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Now that I have all of the electrical part of the horn working on my 41 Packard Convertible, I am ready to move on trying to rebuild the passenger side horn. First I am asking the group of they know of or might have a horn that will work on this car? The horn is the low note horn and the passenger
side horn.

I have disassembled the horn and found one wire broken in the winding. We had tried to solder this back together and it has been hot enough that the shellac that is impregnated in the winding had melted, thus probably creating a dead short in the winding. I have carefully removed the winding and find that it is not broken etc. Now I am trying to figure out what to use to make the winding work correctly again.

I have looked at Indian Head Shellac, but it is very viscous and probably won't pour effectively. I have considered heating it in boiling water to make it less viscous or thinning it with mineral spirits. I have also looked at the product called liquid electric tape. This product dries like rubber, but I am concerned that it may in itself possibly contribute to creating too much heat in the winding of the horn.

On another note, I considered using door bell wire, which is 20 gauge and has insulation around it. The 20 gauge is about the same diameter as the original wire. I would just measure out the wire that is on the original unit and rewind the coil with the new wire. However, I do not know if the winding in the horn coil creates an electromagnet type effect and if the insulation on the bell wire would render the horn inoperable for this reason. Any one familiar with trying to rebuild a horn or have any comments to my ideas?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Willie J

Do a google search for 20 ga magnet wire (or any other size you might need) Several came up listing it including chain stores.

EDIT: just get the enameled magnet wire in the same size and length you have now. Try to wind the coil in same direction and compactness as old one & should be good to go.

I have seen coated copper wire of small gauge in hobby stores (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, HobbyTown). It is used for jewelery making. I don't know how good the coating is as an insulator, but worth looking into.

Edit: The package says this wire is not for electrical use. Radio Shack sells coil wire for rewinding.

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Sounds like you are in over your head. If the coil is now damaged beyond repair and you want to try to rewind the coil you should take a sample to a good electronics store, Not Radio Shack, and buy the correct enameled wire in the correct size. Remove the old wire while counting the turns it took to remove. Rewind with the correct magnet/enameled wire and reconnect. Note: you must scrape the enamel from the ends of the wire before you attempt to solder. Use electrical (rosen core lead) solder. Don't like the non lead type at all.

Another alternative is to buy a replacement horn or send the damaged one to someone who has some experience repairing such things.

Thanks guys,

I checked the diameter of the wire of my horn and it is 18 gauge. I googled per your instructions and found the product I needed at powerwerx and have it ordered and on the way.

By note to bob1951 I have found it very rare that I am in over my head. I own a small restoration shop since I retired from ExxonMobil 7 years ago as a lubrication engineer and I now restore classic cars, mostly Studebakers and I have two Packard Convertibles that I have done major work on, including completely overhauling the 282 engine myself, and changing the transmission to an overdrive setup. I also am a retired super gas drag racer, who built his own car and did all of the intricate wiring including throttle stop, delay boxes etc. to make the car competitive.

I happen to live in a city of 30,000 in the middle of nowhere and very few if any people in the community know more than I do about the restoration or building of hot rods.

I am grateful for the Packard Forum and find it rewarding that there is a group of people that are able to offer very helpful solutions and guide each other in answering their questions.

Willie J

SOLID core wire is not appopriate for automotive use. The vibration will break it. Need to use stranded or braided type wire.

There is a lot to the business of winding coils, even ones as simple as a vibrator horn (which is what yours is) and I think the possibility of getting it right with store bought material is pretty chancey.

I'd agree on most cases of auto use that stranded is best, but in this case of rewinding a coil, believe solid is the best, if not the only choice. Anything braided or stranded would have a plastic insulation. That would increase the bulk to the point the required length or number of turns probably wouldn't fit in the allotted space. Since the coil is fixed and wires connecting are short and soldered within same space or housing don't believe vibration will be an issue. As long as care is taken to duplicate the layout so any fibre insulation present is replaced or leads are brought in and out in same location as original, should be do-able.

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HH56 is correct, you don't want to use anything other than solid copper wire for things like coils and windings.

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Building hot rods or restoring cars has little to do with rewinding coils. Sorry I offended you.