Electrical: Need help with horn on 55 Speedster

[ddub]

I need help understanding horn connections at the steering column of this car. I have an NOS wire that goes down the column. It has a fitting at the end which screws on to something but I don't know what. There is a small fitting on the column which has a copper contact which projects into the column and looks like it rubs on something to make contact. I have all the manuals but just don't see how this all works. I would appreciate any enlightenment you can offer.

[Hallabutt]

When I saw this last night I was hoping that someone else would answer. It's been forty years since I went through this nightmare. As I remember the "small fitting," is designed to make constant contact with the center shaft. The wire is threaded through the center shaft, connects to it. The wire has to be threaded down through the shaft. There is barely enough room to thread the wire down through the shaft and connect the wire to the spring loaded junction (small fitting) at the base of the column. The wire is a very precise length and there just barely enough room to connect wire to the junction. At the wheel end of the shaft, the wire has a copper end, that is encased in a bake alight surround. The whole wire is stretched tight, by spring under the bake alight unit. The horn ring is connected by three long screws, that travel through an insulated sponge rubber doughnut, between the ring and the wheel. The ring when properly affixed and the spacer is not worn out (old insulators become less elastic and become too compressed) allows for enough distance that when the ring is depressed at any point, it makes contact between the wire's copper end and the center shaft, creating a circuit that sends current to the horn relay, and the horn sounds.

The system is rife with potential problems. First I never found it possible to thread the wire down through the shaft, and connect the wire at the bottom of the shaft, with the steering column intact. I found it necessary to completely disassemble the column. Second the wire is of a very precise length, too short and the ring will not contact the copper end of the wire, and contact is impossible. If the wire is too short it will be impossible to connect it to the junction anyway. If the wire is minutely too long, the horn ring will not seat properly, in the wheel recess, and look weird, and may flop around. In addition, if the wire is too long, trying to take up as little as 1/4" of extra length, will cause a constant circuit and the horn will not stop honking. There is NO way to shorten the wire without taking the whole assembly apart! If you make any of these mistakes they will not become apparent until the whole column is together. I speak from experience, and in spite of the fact that it was forty years ago I still remember the shock of finding out that I was going have to take apart parts that I had just restored! Good luck!

I really hope that someone knows a better way, God knows that this has been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember!

[Skip Lackie]

You said you have all the manuals. Do you have a parts book, and if so. do you have all the parts needed to ground the wire that comes up the steering column?

WRT to threading the horn wire: I have been able to pull the horn wire down the steering column but pushing a piece of stiff mechanics wire up the column, and then using the smallest possible amount of electrical tape to attach the horn wire to it. It has to be able to pass through the small hole at the base of the steering column. If it doesn't work the first time, it's easy to do it over again.

[ddub]

Thanks Skip and Hallabutt. Yes, I have the Chassis manual as well as the shop manual and body manual. They just don't contain enough information for an amateur to understand. I have an auto electric guy working on the car but he has never seen anything like it, I think he is under 40.

This is the car in this thread from last summer. http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...in-Kirkland-WA

It appears a previous owner had done a lot of the cosmetics and gave up. When I bought it it would run and drive a little but no electrics. No lights of any kind or instruments other than oil pressure and amps. Trans worked better with more fluid but doesn't unlock when coming to a stop. I have a repair lined up for that.

The horn seems to be related to the lack of neutral safety switch and the anti creep not working and no back up lights. I'll start a new thread about the back up lights. ( I notice a lot of people now call them reverse lights, I've always known them as back up lights.)

I think I have the needed parts coming but still don't know where exactly they attach.

[Hallabutt]

You are aware that the backup lights only work when the lights are on. When I restored my car they bench tested fine, but I could not understand why they would not work when installed. Ran out of time for my first show in Forest Grove. First attempt at showing a car, and I was green. Drove the 170 or so miles from Seattle to FG, then my now x- wife and I spent five or six hours detailing. I swore that I would never do that again! On the show field the judges went through the checklist. start the engine, accessories, lights, reverse, so we can check the backup lights. I thought OK here it comes, then I heard from the back of the car, backup lights good. How could that be, I thought, did "Oreo," just fix himself! It took a bit of research to determine what would have been obvious to all mid 50's buyers, that they were only necessary when it was dark and the lights on, so thy were wired through the light switch.

[ddub]

Thanks for that bit, I would not thought of it.

Reminds me of another question. Although the lights were not working, they were wired so that the parking lights were on when the headlights were on. The guy who is trying to straighten this out for me has changed that. As I recall from those years you had head lights or parking lights both not both at once.

[Skip Lackie]

Thanks for that bit, I would not thought of it.

Reminds me of another question. Although the lights were not working, they were wired so that the parking lights were on when the headlights were on. The guy who is trying to straighten this out for me has changed that. As I recall from those years you had head lights or parking lights both not both at once.

That is true. I believe the first year for simultaneous head and parking lights was 1968, the same year that fender running lights became mandatory.

[Hallabutt]

Sounds like a problem in the light switch. Both the headlights and the parking lights operate through a single toggle switch. Flip the switch up and the headlights come on, down and the parking lights go on.

[ddub]

Yes, a PO had it wired wrong, now corrected.

[warrlaw1]

There is a little brass "cup" that the horn wire attaches to. Some steering wheel pullers destroy that. If you call S.I. they may have one. Good luck.