1948 Streamliner 8 Silver Streak -- Resurrecting an Original

[pvfjr]

I looked at the horn a little closer. There seems to be something missing in the wheel itself. Some sort of spring contract? Aside from that, I'm missing the rubber bumpers on the horn ring tabs, and the insulating donut. I'm not sure quite how that fits with everything else. I also need to figure out what threads the column has, as the nuts are missing.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by pvfjr (see edit history)

[marcapra]

Love that Pontiac.  I have a 48 DeSoto, which was in the same price class, but for the 6 cylinder models.  Love those straight eights!  you are making great progress.  The Parts book and parts cars will be your salvation for this car.  Good luck.  My earliest memory of a car was our 1950 Pontiac convertible when I was about 2 or 3.  I still remember seeing that orange Pontiac hood ornament that lights up.  

[Model56s]

On 12/10/2023 at 11:18 PM, pvfjr said:

I looked at the horn a little closer. There seems to be something missing in the wheel itself. Some sort of spring contract? Aside from that, I'm missing the rubber bumpers on the horn ring tabs, and the insulating donut. I'm not sure quite how that fits with everything else. I also need to figure out what threads the column has, as the nuts are missing.

 

 

Might be similar to my 1956 Chevy truck. On the truck's steering column sheet metal mast, a brass sleeve is inserted into a rubber bushing which is then inserted into the steering wheel end of the mast, over the (internal) steering shaft onto which the steering wheel is attached - the rubber bushing centers and stabilizes the shaft and electrically isolates the sleeve from the mast, which of course is grounded. An insulated wire connected to this sleeve extends down the interior of the mast (along with the turn signal switch leads) and out a hole in the mast near the firewall. The horn lead from the fuse panel connects to this wire. Connecting the sleeve to ground, in this case the shaft inside the mast, completes the horn circuit energizing the horn. This is why the sleeve is secured in an insulating rubber bushing. An exposed flange on the edge of the sleeve presents a contact surface against which a spring loaded contact, passing through a hole in the steering wheel hub, rests through the 360 degrees of steering wheel rotation. The offset hole in the first picture may be for this contact. Pressing the horn button (or horn ring on your car) tilts a metal disk, bringing it into contact with the steering shaft (ground) and the contact, thus completing the circuit and energizing the horn via the sleeve and wire.

 

When my horn didn't work initially, I pulled the sleeve out of the mast and found that the wire was bunched up inside the mast, not emerging near the firewall to be connected with the horn circuit lead from the fuse panel.