Ahooga Horn

The a-hoo without the ga typically results from the adjusting screw being too tight. If your horn has been working recently, try backing the adjusting screw off 1-2 clicks. If the horn hasn't been sounded in a few months, do as follows:

If you don't know the last time the horn was oiled, remove the cover and oil the felts. Just a drop will do ya; you want to get the oil as close to the shaft as you can. Replace the cover.

Back out the adjusting screw a full turn, or as much as is needed to get the ratchet off the diaphragm completely. Hold down the horn button and make sure you can hear the armature spinning freely. Keep holding the button. Let the armature spin 30 seconds or so. You should hear it speed up and then hold a mostly-constant speed. Once that happens, release the horn button. Incrementally turn the adjusting screw in until you hear the sound you want, then stop.
 
The "ah" is the motor spinning up, the "hoo" is the motor at speed, and the "ga" is the motor spinning down. Lack of "ga" likely means the motor just stops as soon as the voltage is removed. Could be adjustment too tight, maybe lack of lube, lots of things (as Alex said). I just oiled mine first time since (likely) first of the year and it now sounds lovely. BTW, I use TriFlow light oil with teflon, delivered through a fine tube to the oil pads.

JayJay
 
The characteristic sound of the Model A horn also has to do with the armature moving back and forth. When the current is flowing the armature moves closer to the ratchet because of the magnetic force, and when the current is removed it moves away from the ratchet. The adjustment has to be just right to get this sound. Adjust just one click at a time and make sure the adjustment stops at a detent.
 
When you have the cover off, look at the commutator, if it is not clean and shiny copper, get the motor to run and while running use fine sandpaper to shine up the copper. The motor while run a lot faster once this is clean.
 
Poor contact can also cause lack of power, and less horn.
Check the wiring at the horn, one is power, one is ground. If you run a jumper to the ground terminal and ground it on the body or engine, and the sound is better, you have a horn button or contact issue, usually poor contact at the bottom of the horn rods.
 
Good morning,


if you want to make the horn work much more powerfully, it is very helpful to mount a relay in addition to the work already mentioned, which supplies the horn directly from the battery with a thick power cable.
 
I just finished the restoriaton of 6 horns. I could not get the ga out of the first 4 units. Upon disassembly these 4 units had new diaphrams that are .001 thicker than the origionals. Dug the old units out of the trash reassembled an boom the ga is back!!
 
Bigsnapper43 said:
I just finished the restoriaton of 6 horns. I could not get the ga out of the first 4 units. Upon disassembly these 4 units had new diaphrams that are .001 thicker than the origionals. Dug the old units out of the trash reassembled an boom the ga is back!!
Click to expand...


Sometimes that’s due to the thickness of the paint. The guides tell you to be careful to just give the diaphragm a very light coat of paint.
 
When I first got my 28 Roadster the horn hardly worked. I put up with the terrible sound for 3-4 years. I took it out of the car and totally cleaned everything inside it. Oiled it then put it all back together and adjusted the screw and it has never worked better, It works better than my 31 Tudor. It has the best sound ever.
 
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