Pick up Restoration (Part 2)

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:52 pm

Since I've been prattling on... the door bell rang and Pat delivered my new shiney pins, rather well packaged and protected, don't they look nice

Post by **davidmiles** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:27 pm

Fulcrum pin fitted, nice snug fit, trunnion painted up and nearly ready to bolt on. just need the dust covers to arrive,fit and we're go. Not long now till It'll be on four wheels.

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Post by **davidmiles** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:22 pm

trial fit of the trunnions, what a fiddle. trying to get the top and bottom pins into their respective holes is like doing a chinese puzzle, except with more metal and weight. they've got to come off again when the dust seals arrive in the post. uhem, bit of a wait there then.
So Ive only done them hand tight for now. when its on its wheels I'll do them up tighter.

Post by **DAVIDMCCULLOUGH** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:15 pm

Shouldnt be to hard, leave the pin in the damper then when you go to refit just slide it on and fit the rubber. This then hangs while you jack up the the torsion bar side of the wishhbone to fit. Pick a pie eating friend to stand in the engine bay to weigh it down!!

Post by **davidmiles** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:25 pm

oh good, I was begining to wonder if my wishbones were too low. With a chozzer friend sitting on the front and the wishbones supported from underneath it should all come together, It'll only cost me a packet of doughnuts.

Post by **davidmiles** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:15 pm

atmospheric shot denoting the end of the long summer morris minor evenings. With the clocks going back an hour yesterday there's less time to play with nuts and bolts. We sure pay for that extra hour in bed on sunday morning don't we. on the subject of paying extra, it cost loads of red leicester cheese carefully fed to the cat by my daughter Kay to get that shot. never work with animals....

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:43 pm

and they're here, great build up to christmas this, all these packages arriving. My trunnion dust covers...

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:46 pm

they fit on nice and snug, just have to wait till I have some daylight time and fit the trunnions back on.

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:52 pm

Now then, as its dark I can only deal with small components in my little workshop built on the back of my garage. well ahead of when I really need to think about it, the Horn. Do the originals sound different to reproductions ones, are they worth restoring, its the original voice of the car afterall. If they are worth work, can you get them appart?
anyone got any info or pictures of one stripped down?

Post by **les** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:46 pm

Looks like the connections have broken off, unless the picture is deceiving, maybe worth checking before starting. I quite like the original sound, it can be adjusted though to suit. Much better than a dixie horn!!!---- Sorry josh, but it has to be said!

Post by **mmjosh** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:57 pm

im not bothered

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:37 pm

so any tips on how to check it works?

Post by **RogerRust** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:08 am

You need to connect it to a battery! Not as silly as it sounds - it needs loads of current so a battery charger won't do. connect some wire to those two plastic shrouded terminals and give it a go. You can tune it by adjusting the screw in the middle.

Don't bother to take it apart just clean it and repaint it. If it doesn't work throw it away and get some nice dixie air horns!

Post by **tortron** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:08 am

easy enough horns to pull to bits (not many parts) i have rebuilt a couple, they look nice polished up
http://www.britishonly.com/pdf/lucas/sectionL7partA.pdf
pretty similar to this one.

Rebuilding Altette Horns - Sourced from http://www.thevincent.com

Amateur's Guide to Horn Restoration: I've stripped and repaired several horns and there's not much to them. They contains a coil, and set of points and a diaphragm. The points are in series with the coil and when they open, the coil's magnetic field collapses. They are so positioned that when current enters the horn the coil pulls the diaphragm inwards and opens the points which collapses the field which releases the diaphragm which closes the points and gives us magnetism again and again and again... .

My steps are:
1. Disassemble - You shouldn't have to open the big nut in the middle of the Diaphragm but open everything else.
2. Clean any spider nests and rust out of the inside.
3. Check the current path for opens or shorts.
4. Clean the points and all screwed connectors to bare metal.
5. Clean and oil all threads.
6. Check coil for continuity. If it is bad, give up and get it rewound or find another horn. If you don't have a meter, briefly apply voltage through the coil and see if you get magnetism.
7. Make sure the adjusting screw on the back really does change the point gap when turned and the spring works.
8. Reassemble and test. Use adjuster on the back to adjust the horn tone and volume. If it makes just one pop of the diaphragm when you try it, the points are not opening when the diaphragm pulls in. If it makes no noise, then the points are open when current is initially applied and they should start out closed.
9. When you get some noise, turn the adjusting screw till the sound stops in both directions and pick the best tone in between.
Be especially careful where wires attach to the back. If they are open and can get wet, it can short from the connection to the horn body and cook all your wiring. On the Vincent the horn wire is always hot and it's activated by providing a ground path with the switch. An inline fuse is advisable.
10. Polish, paint, re-chrome or whatever you like to the outside and you're in business.

edit:
if the coil is poked they are actually quite easy to rewind with fresh wire (i rebuilt my trafficators by doing this)

Post by **davidmiles** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:05 pm

Tortron you're on my wavelength, thanks for all that info.

Post by **taupe** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:35 pm

Yes

Dont adjust the big nut the little hex screw on the back is for fine tuning

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:04 pm

The cab dolly is no longer needed so it has been dismantled and its timber used to make this...

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:06 pm

An engine dolly, in this case engine gearbox combination dolly.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:12 pm

the engine had been placed to one side of the garage since april, so its not been the focus of my attention till now, This unit is from my earlier relic thread. Boy it needs a clean up before I can even get to the bolts....

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:16 pm

the removal of the lump to the outside gives me some space in the garage to finish working on the offside trunnion.