240Z horn button repair

[kenz240z]

When I bought my '73 240Z, most of the interior parts had been removed and were piled in the rear. After I painted the car I put the interior back together, and I noticed that the horn button would fall off at the slightest touch, even though it seemed to snap into place. Closer inspection revealed a crack in the inner plastic "ring", the one with a groove that is supposed to snap onto the steering wheel, as shown in the first photo.

After scratching the old noodle for awhile, and being a DIY type of guy, I came up with a simple fix: it seemed that a tie-wrap cinched around the outer perimeter of the plastic ring would make the horn button stay in place. The second photo shows the horn button, tie-wrap, and a couple of pliers I used to do the job...the 3rd photo shows the tie-wrap in place, before it was cinched tight, that's where the pliers came in handy. The 4th photo shows the tie-wrap in place and trimmed up. Finally, the last photo shows the horn button SECURELY installed on the steering wheel...it hasn't come off since!

I hope some of you find this usefull!!!

Kenny P.

[Ed]

Hey, good job. Thats some good old fashioned engineering. If it pops off again give me a PM. I've got a horn pad sitting around gathering dust.

[EScanlon]

I seem to recall having read or seen this somewhere else, but excellent post.

One note, having done this myself, this method works even when it isn't just a single crack that is the problem. I fixed an otherwise perfect horn button in a slight variation of the above.

I used JB Weld slathered somewhat liberally in between the crack edges and also to fill in material that had been lost due to chaffing or brittleness. Once the JB Weld was applied, I then used 3 of the smaller wire tie's and arranged them around the ring and tightened them down little by little until the shape and the roundness of the ring was perfect. Lastly before the JB has a chance to set thoroughly, I lathered some around the wire ties where they came in contact with the ring, so that they would be secured tight and not slip off the ring.

Next, as the JB weld is starting to set, I used my R/C Model plane heating gun and slowly heated the JB, one area at a time. This heats up the JB and causes it to release any bubbles within, since the material literally liquifies and the air burps out. Then before the JB has hardened again, I held it so that the crack(s) would be filled with the JB. If you work carefully and quickly it's possible to do all of the cracks one after the other. (In my case I had 3 cracks on one side and a pair on the other of the ring.)

I then let it sit overnight and only a light sanding with my Dremel was required to have it fit perfectly. Mine too has been on for a couple years.

Enrique

[dogma420]

i used bailing wire on mine years ago just like the zip tie, its true, works like a charm and mine never did come off, until i replaced the steering wheel!

[ChrisA]

Thank you all very much, I now have another project on the to-do list!! The tips are great!!

Chris

[kinfish]

Great post. Did same repair on my horn button 2 years ago except it had about 5 radial cracks and never would stay on. The plastic tie wrap along the inner circumference fixed it ....... hasn't fallen off since.

[Inf]

Just did the same repair after seeing this post, worked great. I used 4 small zip ties. It let me take it off and advance 1 or 2 of the zip ties 1 or 2 clicks until it fit the way I wanted it to.

A previous owner tried to fix it using some electrical wire at some point. He wrapped it around and used some pliers to twist the copper ends together to tighten it up. His repair didn't work near as well.

Edit

BTW, Kenny, I noticed that your head unit looks the same as mine. Panasonic CQ-C1300U? Does yours turn off properly? When I hit the power button it just acts like its shutting off but the backlight and button lights never turn off (turning it off while the car is still running I mean). A minor issue, the unit has worked well for me other than that

[kenz240z]

Hi Andrew,

I have a Panasonic CQ-1120U head unit. The previous owner had a cheap tape deck wired directly to a hot lead on the back of the fuse panel. When I removed it and installed the Panasonic CD player I re-used the same hot lead. Consequently, I have to manually power the unit down since it isn't switched off by the ignition.

The unit is powered down by pressing and holding the SRC button for a few seconds. The unit goes dark except for the SRC button, which has a red glow. I've noticed that if I bump the DISP button while the unit is off, the unit powers up, the display is backlit and the buttons light up. If I then try to power down the unit by by pressing the SRC button, the CD/radio will stop playing and the display will show the clock time, but remains backlit with the buttons lit. If I bump the DISP button a few times the unit will power down.

I don't know if this is because power to the unit is never switched off by the ignition. How is yours powered, directly to battery, or through the ignition?

I haven't had any problems with mine, but may eventually power the unit through an ignition switched lead to prevent me from accidently leaving it on for an extended period of time.

Hope this helps...my explanation should be clear as mud! :classic:

Kenny P.