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Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:44 pm

I have a 1958 Beetle and want to keep it as OG as possible. The PO installed an aftermarket horn just above the front beam on the pass. side. He also installed a horn button. No holes were drilled for the horn button. He used a clamp around the steering shaft.

I would like to put it back to original, but need to know how the wires are routed. There is a "switch" on the right side of the steering column that I believe goes to the horn.
I just need help putting this back to OG.
Am I missing any parts?
What needs to be done to put this back?

Thanks

Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:11 am

What you call a "switch" on the side of the column, is actually a brushholder. Here's a schematic of it:

If the brush in there makes good contact, and the wire is good going up to the horn button, then that's all the pieces inside the car. The brown wire connection there at the brushes goes from there down to one of the terminals on the stock horn. The other terminal on the horn is power in, and the stock wiring on your year has the horn "always hot". (You'll need to use a VW horn which is isolated from ground and has two terminals on it.)

-Andy.

Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:45 pm

So the additional two wires (yellow and brown) are not stock, as shown in the picture, and can be removed?
The brown wire off of the brush goes down to the horn.What is the routing of the brown wire?

How does the wire going to the horn button make contact?

Where could I buy a 6v horn, if it turns out that this one is bad?

Thanks

Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:11 pm

Those extra wires probably go to the fusebox then to the aftermarket horn, and can be removed.

The horn current flows through the horn at all times, so that brown wire connected to the brush holder is essentially "live" - grounding it out on anything will make the horn go off. The steering column contact ring and the wire going up to the horn button is isolated from ground, so it's the same thing, grounding the wire that comes out the center of the column on your year will activate the horn. And that's what the horn button does, connects it to the steering wheel, which is connected to steering column, which is grounded via a strap. Here's an excerpt from the factory wiring diagram and its key:
-Andy

Thu Oct 08, 2009 3:51 pm

How does the wire going to the horn button secure to the horn button?

Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:11 pm

Should be a set screw in the hole in the middle. Hard to tell for sure from your photo, but it looks like your set screw might be missing. I looked around the Gallery for a reference photo, but didn't see one that looked like yours. Looked in the Classifieds and found this listing:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=821126

and from that listing, here's a tiny snip of one of the photos showing the setscrew:

Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:22 pm

glutamodo wrote: Should be a set screw in the hole in the middle. Hard to tell for sure from your photo, but it looks like your set screw might be missing.

Yep, it is supposed to have a set screw, and it is missing. Thanks. I checked and the horn is inop. I will have to get another one.

Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:30 am

HI there samba, so far i have an understanding on how the horn system works for my 57. When i bought the car all it had was the correct push button and steering wheel. I bought the wire brush and horn so I should be set to go with a little wiring. The inside of my steering wheel was painted so i cleaned it all up. When it came to wiring the cable from the push button to the contact ring i cant seem to find where it goes. HELP! does anyone have a picture on how this cable is suppose to be connected???

Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:49 am

santychago wrote: HI there samba, so far i have an understanding on how the horn system works for my 57. I bought the wire brush and horn so I should be set to go with a little wiring. When it came to wiring the cable from the push button to the contact ring i cant seem to find where it goes. HELP! does anyone have a picture on how this cable is suppose to be connected???

What is a "contact ring"? There is a Brown wire that exits the center of the steering shaft. This Brown wire is connecrted to the backside of the horn button via set screw. The other end of the Brown wire is clamped to the steering shaft.
From this clamp on the steering shaft, is where the horn brush makes it's contact. From the horn brush is another Brown wire. This Brown wire leads all the way to the actual horn.
The horn has two terminals. One terminal goes to the horn brush. The other terminal goes to the fuse box for power.