Converted 9 Bolt Horn

[Old Ugly 40]

Hi all,
I have been watching this horn on ebay for a while now. It has been converted from a 6 bolt. Does it look to be done properly. Bolt locations, spacing ect? Is the price reasonable? ebay fohttp://www.ebay.ca/itm/221944870772?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AITr
Don't know how to post a link to it. Tried, but it obviously didn"t work. Hope it's enough to work with, sorry.
Thank you in advance for looking and any advise.
Rod
AMCA#25781

[BigLakeBob]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221944870772...772%26_rdc%3D1

[Old Ugly 40]

Thank you Bob,
You must be some kind of Wizard.
Thanks again,
Rod
AMCA#25781

[46WL]

I think he put the holes in the wrong spots. Not the same as an original.

[dommi7]

I agree. The horn should be setup so the wire connections point to the side when mounted.

I think he put the holes in the wrong spots. Not the same as an original.

[Old Ugly 40]

I agree. The horn should be setup so the wire connections point to the side when mounted.

Hi 46WL and dommi7,
Thank you both for your input. I have never had an original 9 bolt horn in my hands or even seen one mounted on a bike so am ignorant as to what they look like.
I believe the 4 long bolts are used to mount the horn. Looking at pics they appear to be correct putting terminals to either the right or left. Are the bolts for the face located wrong? What really bothers me is the length of time it's been listed. Why?
If I do buy this horn my cost delivered would be about $450.00 can. so it needs to be correct. Need to do more research.
Thanks again guys.
Rod
AMCA#25781

[Chris Haynes]

Harbor Vintage reproduces the 9 screw outer ring with the square holes for the carriage screws. With that in place drilling the other 3 holes is easy.

[Old Ugly 40]

Harbor Vintage reproduces the 9 screw outer ring with the square holes for the carriage screws. With that in place drilling the other 3 holes is easy.

Thank you Chris.
I will check them out.
Rod

[Jerry Wieland]

If you are going to convert a car horn to a 9 bolt HD horn just be advised that you can always tell a former car horn once you get inside it. The thing to watch out for is to make sure you select the right car horn to convert. They come with 3 different sized holes. The Delco's with a bugle have the biggest holes and can always be spotted while it is assembled - so try to avoid these. If you need any more information I will have to go out to my shop and check those that I have and that won't be for a couple of days. I can also post pictures if someone wants.

The hard part is not drilling the holes so much as it is making them square.

Jerry

[Old Ugly 40]

Hi Jerry and thank you.
Any pictures and info you can supply would be great. I did not know that there are car horns that were even close to these early Harley horns. What cars were they on?
I would really like to see a pic of a side and back view of an original 9 bolt horn so I can see how thick the washer is and the bolt pattern.
I have a #4801-42 (I think) horn. Good working horn but the bracket is broken. I,m going to see if it can be chucked in a lathe and have the bracket cut of flush with the
washer. If this will work, with a good coat of paint it shouldn't be to noticeable. I have a new mount kit and have been playing with this the last couple of days. I believe I
have the bolt pattern figured out, doesn't look like rocket science.
If the bracket can be taken off successfully I think this is my best bet. I have more time than money and an origin would be to costly even if I could find one.
Bye for now.
Rod
AMCA#25781

[jwl]

I removed a bracket once like you have suggested. It was a hummer horn with broken spring brackets. That went OK but I wasn't satisfied with the way it looked. (Too much protrusion) Then I used the lathe to remove the rivited part and removed the bracket completely. That went well. What I failed to have was a good plan to rerivit the thing back together. I tried (unsuccessfully) to smash the thing back together with a hydraulic press but things got out of line and I ruined the whole works.

As for the horns being used in a variety of applications, I have another story. I spend winters in western Arizona. Across the road from me are a couple of mesas that are quite a bit higher than the surrounding area. I heard stories of a C-47 transport plane that supposedly crashed up there during WWII. I and some friends hiked up there one day and did find the crash site. Most of the wreckage had been removed but there still was somewhat of a debris field. Story was that approx 2 dozen men died there. That made for a rather eerie feeling just being there. I did find a Delco 16 horn (6 bolt) with no face of any kind. It was bent up a little but still pretty sound. Don't know what that would have been used for on a C-47 but I suppose some sort of interior signal or warning. I didn't take anything from the site out of respect for the guys that lost their lives there. Upon a subsequent visit 2 years later the horn was still there. I haven't been back up there for a few years now because the hike up and through the rocks, occotillo, and cholla is pretty tough for an out of shape old guy. If you are interested in the story of the crash, you can google "C-47 Christmas eve black mesa" and you will find some info.

[Old Ugly 40]

Hi jwl,
I enjoyed both stories. I have read posts somewhere about someone successfully riveting that washer back on and others that didn't succeed. Not going to try that.
Isn't there an airplane graveyard somewhere in Arizona? Might be a supply of Delco 16 horn there.
Was the ID washer the same thickness on the earlier horns as it is on the later horns with the brackets?
Thank you,
Rod

[Old Ugly 40]

Hi again to all,
I've been studying the later horn that I have and the one on ebay. Looking at the ebay pictures and comparing it to my horn it looks to me that the way the bolts are located on the ebay horn the terminals would be clocked at about one o'clock on the right side when looking at it from the back. The only decent image I could find the terminals were at
3 o'clock which I believe is correct.
Any input out there?
Thanks in advance.
Rod
AMCA#25781

[jwl]

I'm sorry Rod, it's been awhile since I worked on any horns and I don't have any right here to look at. I can't help with washer dimensions or clocking.

[Old Ugly 40]

Hello again to all,
I did a search on this forum and found an old thread that I never found before. This tread was titled "1939 Delco horn for knuclehead"" by Rod E. It was dated 09-11-2010.
Chris Haynes, as usual, posted two great pics showing terminals at the 3 o'clock position on a 39. jorrow also posted two great pics of a 9 bolt horn showing bolt pattern, terminal location at 3 o'clock and the large washer on the back. jwl also had some good input.
The large washer on the back of jorrows' horn looks to be thicker than the bracket and the washer combined on the horn that I have. So from what I see I'm off to see my
semi retired Harley mechanic friend to see if he can cut the bracket off in his lathe.
I don't think locating the 3 new holes will be difficult as they are midway between existing holes. Making the square holes with a file will be a bit time consuming but doable. Hell, usually when I drill a hole it ends out square anyway.
I think this is my best bet, better than a repop and the only cost will be taking the bracket off.
Will be back later with the results.
Bye for now and thank you all for the help and input.
Rod
AMCA#25781