Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1966 Chevrolet Caprice Horn Assembly, Horn no beep

Question
Hi Dick I am a first time classic car buyer and I have recently purchased a 1966 Chevrolet Caprice 2D HT with Telescopic Steering. I have the parts (mostly i think) for the horn assembly on the steering wheel, but I have not a clue on how to piece it together. I have looked online for car catalogs (Classic Industries) and have been unable to locate specific instructions for installation. Also I have no idea on which parts may be missing (if any).

Can you please assist me in finding documentation that may help me install this and or order parts for it if need be?

Much thanks, in advance!

Chris

Answer
IF your car has the tilt and telescope steering column, it is very tricky to work on, and dangerous to take apart because of some very powerful springs in the mechanism, and special tools required to work on it.

You shouldn't have to get involved with the tilt and telescope mechanism to get the horn working; my reason for mentioning the above is to warn you about taking too much apart!

If you have the steering wheel off the column, you need to investigate why the contacts in the steering wheel are not grounding the horn wire - that is all you need to do to sound the horn.  To test this, manually ground the horn wire that comes up to the base of the steering wheel to see if that makes the horn blow. If it does not, the problem is elsewhere.  The next step is to investigate the horn relay and its connections.

If the horn blows when you ground the wire in the column, you just need to study the mechanism in the steering wheel assembly that connects to that wire and grounds it - beyond that I can't give you any more info without taking it apart and studying it myself.  However, it ain't rocket science - you should be able to find the trouble yourself if you have a multi-meter to test the contacts with.

For an exploded view of the horn assembly, you would have to find a parts book or a shop manual for the car - try one of the automobile literature dealers for that - I use Ed Faxon at www.faxonautolit.com but there are many others.

Dick