a decoke before touching the head nuts. Ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Zetnick Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Beautiful horn Ray! Yes, this bracket, spark plug wire raceway and any cable brackets can only be removed by loosening all head bolts in sequence. I had to have my armature rewound....my gasket was 2 layers of paper gasket material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texacola Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Ray...I could be wrong but you may be missing one of the (two) brackets. While I'm sure one would work fine I believe your "C" motor (If I remember your VIN is close to mine)would have two L brackets affixed under two head bolts. You can tell which head bolts by the depressions in the head to receive the brackets. You may have the right or left and I have on occasion seen one or the other (rarely a pair) on ebay. Then again I could be wrong and you only need one....something else to think about...sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1930 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Ray in my experience you dont have to worry about loosening one or two or three head bolts to dicker around with your horn brackets. Ive never had an issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 (edited) No worries, Texacola, my engine (# is C861-425) has two 'L' brackets; one for the horn and the other for the vacuum tank.Hi Jason. Perhaps you can get away with loosening a couple of nuts on a 6 cylinder head but maybe not on a 4 :confused: Edited May 9, 2013 by R.White (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32bizcoupe Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 The klaxon horns on the dodges are all single tone as a posed to the arrr-uga style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 The klaxon horns on the dodges are all single tone as a posed to the arrr-uga style?Sorry, I can't answer that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 The klaxon horns on the dodges are all single tone as a posed to the arrr-uga style?I believe that the only "ahooga" horns were on the Model A Fords. DB horns have the low "meep" sort of sound. Kinda like a bass roadrunner sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete K. Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 (edited) The original horn on my 1925 Dodge is a Northeast, as pictured in the owner's manual also and it is a very loud and strong AOOOOGAA. Car is #; A388850, a 1925 appointed auto with a '26 build date. Edited May 9, 2013 by Pete K. (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1930 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 No worries, Texacola, my engine (# is C861-425) has two 'L' brackets; one for the horn and the other for the vacuum tank.Hi Jason. Perhaps you can get away with loosening a couple of nuts on a 6 cylinder head but maybe not on a 4 :confused:You may be right Ray, did not think of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 The original horn on my 1925 Dodge is a Northeast, as pictured in the owner's manual also and it is a very loud and strong AOOOOGAA. Car is #; A388850, a 1925 appointed auto with a '26 build date.Thanks for the lesson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texacola Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Ray....I knew we were close...mine is C 842-314. What is interesting is mine has two L brackets for the horn (a right and a left).The horn sits sort of centered on the head with one bracket on each side of the water jacket, using the two head bolts between #2&3 cyls. (head has special indents at these bolts). The vac. tank has own two L brackets (attached to a band) and attach at the last two head bolts on the LH side. The head has one long banana shaped indent at these two head bolts (intended to accept the two brackets).Anyway, thought I'd point out the differences. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 (edited) You are right, Bill. Yes, one of my horn brackets is missing - I hadn't noticed that but now you have explained how they are mounted on the head I can see what you mean. Also, my vacuum tank does have the two 'L' brackets (attached to a band, same as yours) so at least that is right! With any luck I will find another horn bracket but the remaining one is substantial enough it would seem. Thanks for pointing it out .Pete, my horn is the same (Nort East) as yours, makes the same sort of sound and it too is unbelievably loud! Ray. Edited May 10, 2013 by R.White (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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