The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 51 horn?

Hi everyone, been learning a lot here as I continue to restore my gramps truck. Turns out a neighbor of mine has a 1952 5 window that I just saw/ found out about today! I didn't think there was another like mine in the whole city much less down the street. Anyway, I was looking at his today and noticed that his horn looked like a klaxon... Mine appears to be a clamshell repro. Is there a good source for rebuilt horns and is his an original or just something that was put on at some point?

Thanks in advance!

Lee

A pair of seashell style horns were an accessory during Advance-Design years, usually mounted on the firewall over the deluxe heater motor in 47-53 and on the front side of the radiator housing in 54/55.

A single seashell style horn was the standard horn in 1953 (mounted on the intake manifold) and in 54/55 (mounted on the front side of the radiator frame/housing.

A "klaxon style" horn was the standard horn from 47-52 and it was mounted on the intake manifold.

I have never seen rebuilt or repro horns in either style (but used and NOS ones show up in eBay).

Thanks Tim, great info!

I probably jumped the gun a bit too soon, but this one on eBay looked good to me so I purchased it. I probably paid to much, but I'd rather have this than what I have now or some other chi-com bloc repop.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=190494109249

I talked to my grandpa today, apparently he still has the original horn in his barn. Said it was not working right, hopefully I can find it and get it fixed/ restored. It may just have needed adjusting.

Lee

Do you have a 216 in your 1951 1/2 ton?

On a 52 is that what goes where the half moon thing is on the manifold?

pop the dome off the back and file the contact points and it will probably work just fine...

Yes Z, it mounts on the manifold, ahead of the carburetor. If you have a newer intake, the raised boss doesn`t exist.

@dads50. Yes. It's a 216, at least that is what my grandpa says it is. Too much old grease to see the engine number to 100% confirm that, but the motor is original to the truck so I assumed 216. Btw, your truck is absolutely amazing, I hope to get mine looking like that one day!

Thanks gmcnut, I'll definitely give that a try if we find it.

MLT
Thanks for your comments.

As stated above, that style horn mounts on a tab on the 216 manifold. If you had a 235 with a 235 manifold you would not have the mounting tab.

Here is a reference photo (Not my truck)
pic...click...

I’ve converted to 12v and the 6v horn works fine.

Good luck on your Grandpa's truck. Next time he’s over snap a bunch of pics by the truck for your photo album.

Great thanks. The repro is mounted on the intake so I think I'm good to go.

Pre-1954 235 truck engine manifolds also had the "tab" for mounting the horn on the intake manifold (I am not sure about passenger car manifolds).

That’s good to know, My 50 has a later 54 car 235 but still using the 216 manifold. Some point I want to get a 235 manifold, good to know I can keep the horn location.

Thank for the clarification and Happy B day

not to bring up this discussion. Work keeps me from checking the forum as often as i want.

Sooo is this the bracket for the horn type discussed above?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...tageQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

If so that is what my 52 has BUT i have the l bracket with the high tone and low tone horns with what looks like original wiring.

Here is a pic from my truck

...pic 1 click...
...pic 2 click...

Understood... was jsut wondering why would both setups be on the truck. Just weird is all.

Well crap, was going to pull a new wire today up the steering column for the new horn, unfortunately the condition of the contact plate and spring bushing are shot beyond repair. Oh yeah, to top it off the old mast bearing wire went bye-bye into the steering column as I was disconnecting it from the old (soon to be replaced) harness. Miller Time.

(1) Which horn type are you referring to? Presumably, you are referring to the "seashell" horn, perhaps a dual-horn set? The bracket you link-to looks like a dual-horn bracket (two are needed) - see next answer.

(2) My guess is that one of those brackets are needed for each of the dual horns.

(3) What are the "both setups" you refer to?

No not quite what i was saying..

I have seen two types of horns posted. One is the trumpet style horn (oogah style is what i call them) and the sea shell style horn.. or french horn shaped.

The manifold i have on the truck has the bracket that i saw in earlier posts for a trumpet style horn that mounts on the manifold. The bracket i have has 2 seashell horns on it and seems like it mounted to the radiator support? or maybe to the inner drivers fender? I can't tell as the bracket was sitting on top of the engine and not mounted but the wires were still in place and hoocked up to the dual horns.

When i refer to both setup i am referring to the fact that the trumpet horn mount is there along with the dual horn mount.

Several people have posted information that they have found dual horns (seashell style) mounted on the inner fender (not the location shown in the factory installation manual).

Can you post a link-to a photo of your mounting bracket(s)? Presumably, it is not like the bracket that attaches to the mounting-boss on the intake manifold (shown by DADS50), nor is it like the one shown in the installation manual?

It should also be noted that 6v seashell-style horns were used on cars - those horns had slightly different mounting brackets and the brackets attached to different bolt-locations on the car horn housings. It is quite possible that someone added car horns at sometime in your truck's life (and might have fabricated a mounting bracket). If you can post a link-to a photo of the mounting bolts on your seashell horns, I can check to see if they match a truck or a car horn. (or, you could compare the orientation of your seashell horns to the brackets in comparison the photo in the installation manual)

In all it's rusted .. swiss cheese glory.. LOL

http://www.seamansfamily.com/SharedImages/52Chevy/horn.png


i don't have my manual with me but it appears to be like the one in it. Or rather how they show it.

The angle-iron bracket is "home-made"

The horns look to have the car-horn mounting brackets.

Thanks.. again with this pieced together truck i can never assume.

Looks like at some point i will be looking for a new horn.. LOL Saves me some time from having to try and "rebuild" these.

Here's a before and after pic of mine. It mounts on the boss on the intake/235

before
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/lt1bubble/d8f20808.jpg

after
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/lt1bubble/4d9b283c.jpg
not original color but I love chevy orange!

Looks great to me!

I'm ready to install mine as soon as the bracket gets here. Pulled the wheel and the mast bearing, got a new wire soldered on.... Spring bushing and contact plate were shot though. Can't wait to have this working. It was the last issue I had to take care of before the harness could go in. It has a horn relay now, but I'm going to take it out and do an original configuration.

MLT Awesome bolt! I think thats how my truck looked when it first came out. Under the hood, it has a bluish color like that! And ivory interior

I have a 1955 235 in my '48 Chevy 1/2 ton. There is no tab on the manifold for the Klaxon-style horn to mount; does anyone have thoughts as to how I can replicate the look of the original install for the horn like it would have been on the 216 manifold tab? Thanks.

In between the 3835590 casting and the 3754644 I believe there was a casting number 3836922 in 1956-58. The 3835590 manifold had the horn mount flange on it up till '56 even though the Klaxon horn was discontinued and the sea shell horn was used on the later vehicles.
Here are some examples of the intake mainifolds at the bottom of the page:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/fuel__exhaust&page=all
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I hope it's OK if I jump in here, since people are talking about brackets. Can someone help me identify these horns? Got them from a used parts dealer. I have a 1953 3600, and I was thinking of using them on the firewall as shown in the Chevy Accessory manual.

But I am baffled by the brackets. From a car? BTW, note that one says "LO" but the other has no similar ID. Also, one wire seems to go to a screw post, the other horn it comes out from under the case.

Here they are:

http://hornpix.shutterfly.com/pictures/

Thanks!!

Harry