Well, my latest 'reconditioned' Lucas horn has stopped working after less than a thousand miles... . To date every one of the 5 I have had restored has failed at an early stage, apart from a 12 volt version that lasted the eight years I owned the bike.
So I have blown in around £325 on nice looking, non functioning (pretty quickly) horns.
No More!..I have just fitted a 6 volt VW beetle horn to my B33 which I sprayed black and turned up an aluminium bezel for to make it look more the part.
I obtained it second hand (and working) from my local Vee Dub repair shop for a whopping £5...
I also bought a new one for £18 pounds..this will go onto a discreet mounting behind the pannier bags on the M20 when I rebuild it...and my original Lucas horn will just be 'on parade' to make the bike look correct.
If only there was a good speedo replacement as well...all the reconditioned ones of those have gone wrong as well..though they did last a bit longer. Currently both the B33 and the M20 have speedo faults..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Mr. wright,

If you are admitting defeat, there is no hope for the rest of us....

So, there is enough amperage available to actually operate a VW horn?!

email (option): teladelujo@msn.com

6 volts is 6 volts!

Take the horn apart and gut the inside either mount
in a lathe and turn out the bits inside or drill holes into the castings and knock them out with a chisel. Then get a cheap £6 horn which you can mount inside, cut 4 sections out of the diaphram to let the sound out, this doesn't show much behind the disc. I've done a few like this for guys in my bike club. Paul Goff's web site had details on how to do this.

My '51 B33 isn't standard anyway..it looks more like a modified rigid B34, so I'm not too worried that the horn isn't exactly right...just in keeping with the overall look of the bike is OK...it is more important to me that it works and produces a good tone.
The M20 is different...I want it to look pretty original. So if the VW horn can't be mounted well out of sight I may consider the other options...but no more wasting money on recondiioned units for sure....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

If you are stuck I'll have a go for you, you have my email address.

Sounds like you have your solution for problems with lucas horns but what about the smiths speedometers/rev counters. I am in the process of a long term build of a pre-unit 750 TRIBSA and am looking for a rev counter, problem is I dont like the look of the timing covers with the gearbox attachment also whats the point of having a rev counter that is only accurate when engine is at a steady speed.This might be the solution
http://www.beckelektronika.nl/ then click on snelheidsmeter
toerenteller
Has anyone out there had experience with these ? as would be a ideal option for a special not so sure about a original spec machine. Dave

Ian,

There is a very tiny Italian horn made for FIAT's I think, That will fit inside an original Lucas HF1235. It is a bit of a fiddly job but it can be done.

Those Italian horns sound differently but if you have ever driven in Italy you know that you can hear these very well Best of all you still retain the Lucas look.

Regards,
Leon

email (option): leonhop3@planet.nl

Hi Dave...That looks really interesting. Unfortunately I know about 3 words of Dutch so I couldn't decipher the technical info. Perhaps a native of Clogland could do the honours with translation?...
I know some electonic units only work with a coil ignition system and can't pick up the signal from a magneto. In fact I had a similar problem when I first took the sprinter to be tested on the dyno....
Subject to that potential problem being dealt with that looks like it may be a realistic conversion for a smiths speedo that retains a pretty original look..more information required!
Ian.....Thanks very much for your kind offer regarding horn mods...I should be able to sort it out though, as I have a lathe, milling machine etc. in my workshop at home. In fact I have considered machining a complete horn body from scratch to accept a later horn but with the original bezel and other parts fitted....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ian as far I can work out the rev counters work with a impulse from the ht lead, so suitable to fit to a WM20 . I used google translate to translate into english. Dave...

Hi Ian Clare where on Paul Goffs website is details about horns? cheersTerry

Terry. On Paul's site, click on 'Motorcycle electrics' scroll down till you get to horns. Then there is another button to click on 'how to do a cheap repair to an Altette'. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com