Altette horn comes back to life after 40 years

Ducdude

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Well I went against the words and warnings of a certain Welshmen and had a go at bringing my long silent Altette horn back to life on my own.
I had a good bit of help from listers who not only talked me though the
deed but also helped suppy a fresh set of gaskets..:) THANKS Bob!

The horn was not in that bad of shape and it turns out all it needed was a
bit of cleaning adjustment and the gaskets..I did have to make a special tool out of a
piece of 1/4 steel pipe to fit the nut under the domed nut and over the
adjusting screw, but that was the hardest part. If any one ever needs to
borrow the tool it just let me know...It was some of my better work...not
pretty just functional.:)

The rest was just cleaning the points with some 1200 grit wet dry paper and
a bit of wd-40 and then cleaning off the old rotted gaskets. The coil
tested good with the proper resistance. Assembly was in the reverse order
of dismemberment. Then I had to try to figure out the best spacing for the
upper and lower adjusters...Once I got the most noise I could from one
adjuster I moved on to the other and then back again till I had the most
noise. I did the fine tuning with the tone adjuster and bolted it all up.
I did try to further fine tune it once fully installed but no real benefit
could be heard..

The horn is louder then Jay Leno's series A rapide in his garage video but this horn
really sounds raspy and annoying in my garage maybe that's good...

It does not sound like a real horn more like an angry loud buzzer. That said it works properly with the Miller horn button and I guess it is as loud as it is going to get..It does
look like the horn took some damage in the early crash the bike suffered
(not with me at the helm) that bent the foot pegs as the diagram is bent a bit which no doubt is affecting the tone. Hey I am not greedy I got it to work it looks good and
I can always add an air horn later if I want..

So, who has a lead on a good 6 volt air horn???

Thanks all for your input, assistance and pointers!

Another Shadow has a horn!

Cheers,
Eric
 

Tom Gaynor

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I knew someone who solved the voltage problem by using an aerosol-powered portable foghorn he bought from a sailing shop. Wow! It was loud. Despite warnings, my 6 volt horn works well on 12 volts, loud enough to make me jump when I lean on the horn button by mistake in the garage. Virtually inaudible on the road, unfortunately. No worries: if you can't hear a Vincent coming, you probably wouldn't hear airhorns either...

Well I went against the words and warnings of a certain Welshmen and had a go at bringing my long silent Altette horn back to life on my own.
I had a good bit of help from listers who not only talked me though the
deed but also helped suppy a fresh set of gaskets..:) THANKS Bob!

The horn was not in that bad of shape and it turns out all it needed was a
bit of cleaning adjustment and the gaskets..I did have to make a special tool out of a
piece of 1/4 steel pipe to fit the nut under the domed nut and over the
adjusting screw, but that was the hardest part. If any one ever needs to
borrow the tool it just let me know...It was some of my better work...not
pretty just functional.:)

The rest was just cleaning the points with some 1200 grit wet dry paper and
a bit of wd-40 and then cleaning off the old rotted gaskets. The coil
tested good with the proper resistance. Assembly was in the reverse order
of dismemberment. Then I had to try to figure out the best spacing for the
upper and lower adjusters...Once I got the most noise I could from one
adjuster I moved on to the other and then back again till I had the most
noise. I did the fine tuning with the tone adjuster and bolted it all up.
I did try to further fine tune it once fully installed but no real benefit
could be heard..

The horn is louder then Jay Leno's series A rapide in his garage video but this horn
really sounds raspy and annoying in my garage maybe that's good...

It does not sound like a real horn more like an angry loud buzzer. That said it works properly with the Miller horn button and I guess it is as loud as it is going to get..It does
look like the horn took some damage in the early crash the bike suffered
(not with me at the helm) that bent the foot pegs as the diagram is bent a bit which no doubt is affecting the tone. Hey I am not greedy I got it to work it looks good and
I can always add an air horn later if I want..

So, who has a lead on a good 6 volt air horn???

Thanks all for your input, assistance and pointers!

Another Shadow has a horn!

Cheers,
Eric
 

Ducdude

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I knew someone who solved the voltage problem by using an aerosol-powered portable foghorn he bought from a sailing shop. Wow! It was loud. Despite warnings, my 6 volt horn works well on 12 volts, loud enough to make me jump when I lean on the horn button by mistake in the garage. Virtually inaudible on the road, unfortunately. No worries: if you can't hear a Vincent coming, you probably wouldn't hear airhorns either...

There is that, with the Burgess open pipe on this bike I can hardly hear the clatter from the timing case and the valves..:) How did the guy with the aerosol-powered portable foghorn rig up the button top the handle bar??

Cheers,
Eric
 
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