Horn Restoration

[mdsalemi]

Hello Gents,

Has anyone actually taken apart the original Bosch horns for our 113; restored them (in any manner) and put them back together again AND been able to get them to sound as good as new?  I saw some pix from Gwuizman; I've heard Dr. Benz and at least one other person on another forum indicate that there might be trouble ahead, hence the search for a solution before I have the problem.

Anyway I got a nice pair of horns from one of our friends in a trade but they are in need of "restoration" to suit my car.  The outer cases could use a powder coat and perhaps an inner piece or two the same.

It looks like the disassembly, restoration and reassembly will be pretty easy--but I understand getting the sound back will be difficult, hence my call for someone with experience.

Also, any good ideas on the Bosch center plate?  One of mine is darn near perfect but the other is in need of work.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Cees Klumper]

Hi Micheal - one of my original horns did not work at all a few years back. It just gave a 'click' when power was applied. I removed that small Bosch centre plate and found an adjustment screw underneath (I believe with a counterlocking nut, but I'm not sure now). Fiddling with that screw made the sound come back. I haven't taken it apart more than that, but that's the experience I can offer.

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[gwuisman]

Micheal,
I took a horn apart just to see how it works. Heynes says that a horn does not need maintenance. May be this is true for younger cars. After 34 years I dicovered a lot of rust in the horn of my car because of leaking paper bearings.
I cleaned the parts and treated them with protecting paint and grease. On my pictures you see the order of the parts. The problem with reassembling was that the thin paper bearings were not availlable new. So I had to make them by hand. This is not a easy job because of the numbers of holes one has to make. After everything is put together you can adjust the tone of the horn by the screw Cees mentioned. I tried to do so with a battery charcher but that did not work. So I left the finishing touch to my mechanic.
Gerard Wuisman
1970 280sl

[Bob G ✝︎]

Michael;
Send me a picture of the data plate on both horns.

Bob Geco

[n/a]

My unmolested but inelegant ones sound damn AWESOME! I guess to re-invigorate an older horn there is a solution from Pfizer....

Neil Rote, Melbourne Australia
Unrestored '64

[n/a]

No problem, just work. Assambling and disassambling is easy. You have to make new paper gaskets by hand. It will be best if you have some tools for making gaskets. There are 2 adjusting screws. One at the front, and one at the back. Adjusting is a noisy job and can take some time, but it is can be done.