Boy O Boy do I need some tech advice

[platato]

Hi everyone,

I have one heck of a problem and need the kind of help only a 1981 owner can give.

I purchased my Vette from the 2nd owner and have talked a great lengths to both previous owners. The car has never been wrecked or taken apart. My problem is I can't find the horns ANYWHERE. I have a Corvette shop manual, Assembly manual and various other resources which show the horns but they are not there. Unless this is an extremely rare "horn delete" car I can't figure it out (maybe this was a part of the special California anti-roadrage package RPO FU2). But I digress.

I recently purchased 2 used horns, the A note is stamped 176D30 and the C note is stamped 1929D1. I have tried to find a way to mount these according to the manuals with no luck. I also cannot find any wiring for them at all. Nothing is hanging loose and the main harnesses appear to have no place they would have come from.

Here is what I need.... I need a very patient 81 owner who can talk me through this project. If you have pics that would be great. I need to verify the stamped #'s. I need to know the horn bracket angles. Where exactly they are mounted. I need to know the wiring color and exactly where they originate and run to. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I await you reply as I take some more advil. (edit) Scroll down the thread as the saga unfolds.

STW! Platato
;help

 

[Yoda]

This will get you started. Until I have a little more time

HORNS on a 1981

Keep that advil handi along with some bandaids..

Bud

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

Well I do know that on an 80 they are up front on the main bumper susport. That A frame going from the frame to the front bumper. Mine was behind the flat plate in the frontbehind the license plate area. Try looking there.

Gary

 

[platato]

Rare your the man!

YES! YES! YES! YES!

Thank you rare! A very important lesson to be learned here. I have had this car since 1997-1998 and have been going crazy over these blasted horns. I now know why the St. Louis plant closed. Roger took one look at where the engineers put the horns and said were movin to KY for some new blood. The horns on my St. Louis car are buried under the side fenders just behind the headlights. I never looked underneath with the headlights up. Not that it would have done much good unless you knew exactly where to look. These things are buried, not just typical Corvette buried but really buried. All the manuals in the world can't help you with these.

So now I know the horns exist and that our beloved Vette is not the coveted RPO FU2. Next question is why don't they work? I'm not taking the horns themselves out unless I have no choice. There's not enough Advil on the planet for that one. The manual says ground the black wire on the horn relay to test the relay. Sounds good in theory but guess what? Yep it's buried. I can't disconnect the relay from the harness. I can't seem to get a firm hold on the harness and the relay at the same time ( I sure hope it is yellow). I did manage to pop the cover off and expose the inards of the relay (not on purpose) but thats about it and that took one hour, a backache and 4 gallons of sweat. Anyone got any ideas? I was wondering if one could simply use a circuit tester to poke a hole into the black wire and then ground the alligator clip to something?

More Advil, now chased with beer. I await your next reply

STW! (Except next time I'm in St. Louis) Platato

ad :confused :cry ;help

 

[Pir8football]

I am taking notes.......

I need to do the same thing. Today I needed those babys bad, that was my motivation. So I come home, and check out the L81 forums and low & behold at the very top of the page.....HORNS. Thanks for all the info everyone!

 

[platato]

Holy Moley Andy!

Ok, for all those who have been following this saga, there is yet another twist. I finally got the horn relay to disconnect (a little dance afterward of course). Tried brains instead of brawn this time. I inserted a large flat head screwdriver between the harness and the relay. Having released the side lock things (very important) I rotated the screw driver to the side and pryed the relay from the harness. Worked like a charm (the trick here folks is to take a break, vent here a little and don't think of the pain you feel while preforming this task).

In any event, While attempting to remove the relay I noticed that there appeared to be two spade connectors running along the outside of the harness (more locks I wondered). Once apart I immedately notice that the harness has provisions for 3 spade connectors. Interestingly, the relay has (you guessed it) 3 spade connectors of which only one was hooked up. It appears that someone removed the relay, installed it back asswards and two connectors missed the harness altogether. Hmmm, I murmured and proceeded to reinstall it in what I consider to be the correct way (not all the way of course, I'm still traumatized from trying to get it off the first time). Battery power back on, I reach for the horn button like it's a diamondback rattlesnake. I press it and HOOOOOONNNKKK!!! The sucker snapped to life like Phoenix rising from the ashes.

IT WORKS! IT REALLY WORKS! Now for the next series of questions.........Are all three connectors suppose to be in the harness? The horn sounds, lets just say a little whimpy (not that I'm complaining). Is it suppose to have the pitch of a car alarm instead of the throaty Trans Am horns I am used to? Does anyone know what numbers are suppose to be stamped on the horns themselves? Are the brackets on the horns different for the St. Louis cars? (if they are I may have to exchange my "new" ones I just bought, for the St. Louis type). (edit) Ok, I've been out there honking the horn (still can't believe it works) I have noticed however that they will not sound when the alarm is triggered, any ideas? Thank You Everyone! I await your reply.

STW! (maybe even in St. Louis) Platato

:duh :Twist :dance

 

[greydbj]

Glad to see that I am not the only one who has had this problem......I was afraid to ask the question for fear of being thogught of as crazy.....but I, like others, have spent more that a few hours scouring the underside of the front end for 'horns'.....and even asked a couple of locals friends who thought I was, indeed, a little fractured.....anyway, I am about to embark on the search again (after buying some repplacements) and maybe I'll get lucky......it seems to me that this problem seems to have targetted the charcoal/silver models.....those characters in St Louis must have come up with the phrase 'all Corvettes are Red.....the rest are mistakes!!.....

Thanks Rare for the usual insight and historical notes....always a help, you are........dbj