1966 Horn Relay PN 115837

[John L.]

I recently got dinged for the horn relay on my 66. It is the correct part no etc namely 1115837 - also has the correct clear plastic bottom skirt. As far as I can tell, it was original to the car. The judge told me that the cap was either supposed to be slitted or have a slit impression on the lip. Would someone please explain this to me a little clearer.

thanks

john lolli

[Peter L.]

Re: 1966 Horn Relay PN 115837

John - The slits can be on the ends where the tab that hold the top on to the base of the horn relay. My experience in looking at lots of '66 and '67 horn relays is that these slits are not on all "original" 1966 and 1967 1115837 horn relays, some as the one you have on your car have no slits so the tabs are continueous. So, it's not a case of "one size fits all." My observations show that this feature was common on horn relays and other relays that used that cap thru into the 1965 model year. It was on some 1966 and 1967 horn relays and I have not seen this feature on the horn relays starting with the 1968 model year and into the horn relays up thru 1971 which used this same basic cap.

I can tell you that on the 3 cars I have which I bet have the original horn relays that my '66 Chevelle (May-June car) does not have the slits, my '66 Corvette (June car) does not have the slits; but my '67 Corvette (Sept car) does have the slits.

BTW, I don't think this feature is called out in the TIM&JG, so you could bump the call up to the team leader and see. Pete

[John L.]

Re: 1966 Horn Relay PN 115837

Peter

Thank you for the response. Are the tabs actually cut in a "V" and then folded over or are the slits just impressions on the tabs.

thanks

john lolli

[Peter L.]

Re: 1966 Horn Relay PN 1115837

John - Sorry for the slight delay, but I had to go to the "part's department." I'm looking at an "original used" 1115824 ('63-'65) horn relay and a NOS 1115837 horn relay both with the slits or cuts on the side of the cover at the bottom edge. There is a definite slit or cut thru the cap that extends ~ 1/4" up the side of the cover and down thru the edge of the corner of the cover that fits the cover to the base and thru the tabs that fold over to secure the cover to the base. The slit or cut is such that the tabs are in two segments where they fold over the base. Also, note that the fit where the slits or cuts are on the lower side of the cover is very tight so there's no gap. If there's any gap it's where the tabs are folded over to the base. If a picture would help, let me know. Pete

[Gary B.]

One more data point

John, Pete,

The original 837 horn relay from my July build date 66 L79 is sitting on the desk in front on me as I type this. I'm not 100% clear where these slits might be, but if I understand Pete's description they might be at the LH and RH ends at the base of the cap as I'm holding the unit looking down at it with the Delco Remy script running left to right. On the LH and RH ends of the base of the cap there are two metal tabs integral with the metal cover that are bent over to hold on the cover. Is this where I should be looking? If so, these two bent over tabs are about 7/16 wide by about 1/8 or 3/16 in the bending direction. There are no slits on my tabs.

Gary

[Jack H.]

Think I agree....

I've picked up 100's of horn relays from that era of time and I've seen caps constructed BOTH ways (with and without the slit down the center of the tab that's crimped to mount the cap to the relay base). Saying that there's ONE 'correct' form of cap construction for a given era seems to me to be a leap of faith without supporting source documentation tying the change in assy tooling to a date or range of dates, relay PN or series of PN's, and final assy locations for both the horn relay and the vehicle.....

I'll take a WAG and venture to guess that with Delco Remy pumping out horn relays in the MILLIONS of units each year, they had more than ONE set of cover stamping tooling! Putting a split down the middle of the crimp tabs seems to be a way to reduce defect/scrap rates (you've now got FOUR vs. TWO tabs to hold the cover to the base in the event of tab fatigue fracture during final assy crimp). But, I know I don't know and I'd give the benefit of the doubt to the owner....

Perhaps those who participate on this board with GM inside experience can tell us more.