You know, it's difficult to talk about installing horns on you car...
...without continually dropping into the Austin Powers mode. And then to think the Brits call car horns "hooters," and it just gets ridiculous.
IN ANY EVENT, over the weekend I tried to make heads or tails out of what sort of new horns I wanted on the ol' Volvo. I have long harbored a deep animosity for the buzzy little horns on foreign cars--yes, yes--I realize those swell Europeans are our cultural and intellectual superiors, but doggone it, when I blow the horn, I want people to KNOW I'm blowing the horn!
So, sometime in my daydreaming list of things to do, I thought it might be nice to have an upgrade so I can warn people when they're about to run over me. Basically, there are two options--air horns, and electric horns.
After a tremendous amount of searching this weekend, including on the brickboard, I still wasn't quite sure what I wanted, which was made slightly worse by not quite remembering whether my car had one horn or two, and how many wires it has. (It was, after all, at home, and I wasn't.) For the record, it has two pie-pan resonator-style horns, and it is a two-wire system. Had I remembered this, it might have made the selection process a bit easier.
AS FOR AIR HORNS, although the idea is pretty good, and they do have a nice increase in volume, most of the smaller sets that would fit in the available space would still sound a bit insipid--like very loud bike horns--and from what I was able to glean from the Internet, their lifespan is measured in months. They clog easily with dirt, and the small compressors that are supplied burn up with suprising speed. It's not like you lay down on the horn all the time, you know, so you have to figure the compressors must be real junk. So, given the lack of reliability and the need for continual upkeep, this route sounded like a dead end. The larger trucker horns would probably last longer, but I'd rather not have to worry about it, and there was also that little issue of not being very good with wiring. I didn't really want to figure out how to wire a new relay in my system, so I gave up on the air option.
Second option, the one I took, was to get two new Fiamm horns from Advance Auto Parts. They sell a pair in a kit that are red with cheesy chrome grilles, but instead of that, I bought two Freeway Blaster horns, one high- and one low-tone.
Installation was about as simple as it could possibly be.
Remove the two black quarter-turn plastic retainer clips that hold the grill in place. Remove the grill and set it aside. Remove the existing horn wires by carefully peeling back the rubber boots on each terminal and pull the spade connector gently until it comes off. Remove the 12mm bolt in the center support, then remove both horn support straps from the center support. Install the new support straps on the new horns--I installed mine so that the trumpet portion will face the front, mainly so water wouldn't blow directly on the contacts. The rubber boots are still in place, but there is no way to seal them on the new housing. The only bad thing about this is when the horns are put back in place, the trumpet is right against the backside of the grille, so if there's any kind of bump, it might break the grill or the horn trumpet. The straps can be bent out of the way, which I will do when I have enough light to see by--I was doing this all in the dark on Saturday evening. ANYway, install the new horns and straps onto the center support with the original 12mm mounting bolt. Only hand tighten it until you're sure of the orientation and location. Bolt the center support back on, adjust the horn position, tighten the bolts, then attach the wires back. The terminals are not polarized, so there is no wrong or right wire to hook up. Just make sure that the horn wire pairs are installed on each horn--not one wire from one horn and one wire from another horn. Using two positives or two negatives will burn it up. Reinstall the grill, and that's it. Test and make sure it works, remembering to turn the switch on so there's power available. (Volvo horns don't work unless the key is on.) I imagine the current draw is higher than the stock horn, but the horn circuit itself includes some other high-draw stuff and is rather robust with a 16A fuse, so I really don't think it will be too much.
Anyway, there you go.
"YEAH, Baby!" Er, sorry.
IN ANY EVENT, over the weekend I tried to make heads or tails out of what sort of new horns I wanted on the ol' Volvo. I have long harbored a deep animosity for the buzzy little horns on foreign cars--yes, yes--I realize those swell Europeans are our cultural and intellectual superiors, but doggone it, when I blow the horn, I want people to KNOW I'm blowing the horn!
So, sometime in my daydreaming list of things to do, I thought it might be nice to have an upgrade so I can warn people when they're about to run over me. Basically, there are two options--air horns, and electric horns.
After a tremendous amount of searching this weekend, including on the brickboard, I still wasn't quite sure what I wanted, which was made slightly worse by not quite remembering whether my car had one horn or two, and how many wires it has. (It was, after all, at home, and I wasn't.) For the record, it has two pie-pan resonator-style horns, and it is a two-wire system. Had I remembered this, it might have made the selection process a bit easier.
AS FOR AIR HORNS, although the idea is pretty good, and they do have a nice increase in volume, most of the smaller sets that would fit in the available space would still sound a bit insipid--like very loud bike horns--and from what I was able to glean from the Internet, their lifespan is measured in months. They clog easily with dirt, and the small compressors that are supplied burn up with suprising speed. It's not like you lay down on the horn all the time, you know, so you have to figure the compressors must be real junk. So, given the lack of reliability and the need for continual upkeep, this route sounded like a dead end. The larger trucker horns would probably last longer, but I'd rather not have to worry about it, and there was also that little issue of not being very good with wiring. I didn't really want to figure out how to wire a new relay in my system, so I gave up on the air option.
Second option, the one I took, was to get two new Fiamm horns from Advance Auto Parts. They sell a pair in a kit that are red with cheesy chrome grilles, but instead of that, I bought two Freeway Blaster horns, one high- and one low-tone.
Installation was about as simple as it could possibly be.
Remove the two black quarter-turn plastic retainer clips that hold the grill in place. Remove the grill and set it aside. Remove the existing horn wires by carefully peeling back the rubber boots on each terminal and pull the spade connector gently until it comes off. Remove the 12mm bolt in the center support, then remove both horn support straps from the center support. Install the new support straps on the new horns--I installed mine so that the trumpet portion will face the front, mainly so water wouldn't blow directly on the contacts. The rubber boots are still in place, but there is no way to seal them on the new housing. The only bad thing about this is when the horns are put back in place, the trumpet is right against the backside of the grille, so if there's any kind of bump, it might break the grill or the horn trumpet. The straps can be bent out of the way, which I will do when I have enough light to see by--I was doing this all in the dark on Saturday evening. ANYway, install the new horns and straps onto the center support with the original 12mm mounting bolt. Only hand tighten it until you're sure of the orientation and location. Bolt the center support back on, adjust the horn position, tighten the bolts, then attach the wires back. The terminals are not polarized, so there is no wrong or right wire to hook up. Just make sure that the horn wire pairs are installed on each horn--not one wire from one horn and one wire from another horn. Using two positives or two negatives will burn it up. Reinstall the grill, and that's it. Test and make sure it works, remembering to turn the switch on so there's power available. (Volvo horns don't work unless the key is on.) I imagine the current draw is higher than the stock horn, but the horn circuit itself includes some other high-draw stuff and is rather robust with a 16A fuse, so I really don't think it will be too much.
Anyway, there you go.
"YEAH, Baby!" Er, sorry.
posted by Terry at 8/29/2005 08:58:00 AM
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