Hi everyone, I wanted to see if anyone can please help my son and I with his 74 we’ve been restoring for him. He turned 16 about a half a year ago and we’ve been working to finish this car for over 2 years now. We are getting close but we are starting to run into issues I’m having a hard time with so I will probably be asking for assistance from the experts on this site

I’ll start by saying this car was a cobbled together mess when we bought it. We’ve been able to straighten out everything so far. I’m now trying to figure out the horn. There is one horn located in the front of the car. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research so I’ve familiarized myself with a lot of the wiring aspects. Here’s where I’m at ~ there is one green that goes to the horn is constantly hot. When I plug the wire into the horn it makes the horn blow nonstop. NOW...I don’t think it has anything to do with anything related to the horn button or wiring in the column - the reason I say this is because I have the long thin plug coming out of the column completely unplugged and it still has constant power to the horn. NEXT...I don’t believe it has anything to do with the relay because #1 I have installed a brand new relay (the one located on the wire loom just above the fuse box) and the wire is still constantly hot. THEN... #2, I completely removed the relay (with the long thin plug still unplugged) and the wire to the horn is still constantly hot. ALSO...when I put a test light to the legs in the horn relay socket, the legs to the green AND the red wires shows to be hot and nothing to the black wire leg. Sooooo, does anyone have any thoughts on how I can get this horn to blow only when we hit the horn button? I’m at a loss so any input would be greatly appreciated. I’ve received help several times from great people on this site so as always, thank you all so much for all of your assistance!

Steve and son Presley

 

Best horn help page there is..

 

steve pull the horn fuse and see if the 12 volts goes away on the green and red wire wire. I think its the 20 amp stop fuse on a 74.my first thought would be a short in the relay plug connector. if the red 12 volts goes away and the green doesn't with fuse pulled I would next go to the bulk head and verify the green is still isolated. after that trace the green back to the horn and look for a wire that may have burned up inside the harness and shorted to the green horn wire.the willcox help page is an excellent explanation of how the horn circuit works..its great to hear your son has interest in wrenching on the old corvette with you!

 

Start at the left of the page above and work to the right... you'll figure you issue out.

 

Thank you so much for replying very sorry I’ve been traveling and just got back and saw this.

- So yes, when I pull the relay I still have constant power to both the red and green. I am putting the test light in the relay socket and touching each leg - the black, green and red. Again I’m getting the test light to light on the green and red. So basically somehow the green wire is getting constant power somewhere from the horn to the relay socket. I have not started to remove the tape on the loom (it’s all taped together from the headlight area all the way to where it enters the firewall at the fuse box). I guess my question is, does this green wire run THROUGH the fuse box? From the diagram it appears that it does NOT run through the fuse box so:

- does it make sense to simply cut the green wire just on the other side of the relay socket and just run a temporary wire to the horn? Do you think this would tell me if there’s an issue with the existing green wire ?

- I guess my main question before I start removing all of the tape from the wire loom running from the front of the car to the firewall is does the green wire run through the fuse box or does it bypass the fuse box?

as always thank you all for all of your help!

 

steve try pulling the 20 amp stop lamp fuse and see if the power goes away on the red and green. if the 12 volts on the red goes away which it should if the right fuse is pulled and the green does not I would start pulling fuses until you can find where the 12 volts is coming from. might help narrow it down. if the green and red go away when you pull the 20 stop fuse your options are trace the green wire or cut it at the relay and run a new wire.the green wire should not go to a fuse or fuse block as per Wilcox drawing but it will go thru the bulkhead probably behind the fuse block.

 

Ok! Got it figured out. It was the green wire. I have a new wire ran to the horn, everything hooked back up and the horn works perfectly! I can’t thank you enough for the help. You talking me through that is why I was able to figure it out. Now I’m on to installing the new console shift plate so trying to figure out all of the wiring to the shift plate and the lightbulbs and where they go. We literally took the entire car apart down to nothing and have redone everything. It’s an absolutely beautiful 74. Jet black paint with all brand new black interior. Every single thing replaced.

- Stage IV suspension
- one piece aluminum rally wheels 17 x 8 with low profile tires
- willwood brake system with red calipers (they really look good behind those slotted rally wheels)
- vintage air
- 400 HP blueprint Engine and aluminum radiator and just enough chrome.
- Holley sniper EFI (starts on the first turn of the key and never hesitates)
- new transmission
- Complete retrosound stereo with multiple speakers, subs and amp but looks original
- every single thing on this car has been replaced
- Recovered fiero seats ( I used the same black leather to cover other items throughout the car for consistency)

two years in the making, I need to post pics, it’s almost complete. Just finishing up the AC and dash install so I’m sure I will have some more help-needed questions. It’s definitely been an adventure - and it really does take you back when you see it. We worked hard to upgrade and update everything we could but still keep it completely original looking - my son has done an outstanding job building this with me so proud of him he deserves it

Thank you again

 

glad you got it sorted out and working! great quality time with your son to build the car. we need our sons and daughters involved to keep the car hobby going. looking for some pics with your son behind the wheel!

 

Glad you got it sorted out so quickly. I swear that I spend more time keeping the horn working than I do driving the car