Installing Triple Air Horns /w Dual Compressors

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Old 05-17-2004
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Post Installing Triple Air Horns /w Dual Compressors

<font face="Verdana" size="2">Well, I finally got around to installing my air horns. I bought Hella triple air horns. I reccomend that you get them from </font><a href="http://www.rallylights.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Verdana" color="#19334a" size="2">Susquehanna MotorSports</font></a><font face="Verdana" size="2">. They have the best prices on these horns. I ended up buying two kits. One triple air horn kit and one dual air horn kit. My dad ended up fronting the cash for the dual kit because he broke one of the horns in my triple kit. Lucky for me 'cause I got the horn back and I could try installing dual compressors. <br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/1.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><b>Materials:</b><br />Hella Triple Air Horn Kit<br />Hella Dual Air Horn Kit<br />2 L brackets (typically used for shelves)<br />12 Guage Wire (you can use 14 Guage, or even 16 guage)<br />Female Spade Connectors (to clip onto the relays)<br />Butt Connectors (to splice wire together)<br />Disconnect Terminals (for ground and power)<br />20 Amp In-Line Fuses (can't be too careful)<br />Stainless Steel Hardware (bolts, nuts, clamps)<br />1.25x.25 Cross Section Aluminum Bar (for brackets)<br /><br />You may be thinking, "What's with the McDonald's color scheme?". I planned to buy an Optima Yellow Top and hook that wire up to it, but I ended up buying an Optima Red Top. I would prefer red wire so that I don't ruin my color scheme. Oh well, it's not really visible the way I did it anyway.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Now, this is what the air horn assembly looks like. Three air horns. Every one a different size to emit a different frequency. Anyway, the bracket is made out of aluminum and it is bent into shape using a vise and my bare hands. The screws came with the kit, and the little L brackets I bought at a hardware store. I wanted a compact design, so this is what I came up with. The instructions included with the air horn kit state to use as short a distance as possible betwean the compressor and the horns (when it comes to the hoses). The ends of the hoses should be dipped in very hot water to soften them up and allow you to slip them on to the air horns easily.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/3.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Now, this is the car before taking the bumper off.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/4.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />This is after you take the front bumper off. This is a shot of the passenger side headlight. You will see some threaded holes in that location. These threaded holes are what I used to secure everything to the car. I didn't want to drill any new holes. Technically I could market a plug and play air horn kit for the 7th gen civic with the knowledge I gained. Anyway, the thread size is metric and the screw size is M8 I believe. I bought stainless steel metric bolts and they fit perfectly. Stainless steel and aluminum should last a while without any corrosion. <br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/5.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />These are the dual compressors. I also made a braket for them because there really is no other way to make them fit. If you only buy one Hella kit, then you could mount the compressor in one of several locations. Notice all of the threaded holes. There are four of them.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/6.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here I mounted the air horn assembly and checked to see how things fit. I then had to take it off and bend the aluminum bracket outwards a little more. Notice the airbag sensor? I don't know if hitting it when the car is turned off will set of the airbags, but I didn't want to find out. I avoided touching it.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/7.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here is a picture of the vise I used to make the brackets. Wow, I have an invisible hand! <br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/8.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Now, here is a picture of the bracket I just made. It's a small little bracket for the relays. A relay is basically a switch. You hook up a circuit to it and when you complete the circuit the relays completes another circuit. It has four prongs and they have an industry standard labeling, so each relays should have the same numbers. 87 and 30 are one circuit and 86 and 85 are another.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/9.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here is the drivers side. Notice the stock horn. I also cut off a little clip like piece of plastic on the windshield washer fluid container. It used to hold the wire for the stock horn. I cut it off because it interfered with my Tsunami front bumper. Anyway, the plan is to not do any (further) damage to the stock components, so I will just unplug the stock horn and plug in the wire for the activation of the relay.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/14.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />What I did was route a wire through the front bumper. There are subdividers there and little holes in them, so I just routed it through the holes. Then I stripped the end of the wire that I routed, clipped off several strands of wire, and I shoved the rest into the stock connector. Then I used some masking tape around the connection and Viola!<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/10.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Now I took everything out again and I made the rest of the tubing connections. Notice the little stainless steel clamps I bought for the connections to the compressors? I figured that they'll help seal the connection a little better.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/12.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here you see some of the connections finished off. You see where I used the ground in the upper left hand corner. Two wires leading into one (accomplished using butt connectors). For wiring you will have to refer to the instructions that came with your kit, but I will tell you what worked for me... The compressor negative goes to ground and the positive goes to 87 on the relay. 30 on the relay goes to positive (+12V). 85 on the relay goes to ground. Finally, 86 on the relay goes to the wire we hooked up to the horn. I also used a fuse (20A) betwean the positive (+12V) and 30 on the relay. Remember that I used two relays, but you could technically get away with using one. I used two since the current flow is doubled with two compressors and because if one of the compressors ever dies the horn will still work (feabily, but it'll work).<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/13.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here you can see where I tapped the positive (+12V). These wires go directly to the battery. The fuse box lid doesn't close properly anymore, so I think I'll redo this somehow in the future. It does close, but the two clips near the connections don't snap shut all the way. I'll either have to make two notches in the box, or I'll have to wire this up a little differently. Maybe when I install my Monster Cable battery terminals I can hook them up directly to the battery?<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br /><img alt="" src="/diyimages/horn/11.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here is the finished product. It's a lot of trial and error. Notice the new relays? I bought a new set after one of the old ones blew out. I couldn't figure out what it was for the longest time, but I finally figured it out. these relays have a higher amperage rating and they have dual output terminals, so I can technically use only one of them if I wanted to. Maybe I'll change the wiring out to red and I'll hook up only one of those terminals some day. For now I think this is a pretty good setup.<br /><br /><hr noshade="65535" size="1" /><br />Wondering how it sounds like? Here's a clip of the setup when one of the relays was dead: </font><a href="/diyimages/horn/testing.avi" target="_blank"><font face="Verdana" color="#19334a" size="2">testing.avi</font></a><font face="Verdana" size="2">This only shows you how they sound though. They're pretty loud though. Much louder than anything I've heard on the street. Even louder than single compressor triple air horn setups. </font>
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