So a lady pulled out in front of me last night...
#1
So a lady pulled out in front of me last night...
It was a dark and stormy night (seriously). Ridin in the cruise lane, and coming up on a busy exit (Huntersville if you are from around here) and move to the left lane. People merge, then this woman in a Nissan Versa (midget car) just casually pulls into my lane doing about 60. I am doing 80. Not cool. Slam on my brakes and lay like hell on the horn.
...Oh did I say I didn't get into an accident?
Well, I couldn't really hear my horn past my exhaust/rain. It seriously sounded like this guy:
Horrible... So today I got bored, went to the junk yard. I was thinking what horn to use, and I remember the BMW horns are serious business. So I found some BMW 7/5/3 series. Plucked two horns off a 1993 I believe.
Those look good, eh? So after I got home I went and took off the header panel, and the 2 stock horns were there to unbolt. 1 10mm bolt per horn.
Well, when I went to line up the horns, They did not point to the front like I wanted. So I bent the metal attachments on the BMW horns to a 90* angle.
The stock horns were self grounded through the hanger, so all you have to do to take the horn out is pull the female butt connector from the horn. Viola! Well, now the BMW has 2 wires. Didnt find out what the second wire is for, but the blue with yellow wire is the power. The dark colored wire could be for a signal, or a ground, whatever. I used it as a ground. The blue/yellow I just added a male butt connector and soldered it. Remember to shrink wrap, kids! now on the other wire, I just added an O head (not sure what you call them, but they come with the female/male connectors). I used that on each end bolt on the front of the header panels.
After this picture, I repositioned the ground wires from the header panel to the mounting bracket. Kept everything nice and tidy, and bolted it all back up.
I painted the header panel and carb top as well while it was off.
Now the horn is more commanding. It is much louder, but not annoying hurts-your-ears loud.
...Oh did I say I didn't get into an accident?
Well, I couldn't really hear my horn past my exhaust/rain. It seriously sounded like this guy:
Horrible... So today I got bored, went to the junk yard. I was thinking what horn to use, and I remember the BMW horns are serious business. So I found some BMW 7/5/3 series. Plucked two horns off a 1993 I believe.
Those look good, eh? So after I got home I went and took off the header panel, and the 2 stock horns were there to unbolt. 1 10mm bolt per horn.
Well, when I went to line up the horns, They did not point to the front like I wanted. So I bent the metal attachments on the BMW horns to a 90* angle.
The stock horns were self grounded through the hanger, so all you have to do to take the horn out is pull the female butt connector from the horn. Viola! Well, now the BMW has 2 wires. Didnt find out what the second wire is for, but the blue with yellow wire is the power. The dark colored wire could be for a signal, or a ground, whatever. I used it as a ground. The blue/yellow I just added a male butt connector and soldered it. Remember to shrink wrap, kids! now on the other wire, I just added an O head (not sure what you call them, but they come with the female/male connectors). I used that on each end bolt on the front of the header panels.
After this picture, I repositioned the ground wires from the header panel to the mounting bracket. Kept everything nice and tidy, and bolted it all back up.
I painted the header panel and carb top as well while it was off.
Now the horn is more commanding. It is much louder, but not annoying hurts-your-ears loud.
#3
Apathy Isn't Laziness
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Edmonton
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Nice. I never thought of doing something like this but it looks like a good inexpensive improvement. Now I just have to decide what vehicle I want to pull the horn from at pick and pull. Anybody have preferences on what vehicle has a good loud sounding horn besides the BMW horns?
#7
Waffles - hmmm good
iTrader: (1)
I did something similiar to a Ford Festiva (stop snickering, it got 40 mpg and my commute was 35 miles each way) anyway, it had a feebel horn on it. So I went to walmart and got a replacement horn for a large 80s chevy sedan (like a caprice or something). Wired that puppy up and it was good and loud. The floor boards would vibrate when I hit it.
I've been thinking of doing the same with the 7, just hadn't decided what horns to use. Good write up and pretty paint job Stu. I see the bars match the air cleaner, sweet.
I've been thinking of doing the same with the 7, just hadn't decided what horns to use. Good write up and pretty paint job Stu. I see the bars match the air cleaner, sweet.
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#13
When I had my FC, I ran a cheap air horn set. I'm probably going to wire up a set for the FB as well. When I need my horn, I need my horn - I don't use it for greeting, I use it for "HEY! IDIOT! PAY ATTENTION!" Two front facing trumpets firing out through the radiator intake were sufficient to direct a lot of very loud sound forward, without being too loud in the car.
-=Russ=-
-=Russ=-
#14
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Fort Pierce FL
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Im about to buy one of those loud *** train horns! No one will ever expect that kind of sound comming out of my little car! hahaha..........that might be overkill tho