Horn

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:42 am

Well, I finally went and got a different horn. I went with the FIAMM Low Tone "F" series. The more expensive one at Advance Auto Parts. There was an "F" and a.... Maybe "C" or something like that. I shelled out the extra $5 for it. It cost me I think $19. Not too shabby. I believe its 138dB as well. Its a loud ass sucker.
So I got home, worked on figuring out why my horn will only honk with the wheel facing left, and came to a cheese-ball solution. I used 4 pennies to push the bottom out a bit and not it kind of works.
So I then toyed with trying to get the horn out from down below. Yeah, right.
I wound up having to remove the front drivers-side headlight assembly. No biggy, just 4 nuts and the side-marker.
I undid the factory horn's plug and bridged from the connectors in the plug to the new horn and sounded it off. Made me jump. Was a lot louder than I was expecting. So I then stared at it for a while. I finally decided to "T" connect in the new horn and use them both, for a dual-tone effect. I cut the insulation off of a 1/4" section on both wires, spliced a red wire for the hot and black for the relayed ground, soldered them, then liquid electrical taped them. I then put the blade-style connectors on the wires, soldered the ends to prevent corrosion, then connected it. I then plugged the factory horn back in and sounded the 2 off. Good Lord it sure sounds a lot louder than it did. Pretty unique too. So I then hung the factory horn back on its spot and drilled a hole (clear-coted it) and hung the other horn. They now sit side-by-side under the drivers side headlight.
The comingling of the factory "Meh" and the FIAMM's "WAAHH" is very interesting. The Low-Tone is very similar to a large American truck's factory horn. My sister said, "People will be looking for the truck when you honk that thing." and I promplty responded, "Better they be looking for something than never hearing my other horn and not looking at all as they back right out in front of me."

I was contemplating an air-horn, but I think those are kind of cheesy. Well, the auto-parts stores ones anyway. They are too high-toned for me. I may eventually stuff a full-sized truckers horn behind the bumper. I need that low-tonedness personally. Too many kids at my school have those cheese-ball high-tone airhorns that make you look for the Mini-Cooper. I want that Big-Rig sound, because it will make someone wake up and look for what they are doing wrong.

I almost bought a Model T style "OOOOGA!" horn.... lol

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:54 am

JC Whitney is your friend!!

Or if you have $350 disposable income these are always fun.....

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:34 am

Hahahaha... Those Psychoblasters are essentially what everyone around my school uses. High pitched and pitiful. I like that Tyfon horn... DEEP pitch to it. Slams through the air though.

kamiphloj · Post by **kamiphloj** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:18 am

Cool,Typrus.I just might "me too "this one.The other thing about the air horns is real estate.There just isn't a lot of space under the hood to add clutter.Thanks.kamiphloj

Post by **ARCHINSTL** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:22 pm

Typrus -
Which is the specific model Fiamme horn you went with?
Hafta start a Christmas Wish List for the daughters...
Thanks,
Tom M.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:46 am

I dunno... Low Tone Model "F" ?

hberdan · Post by **hberdan** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:08 pm

Is it this model?

http://tinyurl.com/hvdvf

Or this one:

http://tinyurl.com/m8umr

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:00 am

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDeta ... mber=72112

Yeah, the latter. Part 72112 Low Tone "F" Freeway Blaster Horn.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:50 pm

So here's an update.

HORNS ARE TUNABLE! If you didn't know it, now you do!

If you look on the back of an electro-magnetic horn (as is our factory, or those FIAMM's) there is a screw to one side. Adjusting it in or out will change the throw of the internal diaphragm and thereby change the tone a bit. I backed the screw out on my factory horn, and it probably close to doubled the volume. But that was just on mine. Didn't touch the FIAMM.

Also, I rewired the setup. The ground is the switched wire on our horns. The only switch we have is the pressure contact inside the steering wheel. No actual relay or switch. The power is constantly supplied to the horn. Only when the ground is made inside the steering wheel will the circuit be complete and thereby the horn sound. Considering such, I rigged the FIAMM up to a seperate 10Amp power cable. The cable I used is maybe 12 or 10 guage. It has an in-line built in mini-blade fuse holder rated for up to 30Amps so its pretty beefy. It leaves room for supply to maybe some Foglights or an airhorn later on. Both horns are louder now, as they aren't drawing off each other, though they do share the same ground. If I had the time to dissemble the wiring bundle, I'd run some 12 guage to the horn contact, but I don't have the time or patience. Though I may run some 16 guage speaker wire to the stock speaker locations... Thicker guaged wire will carry the signal with much better signal quality, even if no more power is supplied. The cleaner signal I get, the happier I'll be. I'm even thinking about upgrading to some Boston Acoustic 3-ways... But thats a different topic lol...

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:01 am

Typrus wrote:If I had the time to dissemble the wiring bundle, I'd run some 12 guage to the horn contact, but I don't have the time or patience.

I think adding a relay would be a better use of your time. And probably take less time....

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:17 pm

I agree with Gasoline here. A simple $2 relay and some fresh wire from the battery to the relay and then on to the horns will be so much easier, cheaper, and quicker than tearing apart a wiring loom and re-running a fresh wire for the horn contact, which is probably the highest resistance (and lowest current handling capable) part of the whole system.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:09 am

What precisely would trigger the relay? Thats my biggest thing.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:21 am

The horn button triggers the relay...then some solid 12V amps are feed to the horn by the relay.

If you have spare parts...there are several relays in the black box behind the battery....but it has to be one that is rated pretty high amp-wise.

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:56 pm

Red box is your battery, green box is the horn, blue box is the relay.

All you do is unplug your horn, plug those wires straight onto the coil connections on the relay (connections 85 and 86 on an automotive relay) then hook battery + to connection 30 and run a jumper from connection 87 to your horn, then ground the other side of the horn.

Voile'. Horn relay installed.

One thing I forgot to put in there was a fuse on the battery + going to connection 30. ALWAYS fuse main power leads!!!

Post by **ARCHINSTL** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:41 pm

Thanks !
Even I could understand your diagram, and that's saying a lot!
Care to do the same for a Tercel's emissions connections?
I didn't think so...
Tom M.