The 'E' Type Forum

Hi all, I need some help, my horn only works when the steering is centered and maybe 20 degrees each side of center. I am sure it is a ground issue but can’t seem to find that wire around the column. Anyone ever experienced this issue? Help would be appreciated.

Hi
Could be the sliding copper contact that sits against the inner column ..they can GT worn over time and loose contact

For just a moment I thought Flanders and Swann were going to come into this

??

Question is how do I get to it?

"Ill Wind"...their wonderful song about Flanders learning to play the horn, but finding it stolen was unable to give a performance. With apologies to Mozart.

I'm a huge fan of F&S; perhaps Christopher is too...

Danny.....Service manual....detailed steering column drawing.....your probably going to have to remove the column....Steve

This is what it looks like:




Suggest you dismantle the shaft and give everything a good clean. Basically the white ring clip sits over the shaft where the hole is. The small brass nipple fits into the hole, the spring goes on top and the brass collar holds everything in place. When the long thin inner brass rod is in place the nipple is in permanent contact with it regardless of rotation. The copper contact completes the circuit.

The original contacts were beryllium copper which is a good spring material. The new ones are regular copper, which is not. The BeCu will stay in contact, regular copper will relax to wherever it's held and not spring back. Hutsons sell ta repair kit if you need it. This is the repro copper contact to be wary of so try and reuse the original:



Start by checking the contact which you can do without dismantling the steering.

Thanks guys, in the mean time I consulted my manual before reading the las t post and went ahead to drop the top of the column and tapped the ground connecting box and contacts with a spanner and it all came back to life. if this approach doesn't last I will refer to the attached (thanks David) drawing/photos and delve deeper into it. I think the steering column was restored during the restoration so the ring hopefully was fresh.

Jeremy wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 02, 2022 2:54 pm

I'm a huge fan of F&S; perhaps Christopher is too...

Yes indeed ... and my favourite line from the Horn song is " Found my Horn.......Gorn"

here's a youtube link :

Love it!