[TR] ground for horns on a 3A?

Randall tr3driver at ca.rr.com
Mon Sep 15 14:28:03 MDT 2008


> Those little clips that ground the horn? and turn signal? seemingly would
> be susceptable to corrosion.  Do we put a dab of grease on them?

Wouldn't hurt.

> More important: the two wires coming from the horn are gn and nb.  If
> that's so, then is there a ground wire that comes from the horns?

Not as such.  As John wrote, the horns get their connection to ground
through the horn button in the control head, which in turn is grounded
through the stator tube and steering box.

>  If
> there is no external horn ground, then what are those clips for?

They each get two wires, one from the headlight on that side and one from
the turn/marker light on that side.

> then what other TR3A components have a
> ground that is not shown on the stock wiring diagram?

That's kind of an extensive question, and in some cases open to debate.  But
I'll take a shot at it:
We've already mentioned both headlights and both front turn/marker lights.

The sender for the fuel gauge and the fuel gauge itself need to be grounded.
I believe in both cases the factory did originally install a ground wire,
but most cars have one or both missing.

The starter, distributor, generator and OD solenoid (if present) are
grounded through the engine block, there is a ground strap at the LH front
motor mount that is frequently overlooked.

The starter solenoid is grounded through its mounts, which seems secure
enough to me.

The speedometer and tachometer cases need to be grounded.  The factory may
have relied on the mountings to ground them, but I would suggest adding a
ground wire over to the tie point on the panel.

The wiper motor should have a ground wire, from the screw on the case to one
of the bolts into the body.  I believe the factory supplied this, but it's
almost always missing.

Not clear from the diagram, the instrument panel is not just grounded
(through the wire to the control box), but serves as a tie point for ground
wires behind the dash.

All of the rear lights need to be grounded.  AFAIK the factory relied on
them to be grounded through their mounting points, but again I recommend
adding a separate ground wire, which can be led along the harness and
secured to one of the gas tank mounting strap bolts.  The bulb holders all
have provisions for a bullet ground wire.

Randall


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