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Air horns... Ya' gotta love 'em for the sheer feeling of power you get when you fire them off at the
guy that just cut you off!
I'd been wanting air horns on the truck for a while now. I surfed around, found the Wolo's and FIAMM's..
But none of them really felt right. I bought a set of the 8"/6" Wolos from eBay for cheap, and
while they were loud, they're sounded wheezier than the stock horns!
I knew what I wanted... Trucker horns... something big and ballsy.
eBay and I are good friends... It took a while, but I eventually found of set of
Go air horns that were 19" and 17" long. Yeah! A bit
later, I found a compressor, tank, and all the fittings that I'd need. I picked up some air line locally, and
started plotting the course to get all this stuff under the hood.
I'll admit though, I did briefly consider mounting these up on the roof - or even on the hood. :) But,
I quickly got over that urge. :)
It was a bit interesting getting these in.. I'd seen one rig ("TooEZGoin")
that did a really nice install, and I was hoping to be able to pull that off. But, my horns are bigger than
that, and I just didn't have the room in that wheel well.
Anyway, they're in now, they're loud, and I'm happy. The installation is documented below.
- First up, the players:
- Air horns - 17" and 19" long. Made by Go Air Horns
- Hadley model 850 compressor (replaced with a ViAir 450C)
- Pneumatic solenoid
- Pressure gauge
- 50cui air tank (replaced with a 2L tank)
- 120psi kill switch (replaced with a 150psi switch)
The general concept is that the compressor pumps air into the tank until it gets to 120psi. Then the
kill switch will open, cutting the power to the compressor. The air pressure builds because you've plumbed
the solenoid into the line after the tank. The solenoid will remain closed until energized - by you
hitting the horn button on your steering wheel. :) Once the pressure in the tank bleeds off to about 80psi,
the kill switch will automatically close, thus allowing for the compressor to start and refill the tank.
The pressure gauge isn't required, but it's fun to see it climb to 120psi. :)
NOTE: It's probably a good idea to wire the compressor into your electrical system such that it can only
get power when the key is in the ON position. Otherwise, if you have a slow leak in the system, the compressor
will start again when the pressure drops low enough to close the switch.
- Loading it all in...
| This should fit... |
Air tank goes here |
Compressor goes here |
My original thought was to put the horns behind the front bumper, then mount the air tank in the cavity between
the battery and the left headlamp with the compressor between the battery and the fuse block.
I soon learned that my ability to judge spacial dimension sucks.
- On second thought...
| The compressor |
The air tank |
An above shot of the tank |
The horns did make it behind the bumper, but this is where the compressor and air tank ended up.
(yes, I dressed those cables and insulated the lugs on the kill switch)
- Horn details
| Left horn |
Right horn |
My feet! (top down shot) |
Just about done |
My first thought was to mount the horns on that red frame cross-member that runs under the radiator. But
that ended up being a heck of a lot of trouble to get a drill in there to run a hole, so with a lucky twist
of the horn, and a bit of tweaking, I got them to sit nuzzled into the cavity that's formed at the back of
bumper itself. I mounted them with 1/4" stainless bolts. The rear of the horn is supported by the bumper
mount, and the whole thing makes for a solid feeling setup.
I'm going to play with these as is for a while, but I'm thinking that I may fabricate a baffle to direct
the blast of the horns down (or out, not sure which). As things turned out, they're blowing right into each
other and while that's not "bad", I think that I may be able to get a bit clearer of a tone if they don't.
We'll see!
- btw, welcome to My Garage
Apartment life is fun when trying to do something like this!
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