My new horn install

[Mr Magoo]

Finally got around to installing a replacement for the pathetic stock horn. I went with the Stebel compact air horn. This is also the same as the Wolo "Bad Boy". The sound is very Euro. Reminds me of the horns in a Porsche 911 I drove years ago. Install wasn't too bad. I liked the fact that I could install this in the original location and not have to make any new holes. I did have to make a bracket which was nothing more than a flat strip of metal. I used a piece of 3/16" thick, 304 stainless steel, cut to 7/8" wide and 3" long. It could have been only 2" long actually. I attached the horn to the bracket with a S.S. 5/16" -18 bolt and a S.S. nylon insert lock nut. The bracket was attached to the body using a M8-1.25 X 25mm body bolt I got at Lowes. The original bolt was too short with the thicker bracket I made. I painted the compressor/motor body flat black so that it wouldn't show through the grille. I also used black silicone to seal around where that horn body attaches to the compressor/motor. Here is a picture of the horn from the front.

[Mr Magoo]

Here is a shot from the back showing the bracket. The pigtail wire is the ground for the horn. For all of my wiring connections I either used the terminals with the heat shrink attached to them or put on my own heat shrink tube. I also coated all connections with dielectric grease.

[Mr Magoo]

For all the wiring I ran it along the original wiring harness and attached it with zip ties. I also covered it with wire loom where I could. I didn't remove the grilles. Working from the top and bottom wasn't too bad. I removed the battery completely to make it easier to route the wiring. The black wire (a little hard to see where the connection is) is the wire that leads from the original positive wire terminal to the new relay. The blue wire is the new hot wire from the relay.

[Sublimewind]

NICE...!! I recently put 2 sets of FAAIM Riveria's on my Subaru... That's the same compressor, but with 3 trumpets... so I have 6 trumpets and 2 compressors hangin of the front of the car.. lol.. Nothing like getting noticed, when you NEED to.. lol..

[Mr Magoo]

I mounted the relay on the side of the air filter housing. There is a tab there with a hole in it, for what I don't know, that worked perfect. I attached the relay with a S.S. 10-24 screw, lock nut, and 2 fender washers top and bottom. The fender washers are necessary since the hole in the air filter housing is around .375".

[Mr Magoo]

I installed a fuse holder in between the battery connection and the hot wire for the new relay. Fuse holder holds a 30 amp ATM fuse.

[Mr Magoo]

Looking down from top. I grounded the relay to the grounding connection under the battery.

[Mr Magoo]

This is the horn installed looking down from the top. The horn looks very close to the hood release here, but it really isn't.

[Mr Magoo]

Looking up from the ground.

[Mr Magoo]

Well that's it for my first mod. One last shot from the front through the grille. With the flat black paint it really isn't visible at all.

[Mr Magoo]

I work late and my drive home is all through the countryside with lots of critters along the way. I've already tested it out on quite a few Deer, a Possum, and a Coyote. Possum was the funniest. Man, he freaked out!

[keithvibe]

nicely done fyi the tab on the air intake is there for a support bracket that was used on cable driven cars because yours is a dbw yours is left unused.

[Sublimewind]

just a quick suggestion... pull your relay connections and fill them with silicone, sealing them... It's a great install, perfect placement... The only thing I would change is the relay position, I see it looks like you sealed it with silicone, but silicone isn't infallible.. I would mount it upright so the connections are covered by the "hood" of the relay.. And I would try and position it elsewhere if possible, right up front like that gives it a chance to be hit by road salt spray.. if you could just get it back against the firewall or even behind the air-box.. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but i'm a "better safe than sorry" kind of fella..

[Mr Magoo]

Not sure what you mean by "hood" of the relay. I kind of figured on top of the air box where I have it would be pretty safe. Seems like it doesn't even get wet there when I've driven in the rain this week. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Moving it now would mean redoing basically all of the wiring.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by Mr Magoo »Not sure what you mean by "hood" of the relay. I kind of figured on top of the air box where I have it would be pretty safe. Seems like it doesn't even get wet there when I've driven in the rain this week. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Moving it now would mean redoing basically all of the wiring.The top of the relay, where you mounted it, the case, it creates a hood, so if it gets splashed or something, the terminals are somewhat covered... It's really not an issue, it likely never will be... I'm just (removed).. well, I should say I have a lot of attention to detail... I would at least fill the connectors with silicone.. or dielectric grease... it will help prevent any corrosion..

[Mr Magoo]

I'll add a piece of S.S. angle where the relay is mounted now and mount the relay to that which will rotate the relay facing down. That should help. I did fill all connections with dielectric grease. I mentioned that in my second post.

[Sublimewind]

Good @ the bracketAnd sorry, I must have over-read the part about greasing them.. lol..

[TonyB]

Thanks much for sharing your detailed install, with photos. Good stuff. If you got it, please disregard the instant messages I just sent. I thought it was a PM...I bought this horn a couple years ago for my car, but never installed it due to space constraints (MINI Cooper). I now want to install it on my wife's Vibe, but lost the instructions She drives around our first baby, and I really want her to have a louder horn. It seems that you are connected to all four tabs on the relay, but I can't quite tell. If you don't mind, kindly share the wiring path that works for you on the Vibe. Thanks much. TonyMr Magoo

[06pvibe]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »just a quick suggestion... pull your relay connections and fill them with silicone, sealing them... It's a great install, perfect placement... The only thing I would change is the relay position, I see it looks like you sealed it with silicone, but silicone isn't infallible.I would mount it upright so the connections are covered by the "hood" of the relay.. And I would try and position it elsewhere if possible, right up front like that gives it a chance to be hit by road salt spray.. if you could just get it back against the firewall or even behind the air-box.. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but i'm a "better safe than sorry" kind of fella. I'm with you on that one. Mr. Magoo, The horn install itself looks great, but I would definitely consider remounting that relay with the mounting tab up/connections down. The relay body is not likely to be water proofed. Eventually water could get trapped in there causing it to fail, or worse, start an electrical fire. Mounting it essentially upside down is asking for trouble, imo too. Also, you can use silicone grease to help protect the posts and connections to the relay from corroding. Its in the plumbing section of any big box store (HD or Lowes) and cost around $3 for a little pot of it. I use it on and for many things myself, including the valves on our pool. It doesn't take much and last quite a while out in the weather.

[joejoev]

I also have a Nautilus. I made a little case to protect the relay from the elements by using a plastic spice shaker bottle with a sifter fitment. I cut the bottle down to size, fed the wires through the sifter holes, made the connections and inserted the relay into the enclosure. I used the screw-on cap to enclose the cut end (bottom) of the bottle which in turn became the top of the case. The sifter fitment is the bottom of the case.

[TonyB]

Thought I'd report back...- The OEM horn wire (+) goes to 85 on the relay- Opposite this on the relay, is ground- Battery hot lead, as shown above very clearly- Remaining relay post goes to the Strebel +

[06pvibe]

Quote, originally posted by TonyB »Thought I'd report back...- The OEM horn wire (+) goes to 85 on the relay- Opposite this on the relay, is ground- Battery hot lead, as shown above very clearly- Remaining relay post goes to the Strebel +I have a diagram that states that post 86 should be the trigger (horn in this case) wire.http://www.ado13.com/techs/relay.htmI would think that since we are dealing w/DC current here (polarity sensitive) that this is critical, yes?Of course, if it doesn't work right the first time, its easy enough to reverse the wires on the relay itself.