Early Horn Differences

[CanTechZ]

I recently removed my horns to remove some overspray and noticed a few things. Firstly they are the olive drab color, which I was expecting as this a 1970 car. Here's a pic during the cleaning process.

When I started to wire brush the backs of the horns I noticed that the decibel rating was 110dB, not the 115dB rating I have seen in pictures. Here are pictures of the backs.

I have read posts talking about later horns being black in color and I was wondering if this was when the change to 115dB was made. I have a horn from a 12/70 parts car that has a horn date code of T11 (1970 November) and it has a rating of 115dB, this horn has so much paint on it I can't tell what the original color was.

My low tone 110dB horn has a date code of T6 (1970 June) and my high tone 110dB horn has a date code of T7 (1970 July). I hope I am interpreting the date codes correctly.

Here is a link to a thread I found with some good background info:

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/29367-media-blasting-resurrection-of-the-horns/?hl=%26quot%3Bhorn+color%26quot%3B#entry260401

Any thoughts?

Mike

[Zup]

Hi Mike--

Your horn project looks great and your revival of an old thread is very interesting!

I can't help with the date of the change to 115db, but did notice while refurbishing my 6/73 240Z original horns (both dated W7) that the color was definitely not black as was referenced in thread you provided. Comparison to many black painted objects around the house and shop helped to confirm this.

The manufacturer, (Miyamotohorn) really put some quality materials into the fabrication of these horns.

The paint they used was very durable---about as close to powder coated as I can imagine-- being applied 40+ years ago.

I used medium grade steel wool and even a very vigorous scrubbing does not phase it. I don't know what caused the vertical barring in the paint (see left horn), but both horns exhibited this.

Near as my eyes can tell the color is a very dark olive drab---and could easily be mistaken as black.

In the photo, the horn on the left has only been cleaned. The one on the right has been cleaned and the painted portions re-painted to simulate the original. The closest I could come was to spray them with olive drab camouflage (too green), followed by metallic bronze (not green enough) and then a very light misting of the olive drab camouflage again to give it a slightly greenish cast. The photos do not show up these differences as well as I hoped they would, but this process satisfied my eyes and those of several neighbors I asked for opinion.

The mounting ear spring assembly portion is made of high grade stainless steel and all of the mounting and assembly screws are of high grade steel that does not rust badly. The stainless mounting ears, large mounting bolts and screws were not painted nor were the backsides of the horns as your photo shows. Only the outer front ring and center portion of the horn were painted.

The nut, lockwasher and screw in the center were not painted.

Hopefully others will chime in with their observations and experiences regarding horn restoration and paint correctness and insight as to the date change from 110db to 115db.

My theory of why the date of manufacture of the car is 6/73 while the date of the horns is 7/73 is that the car is a very late 6th month build and the fitment of the horns was in the last stages of production of the car and as a result it received horns actually made in 7/73. I should add that the car was purchased from the original owner and has full documentation of it's mileage and service records.

Jim D.

"Zup"

Edited May 11, 2015 by Zup

[CanTechZ]

Thanks Jim, and nice work on your horn resto. How does the original color of your horns compare to the olive green seat rail color?

The dates on my horns are also very close to the car build date, it seems they were very good at the "just in time" manufacturing method for parts procurement.