Dinky Toyota Horns and What to do About IT!

[Jonathan Hanson]

The trick to avoiding the lag with the air horns is to keep the air lines between the little compressor and the trumpets short. The delay in mine was virtually unnoticeable.

 

[BajaXplorer]

Jonathan, your right about the need to ground the hellas. The mounting bracket on the horn is insulated and just mounting to metal does not work. Besides the tab for your horn wire to hook to, there is also an additional tab that you can use to run the ground wire.
BX

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Jonathan, your right about the need to ground the hellas. The mounting bracket on the horn is insulated and just mounting to metal does not work. Besides the tab for your horn wire to hook to, there is also an additional tab that you can use to run the ground wire.
BX

BX.....

So it sounds like from your discription that those Hella's can work both ways.

........Grounded at terminal


........Or non~Grounded with insulated mounting plate


am I reading you right?


............................

And Jonathan.....

Thanks for the tip on the short air line!......Now I get it!



(I still think a Buick Roadmaster 4 note horn would be awesome!):shakin:

.....and how about I aim one out the back for the tailgators!.....hehe:ar15:

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Finally!!!!!!!

Reviving the wimpy horn thread...............

We all know how Wimpy our Toyota horns are.

Have you done a mod to your Wimpy horn to help save your Life?!!

Share with us your horn mod..........and idea's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was helping a friend take her old car to the wrecking yard yesterday. That's when I started walking around looking for things I might be able to use. Then I thought of Horns! First I started looking at Buick Park Ave's because I know some of those came with a huge 4 note horn. None to be found. Then Caddie's....nuffin'.

Then I came across a newer Ford F-350 4x4 Pick Up truck. I check up front and sure enough I found a nice clean and new looking pair of Fiamm 125db horns....with bracket and wires! YES!

How much Amigo? $Fiefteeen Dollarz.

How about $7.50. HaHaHa! he says!

OK.....$9.

.....no sir amigo.

OK............$10 Bucks....please help me save my life one day!

It's yours amigo!

Snip.....wrench and I'm smiling and on my way.

I looked them up when I got home and you can buy them online for about $38 bucks shipped.

I get home and do a test of these horns on my Buick battery in the driveway (with my shooting muffs on!....hehe) and it shot my friend in the air 3 inches!.........hehe

I may need some help later with the wires. This is a two wire deal, and our Toyota horns are a one wire and a ground.

 

[SLOwag]

I used the Freeway Blasters by Fiamm...got 'em for $10 each at Harbor Freight and they've been going strong for two years now. They sound like a traditional Detroit horn, it was a good choice for me. Rig is in sig line and I know 80's owners have also used them.

 

[Grim Reaper]

I have FIAMM dual air horns in both my trucks.
The set on the Sub are old and ave aluminum trumpets. They sound a little more crisp then the plastic trumpets on the new set. Sounds like the penalty horn at a Hockey game.

On the 86 4runner I popped the grill out and was able to just fit them them in the space left from the stock horn. They point down (make sure water can't trap in them) just behind the bumper. The compressor is Wire tied in right behind the head light to the core support. I just tagged both power wires to the stock horn and went right to the compressor. It already has a relay. If it spins backwards then flip the polarity. Has been working great for 2 years.

A tip when they seem to have lost their punch (cold weather seems to aggravate this) is every once in a while the rubber in the compressor needs lubrication. Couple drops of air tool oil does the truck.

Not a great picture but you can see the bottom of the trumpets above the core support mount.

 

[adventureduo]

I've used both the HELLA TWIN AIR HORNS and the HELLA TONE vdubb horns. They're both louder than heck and will do you right. There isn't a delay at all.

 

[flyingwil]

I've used both the HELLA TWIN AIR HORNS and the HELLA TONE vdubb horns. They're both louder than heck and will do you right. There isn't a delay at all.

Great products there! Just installed a set of the Hella Dual Air Horns a few months ago on my brother in law's Range Rover. They are very loud at 118 db, and for about $33.

