Horn Overhaul Kits?

[Bob S.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

John or Stewart, do you have the contact info for Ron. I checked the members list with no luck.
Sully

[Bob S.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

All,
I just talked to Ron Goralski (what a nice guy). I was looking for advice to help in my decision making on trying this myself. I'm glad I did. My horns are not repairable.
Ron asked if the mating surfaces are tight or opended like a clam shell. Both of mine are clams. He said you can't get that pot metal to lay back down without breaking it.
It looks like I'm on a quest for horns.

[Dennis C.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Having rebuilt quite a few horns in times past, you are way ahead by sending them to someone like Ron. They are "easy" to rebuild, but a b***h to get to sound right. After you have it apart about three times you will see what I am talking about.

No I do not rebuild horns for anyone, including me!

Dick,

I didn't think rebuilding my horns would be easy. I prefer to do most of my restoration myself. One of the reasons I started this project was because I enjoy the process.

I am sure Ron would do a better job then I would ever be able to do, but when it's all done I can say I restroed my car myself - except for the paint.

Regards,

Dennis

[Richard T.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Ron has done a few sets of horns for me and always does first class work. Some times I've provided donor horns (passenger car) if coils are needed. This seems to be the problem area today, you can get correct rivets, diaphragms, etc but if the coils are bad they're tough to find. Also you need to be carefull when drilling out the original rivets, it's easy to ruin the housing when drilling the original rivets out. Much better to send them to Ron. He does a first class job and he's a real gentleman to boot. I have a set of horns on my 62 that Ron did over 10 years ago and they still work great. 410-987-1948 also byegonevatte@comcast.net Rich

[Dennis C.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

let us know how it works out. I am interested in doing the same with my set of horns.

I managed to squeeze out enough time today to dismantle my horns. It took about an hour to break them down. All went well, except one of the diaphragms has a hole in it from rust.

Next I will clean them up & see what I can do about the diaphragm.

See the photos below.

Regards,

Dennis

[Ian G.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Contact Dennis Portka:

Dennis Portka
716-649-0921

He has repairable cores and does very good work. Expensive though ($200 + $150 core for my 351 horn). My core was not repairable either, so he saved me from buying another hunk of junk from eBay.

[Joe C.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

I managed to squeeze out enough time today to dismantle my horns. It took about an hour to break them down. All went well, except one of the diaphragms has a hole in it from rust.

Next I will clean them up & see what I can do about the diaphragm.

See the photos below.

Regards,

Dennis

Dennis,

Get new diaphragms from Zip.
Be SURE that there is continuity in both coils.
Be SURE that there is continuity to the 12V lug on the case. Oftentimes, corrosion gets underneath the lug and its rivet, preventing contact.
Again, I must stress, that you MUST make sure that both mating surfaces of the "cochleas" are dead flat. Lightly "face" them on a flat surface, using a full sheet of fine emery cloth.
First assemble with small machine screws and nuts. Check operation and adjust amplitude (tone). Replace each machine screw, one at a time with a rivet, retesting each time. Foolproof way to ensure a good rebuild.
Best of luck.
Do them yourself.
They are easy, unless you have poor manual dexterity, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, or Tourette's.

Joe

[Terry D.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Bob
The last contact I had with Ron was at byegonevette@aol.com
Terry

[David K.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

I didn't know ZIP had the diaphragms. I have the 441-442 that need rebuilt. As is not unusual for me, the housings kind of swelled and their are cracks around the rivet bosses. I assume a good welder could touch them up and then get them flat. Probably should get them flat first, then weld up the damage and fix the weld marks.

[Joe C.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

I didn't know ZIP had the diaphragms. I have the 441-442 that need rebuilt. As is not unusual for me, the housings kind of swelled and their are cracks around the rivet bosses. I assume a good welder could touch them up and then get them flat. Probably should get them flat first, then weld up the damage and fix the weld marks.

David,

See my first post in this thread, November 8th, 9:07 A.M.
Much of it was joking. Within the jokes was some good stuff that nobody bothered to look at, including this link:

http://www.zip-products.com/Zip/productr.asp?pf%5Fid=M%2D3065&gift=False&HSLB=False&mscssid=95C82D8817AE4C48A499EC2ED3524E49

Since there are no stresses "to speak of" at the rivet bosses, I would suggest a good, strong epoxy type repair, like JB Weld, or similar.

[Ian G.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Last I spoke with Ron, unless something has changed, is he doesn't have any more parts for C1 horns and does not repair them anymore.

[Richard T.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Ron still restores horns as long as they don't need coils which are almost impossible to find. As long as your horns do not need coils he will restore them. Rich

[David K.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Joe, it doesn't look as though that kit will work for my '62. I do need diaphragms for mine.

[Dennis C.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

Dennis,

Get new diaphragms from Zip.
Be SURE that there is continuity in both coils.
Be SURE that there is continuity to the 12V lug on the case. Oftentimes, corrosion gets underneath the lug and its rivet, preventing contact.
Again, I must stress, that you MUST make sure that both mating surfaces of the "cochleas" are dead flat. Lightly "face" them on a flat surface, using a full sheet of fine emery cloth.
First assemble with small machine screws and nuts. Check operation and adjust amplitude (tone). Replace each machine screw, one at a time with a rivet, retesting each time. Foolproof way to ensure a good rebuild.
Best of luck.
Do them yourself.
They are easy, unless you have poor manual dexterity, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, or Tourette's.

Joe

Joe,

Thanks!

Your right, it seems fairly basic work.

I had already checked the coils and they have continuity. When I originaly purchased Zip's rebuilt kit, I wanted a deluxe kit with diaphragms, however, it appears they only have them for 64-75 rebuild kits. Unless your telling me the diaohragms from this kit will fit 61 horns (441 & 442)?

Regards,

Dennis

[Mark P.]

Re: Horn Overhaul Kits?

About a month ago I spoke with Ron about restoring a set of 351/352 horns. He said he had a couple sets left and he didn't know where he could find kits that would work. he said all the kits that were on the market would not work for my horns. He also said if the bell of the horn was cracked he could probably fix it but if it was warped and pulling apart he probably could not.