cruiser
Well-Known Member
Good evening MoBros. Thank you for your many cards and letters. You've let me know that you could use a bit more help falling asleep and are in need of another sleeping pill. Well, ask and you shall receive! My latest chapter promises to be just the thing to create that sleepy head feeling at bedtime, and so I present tonight's installment: the dual horn conversion and restoration. As you probably know, Chrysler was great at pinching pennies back in the day. They'd do pretty much anything to cut the cost of their vehicles - especially those vehicles at the bottom of the food chain like my 1974 Duster. My car came with a single horn from the factory, which probably saved Ma Mopar $1.25 on every Duster that came down the assembly line. I never liked the wimpy sound of my single horn, so I decided to upgrade my ride to a more manly sounding dual horn setup. The first step was to research what A body platforms had dual horns and how they were fitted to the car. I found a nice 1974 Valiant in my favorite salvage yard which had dual horns. The first photo below is a shot of the horn setup before I pulled it. After removing the horns and their integral mounting brackets and bolts, I salvaged the dual horn wiring harness. After getting it all home, the first step was to dry fit everything to the car. In 1974, the firewalls of all A body cars were drilled for a second horn bracket. The bracket for the standard (single) horn is mounted to the rear support strut of the battery tray. Once I was satisfied that everything fit right, I cleaned up 49 years of oil, dirt and crud that had accumulated on the two horns and their wiring harness. After everything was clean, I used my tiny file set to file down and clean up the female connectors on the dual wiring harness, finishing the job with a spray down of electrical contact cleaner. Next, I bead blasted both horns which have a plastic side and a metal side. The horns have the word "Sparton" on them, along with 1973 date codes and a stamping at the bottom of the plastic housing that says either "Hi" or "Lo". I then painted them in three coats of Krylon Fusion Satin Black spray paint, and was very happy with the result. Next I cut away the original single end of the horn wiring harness under the battery tray, then spliced in the reconditioned and cleaned up dual horn harness. Very factory looking! (see photo below). After that, it was just a matter of mounting the horns in their correct locations under the battery and connecting up the wiring. I was soon rewarded with that loud, manly dual horn sound that my little Duster desperately needed. No more humiliation from the seventeen year old doofus driving a rice rocket right behind me and laying on his horn. Now I can blast him right back! Maybe not, however, as the Bible says to turn the other cheek in such a situation. In any case, I hope you're tired now and ready for your nice warm bed. Enjoy the final photo of my Duster in the winter, be well and take care of one another!
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