[T3] On that 73 T-3 horn

[William J]

 Thank you Jim :

 I  will look into what I can use to fix the contact . Both the ring and 
wiper look to be brass .

 I  did a search and ran across some posts that lead  to Samba . One was on 
a thing which has the same steering wheel my 73 has and I think super beetle 
. Point is I saw the ring and T/S wiper in the photo's posted . I could see 
mine wheel on with a small mirror and flash light looking through the gap.

 I was trying to find out why the horn would only work with the engine 
running and found the wiper had the small hole and decided to wrap 500 grit 
wet paper over the end on a small metal 6" ruler just to polish the ring and 
the contact then wiped the ring with blue shop towels which may have been 
the wrong thing to do. I lubed the ring a while back because I could hear a 
slight scraping noise used the black molly grease with graphite . I have 
Bosch point grease.

 I'm not sure how the wiper is attached to the T/S switch . I see new ones 
being sold yet the photo's are so small I can't tell . I thought if it's 
similar to the one I saved from the 72 T-3 which has 2 full wipers and are 
fixed to plastic pins melted over for insulating reasons replacing the wiper 
might be a fail . I would need to fit something to it .

 If the area around that hole is not to thin perhaps I can fit a small hard 
metal contact similar to ignition points just thinner . At least the wiper 
is wider than the ring .

 I know I can get a switch if it comes to that . I don't like the idea of 
pulling the wiper switch since I have no idea if it will have cracked 
plastic areas like both switchs do on the 72 spare.

  I didn't realize the 4 way was pot metal until after you mentioned it . I 
just put the contacts against wood and the back against soft wood to hold 
the loose fiber plate down and used a wide screw driver and a small hammer 
and gave each one a tap . It was loose and seemed like it might come apart 
sooner or later.  The spare I have from the 72 was lose on one side yet I 
didn't use it because it was a bit different , no resister and one extra 
contact yet it did have a light inside the knob . Perhaps it lights up 
brighter or has a resister inside.

 I don't have the tool to tighten the switches , I use a small set on needle 
nose with short tips and just set it on the deep part of the aluminum 
retainer screw cap.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Adney" <jadney at vwtype3.org>
To: <type3 at vwtype3.org>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2017 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [T3] On that 73 T-3 horn


> On 12 Nov 2017 at 22:15, William J wrote:
>
>> Jim what would you use to lube the horn contact and slip ring ?
>
> There is special electrical contact grease, loaded with graphite, that 
> would
> probably be the best choice, but anything would be better than nothing.
>
> The key is to fix the worn contact spring before things grab and destroy
> much larger parts. The contact ring on the underside of the wheel is also
> replaceable and might even be available from the dealers, as I suspect it
> was also used on Beetles (and I think I've seen references to it on BMWs, 
> so
> it may have been a common German approach in that era.)
>
> Up to '70 VW did things completely differently. The ground path was
> complex and confusing, but it didn't have this problem. It had its own
> problems, but they didn't lead to destruction and they could all be fixed.
>
> -- 
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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