 

[ntsqd]

IggyB, you know, those of us who research for weeks to find a sophisticated solution to a problem really find it annoying when someone like yourself accomplishes the same thing for five dollars.

He missed the third Cad horn though. The three together really work well, much better than just two.

Patch came to me with a Fiamm triple set. I didn't like the delay either. The hoses weren't all that long. Eventually dust killed it. I'm thinking a horn that needs oil must have been designed by Lucas.

Patch now has a real air horn. It's an old JCW kit that used a vacuum driven pump to compress air & store it in a small reservoir. The horn itself has a solenoid valve on it. As you might guess that pump was junk. Barely got 5 years out of it b4 it died. Now I use the JY sourced Cad air ride compressor and an ARB pressure switch. I pointed the trumpets at the ground to keep dust out of them.
First trip out with them installed there was some sort of protest going on and one guy had a sign that said "Honk if you....." whatever it was. My then GF asked me to honk for him. Neither the GF nor that guy were expecting what they got.

Scott Wilson, there's a name I've not seen in a long, long time.

 

[Robthebrit]

If you do air horns you want them to be as long as possible, those short stubby air horns sound like that aerosol horns people take to sports games. Although the short horns are loud on paper they are not very effective as there is not a large quantiy of sound, the horns on my trucks are air powered air horns, they are not that loud on paper but will scare the life out of you.

You guys with compressors should just run with air horns (in addition to the electric horn), maybe even get a train horn! I considered one for the mog but they take so much air I would have to decide between horn and brakes.

Rob

 

[ntsqd]

Hadley Air Horns

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Well......

I had a little time this morning.

And since I'm feeling a little better about the wiring now, I decided to mount up the Fiamm 125db Horns.

At first I thought I wanted them up under the hood. Hardly any room there. All the fittings seem to be waterproof.....so I started looking under the front bumper.

I found the Perfect fit, right up under the passenger side front bumper. And there was even a magically placed Toyota Factory hole for me to bolt up too!

I'm going to make a shield out of aluminum roof flashing to help keep the rocks and crud from hitting the horns from the front tire. This can also screw into an existing hole.

I found this wiring write up..........

I knew there was something funny about the way Toyota wires up their horns!

Anybody out there local who would like to help me figure out the wiring? How 'boutcha there Boston Mangler!

 

[HenryJ]

...Anybody out there local who would like to help me figure out the wiring?

I can offer a little long distance help.

(ignore the ground references. This picture was for a different application.)

The positive, hot all the time wire to the stock horn needs to attach to relay "activate +"(#85) and jumper across and connect it to the relay supply (#87) , the single wire to the new horn needs to attach to relay feed (Normally Open #30) , The negative wire from the stock horn to relay "activate - " (#86).

#85 and #87 attached to the positive wire from the stock horn.
#30 attached to the new horn
#86 attached to the negative wire from the stock horn.

Pretty simple. If you can handle home wiring you can tackle this one. Ask if you have questions

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Thanks Henry!


I plugged in the Fiamm today!

It's just a direct two wire plug in to the old Toyota horn wires. Just put two female wire ends on the Fiamm horn wires and it plugs right in to the old Toyota horn Plug.

One hot.....one ground.

I don't understand what all the fuss was at the link I posted above.

Anyway..........

Works Great!

Now I sound like a Huge F~350 with 37" tires and 8" lift......! woohoo!

So.......just do it!

You too can sound like an F~350...........!:wings:


.

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Rats...........!

Grumble.....Grumble............! .....Rats!


My dual Ford F350 horns worked pefect for just over a year now! Saved my *utt many times from dum dums....already!

This past spring I went through the Very deep at the time Coyote Creek in Anza~Borrego. The water went clear up to my front bumper.

It must have swamped my horns. One ended up with water in it. And now one has stopped working. It's the inside one that's facing down.

Now off to the junk yards for another set I guess. It's going to cost me more in gas just to go get one!


Or..........

I could just plug back in my whimpy Toyota horn and forgettaboutit!

I think modifications are jinxed!



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