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MG MGA - HORNS NOT LOUD

Any suggestion on what to do for my MGA horns. I have both low and high. I have taken off the end caps and tried to adjust the screw for the sound but to put it simple, give me a few tacos and a burrito and I can make more noise than the car!!!. I am thinking of putting on twin alpine horns so the other cars can hear me. Let the suggestions begin....
JEFF BECKER

Jeff

My single horn makes quite reasonable level of noise. Never really thought about it being inadequate. Have you a fault in the wiring that is preventing all the wiggly amps and smoke reaching the units in one piece?

That all said, by the time I remember where the horn button is, the reason for using the horn has usually passed!

Steve
Steve Gyles

I have original Lucas horns, both low and high notes. They make a wonderfully loud and authoritative sound. I really like them. I would suggest you clean the contact points and adjust them for the best sound. If you adjust them too far, the fuse will blow and you will be making no sound at all. If adjusting the points make a difference, i cant think af anything short of a birds nest in the opening that would keep you from attaining a satisfactory loudness.

Chuck

P.S the sinlge low note doesn't hold a candle to the twin horns.

Chuck Schaefer

I now what Geoff means. Sometimes I get a real loud PARP from the horns, sometimes it makes almost no noise at all. It fluctuates too.

They have been better since I loosened and retightened teh mounting bolts, suggesting that a dodgy or coroded ground may have someting to do with it. Easier to set up on the bench than on the car....
dominic clancy

Original horns are not grounded on the chassis. They have a power input wire and a return wire to the horm button for grounding to complete the circuit.

Try pulling the cover off the horn, then use two jumper wires to apply power and ground directly to the horn. If that works well, then look for some bad connection in the harness wiring.
Barney Gaylord

With all of the booming sterios on the road these days, it requires a loud horn to be noticed. I have always felt that small cars need LOUD horns. To that end I have installed twin air horns with a rotary compressor in place of the original horn. It doesn't show unless you look up under the front of the car. I know it isn't original, but I am more interested in being heard.
Ed Bell

Took my car out of storage yesterday and out for a morning spin. I passed my young nephew on his way to school and so pipped my horn, (like Steve said it took a while to remember where to press) and was really surprised how good it sounded.

However, driving around here, the car seems to be noticed enough not to ever need a horn. A standard exhaust and a heavy right foot also appear to help catch most peoples attention.

Dominic, with your blower, surely you don't need a horn!?

Neil
Neil McGurk

The Judson only can supply only so much power and if oiled correctly, it does not make too much noise, but you still have idiots on the road that need to be warned away or shot!!!! I will try the grounding to see what happens. Any other ideas anyone.
JEFF BECKER

Jeff,

I like the idea of being able to shoot the idiots. Are there any bolt on kits available?

I imagine that aiming can be a problem at speed. Steve Gyles should be able to come up with something here.

However, the gun laws in UK are tighter than in California so it might not be legal and we are stuck with the warning away route. I'll have to check.

Neil
Neil McGurk

Neil,
Go to the same coachworks that 007 goes to and you too can have gun turrets that disapear. These are also great for clearing the road of slow traffic.
JEFF BECKER

Neil & Jeff

I am licensed to thrill for another year! The car passed its MOT (Ministry of Transport car annual safety check) today at the first time of asking for the ninth time in a row - same examiner, so he can't fail me as it would reflect badly on his previous examinations!

Not sure about the gun, need to give it some thought. However, aiming is not a problem at speed as the target is normally going at a similar speed. i.e. stationary relative to yourself. It is only the scenery that is flashing by.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Jeff

When I got my "A" it just had the single horn. So logically it was a 12 volt one. Eventually I got the other tone horn and its bracket, which worked fine on a 12 volt test by itself too.

The manual wiring diagram shows them wired in series, which means they only get 6 volts each...???

Thinks! That won't work so I wired them in parallel. There was something, but certainly no parp!

Thinks again... I need twice the current for two horns; and that horn earthing wire doesn't look that big. I then obtained a standard modern relay switch, ran a nice big wire to power it and an equally good earth and bingo!!! That proper period twin tone blasts out fine.

Check the horn 'domes' are at the top, as they can easily be fitted upside down, when bolted directly to the chassis, instead of using the correct brackets. When upside down they can fill up with water, get very corroded and pack up!

I reckon regular use helps keep the horn contacts clean and ready to go too. So a nice toot every time you leave your mates from now on!

Hope this helps in some way.

Pete
Pete Tipping

They are shown wired in parallel in the factory workshop manual.

Malcolm
Malcolm Asquith

My grandfather used to tell people he was working on an ultrasonic horn that would blast the paint off the car he honked at. Never got in completed before his untimely demise, unfortunately.
David Breneman

I think you'll find if you disassemble the horn that there is a steel rod that goes through the middle of a coil of wire which corrodes ands siezes up. That will pretty much kill all the sound of the horn. Take it out and clean and lube it with Lubriplate and you will be amazed at the amount of noise they'll make!
Good Luck! John Nelson Burnsville MN
John Nelson

A few days ago I picked up a non-working H-note MGA horn. It had water dripping out of the trumpet so I was not hopeful.

I read Barney's notes but decided to proceed anyway. I found that the slider inside the electomagnet had rusted in, otherwise it looked ok inside. I have now got it working and spent an hour last night trying to fine tune it, using my battery charger as the power source.

Whilst I can follow the basics of electrical things, am I right in thinking that a standard battery charger does not give out enough power (and smoke!) for the horn to emit a full blooded PARP?

Steve
Steve Gyles

The typical horn draws a lot of current. It can draw even more while you are sorting out the tuning.

The best supply of "smoke" comes from a fully charged battery and a pair of jumper cables.

Chuck
Chuck Schaefer

This thread was discussed between 02/05/2007 and 18/05/2007

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