Media Blasting Resurrection of the Horns

[Mike B]

If the screws were painted on the horn, wouldn't these screw hole opening have a clear metal ring around them as if blocked by the screw head?

Good question Dan. The screws and nuts look like they were painted separately, so maybe the olive colored components were painted separately and then assembled? Notice the olive paint on the back of the screw heads and on the threads in the attached picture.

I also took the horns off #210 today and cleaned them up a little bit (no sandblasting) and took some comparison pictures of them with the other two sets. Notice that the heads of the bolts used to attach them to the radiator frame also look to be painted olive, but the bolts used on my 5/72 are cad plated with no paint. It also looks like the horns from #210 may have some olive overspray on the back side, or maybe its just dirty. Its hard to tell.

What brand of paint did you use to paint yours? I found some semi-gloss dark OD paint on the internet today that I am planning to order tomorrow.

-Mike

[hls30.com]

Media Blasting is fun!

When I first started cleaning up my parts I really enjoyed the before and after.

I use Glass Bead more than anything else, and control the air pressure to make a difference in cleaning times(at the expense of the media), but I do keep walnut Shells and Aluminum Oxide on hand as well. Sometimes I just toss the parts in my Revibratory cleaner and let it go. One thing I noticed is that thoroughly degreasing the parts to be cleaned really helps out and keepy the media from being contaminated-and spreading the grease to everything else in the cabinet. Now I have a stainless steel pot that I boil most parts in with a water/degreasing agent (Whisk, Marine Clean, Simple Green, etc) for a while before I blast them, When boiling a part would not be a good idea(Master Vac), I clean it thoroughly with clean rags, a spray bottle of the above mixture, and give it a final rinse with Mineral Spirits(spray bottle). Let it dry and spray media at it!

Will

PS

all of the unrestored/NOS Horns I have seen have the Olive Drab coating on them

[Mike B]

I just noticed something else about the horns. All four of the horns from #32 and #210 have a date code of "S10" and the horns from my 5/72 car have a date code of "V5". I am guessing that "S" translates to the year 1969 and "10" is the month of Oct (#32 has a production date of 10/69 and #210 has a production date of 11/69). "V" would then be 1972 and "5" would be May. What is the date code on yours Dan?

-Mike

[AZ-240z]

I just noticed something else about the horns. All four of the horns from #32 and #210 have a date code of "S10" and the horns from my 5/72 car have a date code of "V5". I am guessing that "S" translates to the year 1969 and "10" is the month of Oct (#32 has a production date of 10/69 and #210 has a production date of 11/69). "V" would then be 1972 and "5" would be May. What is the date code on yours Dan?

-Mike

My date codes are not going to be accurate to the manufacture of my car.

Pierre Z did most of the restoration and he had a tendancy to swap parts out from other cars. He probably did this with the Vintage Restorations also.

One horn is T10 and the other is U3.

I will try to attach a couple of pictures of the olive drab I used. The color went on a little too glossy, so I used some super fine steel wool to knock down the gloss and then do a quick polish. I think the final result came out real close to the original. Tell me what you think.

Dan

Mike, I just noticed (not able to absorb too much at once as an old person) that #210's mounting brackets also appear to be painted olive along with the mounting bolts. Your right, not able to tell if the backs were painted or left metal colored. I think I may just paint the phillips screws, nuts, and mounting brackets olive also, and leave the back natural metal. My mounting bolts are new gold zinc which I will leave alone.

Edited May 26, 2009 by AZ-240z

[Mike B]

Looks good Dan. I think the center of the horns in the second pictures of post #37 are pretty representative of the original color and it seems to be a good match. The paint number on your can (#24087) is the same color number on the paint I am planning to order tomorrow.

-Mike

[AZ-240z]

Thanks, Mike. The color matches up pretty good with the seat rail color so I think you will be happy with that paint color code. I bought it at my local auto paint supplier. I would also like to create a stensil for the "H" & "L" on the mounting brackets, but my just pass on that because it would have to be perfect to look correct and original.

Dan

[AZ-240z]

I finally finished restoring my horns and thought I would add a few pictures of the results.

I made a set of gaskets for each side of the diaphram as the old paper diaphram material was pretty much toast. Also having a tough time getting these horns to work properly using the adjustment screw on the back plate, probably because of these new diaphram gaskets. There is a proceedure for volume adjustment in the Electrics section of the FSM but I'm doing it by trial and error for now.

I was tempted to paint the heads of the phillips screws, but this thread shows both painted and bare metal.

Anyhoo, I'm glad they are done for now.

Dan

[rtaylor]

Dan. That color looks perfect. Great job.

[motorman7]

Mine are the same. Same color as used on the seat sliders.

Yes, mine are also the olive drab and original. There is a pick of them on the '70 refresh thread.

[AZ-240z]

Thanks, Randy. The color is not exact, but very close to the seat slider rail color. It is difficult to see the difference unless the colors are viewed side by side, and then the new paint just appears a little less faded.

Motorman7, it'l be fun watching the refresh of your extremely nice survivor. Hope you will have as much fun as I have had doing mine.

Dan

[Mike B]

I ordered the same paint code that Dan used (24087), but from a different manufacturer (Gillespie). I found two places that sold it online (Rapco is the place I bought it from). After I painted a set of horns with it, it seemed a little more brown than what was originally on the horns from my 1969 production cars. So I ordered the exact same paint that Dan used (Aervoe) and painted a spare set. That paint seems to be slightly darker green, and a little more glossy than the original paint. Like Dan, I used some steel wool on the darker green horns to make them a little less glossy. I think either paint would be close enough for most people. Here are some comparison pictures with and without flash (it is an overcast Seattle evening here). The Aervoe brand is on the left, the original is in the center, and the Gillespie/Rapco is on the right. I decided to paint the screws and nuts (including the mounting bolts) since that is how they were on my cars.

-Mike

[motorman7]

These are mine. Pretty close to original but with some minor corrosion. build dat 3/70

Rich