Putting Different Horn in Metro question

[udel]

Hi,
I would like to put a horn set out of a early 1970's Cadillac in my Metro. There are three horns in the set. Will this settup work. I believe there is a relay or something that the current passes through to get the horns to go. Will this handle the horns. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I want to make sure this will work before I try it.
Thanks

[DOCTORBILL]

I have had several small economy cars and they all have those Donald Duck
horns that everyone laughs at or ignores.

Go to Schucks and buy a headlight relay for about $4. Buy the horns you want
from a wrecking yard. Get BIG pickup truck horns. Loud suckers!

Have them test them in front of you! Not all horns are loud enough. Some
won't even work! Some just cough and buzz.....

Run a 12 guage wire from the Battery positive terminal (fused at the terminal)
to the relay battery prong (see package wiring diagram). Use crimp-on
connectors.

Run a wire from your present horn wire to the relay signal prong.

Run the third wire from the relay headlight prong to the horn(s) you want to
use.

This way, whatever horn(s) you choose will get quite sufficient power directly
from the battery. Your present horn wire will activate the relay. Be sure
you ground the add-on horns well.

Many small car horn relays are not sufficiently powerful enough to deliver
power to one or more AMERICAN horns (ear blasters!).

Now my 93 Geo Metro, my wifes 93 Geo tracker, and my old cars sold off,
sound like a Dodge Ram Truck.

Gets peoples' attention.....!

BTW - aim the horns forward. Put them in front of the radiator so the sound
gets out of the engine compartment and isn't muffled!

DoctorBill

[udel]

Doctor Bill,

Wow, thank you so much for that reply!! Now I'm looking forward to getting this hooked up, and testing it on some maddening drivers.

[DOCTORBILL]

You are welcome!

I just did that with my wife's geo Metro. The horn that came with it sounds,
I swear to God, like the Road Runner does in those Coyote-Road Runner
cartoons of old.

People hear that "mmbeep mmbeep' and almost laugh! They know without
looking in the mirror that the car is small.....

Now - when the Honk! is loud enough to make them jump, they assume some
big assed diesel truck (or Suburban) is bearing down on them!

Be sure to either test the horn yourself by hooking it directly to a 12v battery
with wires or have the wrecking yard do it in front of you. You would be
amazed at how many horns taken off of big trucks or luxury cars don't sound
loud or just vibrate!

Get those two-horn deals (two tones) from a Dodge Ram Truck or from
some Luxury car or maybe a Suburban!

Make sure the wires are 12 gauge so they carry enough current to make the
horns wail!

The Schucks relay is about 1 inch cubed in size. Be sure to fuse the wire
at the battery so you don't get a really bad short some day and have wires
melting under the hood.



Harbor Freight Tools sells a bubble pack of three copper tabs that screw on
to the battery hold-down bolts and have three tabs exposed that one can
connect to for accessories. Costs about $2 and is quite handy! An in-line
fuse holder with wires can be used by the battery terminal. 15 amp would be
fine.



Good honking!

DoctorBill

[DOCTORBILL]

Hey there, Udel.......

I can't answer your E-Mail to me when you have not allowed E-Mail
responses in this forum....!

To answer it here in front of God and everyone else....

Buy Big Car or Truck horns and have them tested while you watch
and listen. Even if the horns don't work out in your vehicle, once the relay
is hooked up (see my previous post), you can change horns or add more horns
w/o much effort at all.

I wanted to have an 18 wheeler Air Horn, but that is way too much effort.
requires an air compressor and tank.

Besides - with today's type of driver, you may just get shot with a
automatic weapon when you blast a big horn.

Pesonally, I wish I could mount a 50 calibre on my rooftop and 'take out'
some road hogs and those slow drivers who plug up the highways and
left turners who make me stop and right turners who almost come to a
complete stop before turning and.....

I'm not crazy.... I feel much better now after taking my medication!

DoctorBill

[udel]

Doctor Bill,
Again, I would like to say thanks for all your help on the horn issue!! I rounded up all the parts just as you suggested and completed the project last night. Everything works great!! I also made the change in my settings on the email. Sorry. I do have one question. The inline fuse holder I bought came with a 20 amp fuse. Is that okay? One other thing. Any particular reason for the spot you chose to mount the relay? I'm just curious.
John

[DOCTORBILL]

The 20 amp fuse would probably be fine. I have no idea what current one or
more horns pull at 12 volts...

The fuse amps is really not important - you just want a fuse in case the wire
shorts out. Without a fuse, the wire will melt in less than a second if shorted
directly from the battery.

I picked that spot because it was available, easy to get at, and I am lazy....

Hope your horn now wakes up the dead! Just don't get shot at using it!

DoctorBill

[DanMan7]

Just found this thread, but I found some really nice dual tone loud car horns made by Wolf I think from PepBoys, but they're really good. Cost about $40. Comes with relay and all wiring needed.

[Aeroscout]

I bought a self-contained airhorn from Harbor Freight for a bout $30. Fit right in my 92 Metro Convertible; if I remember right, it even used the same holes as the OEM horn. Works great!

[andrgo]

Originally Posted by DOCTORBILL

all have those Donald Duck horns that everyone laughs at or ignores.

Originally Posted by DOCTORBILL

People hear that "mmbeep mmbeep' and almost laugh!

That has to be one of the funniest things I've read in this forum so far, haha.

I have a set of train horns I bought for my '87 F150 back in August, I'm going to take them out of the truck and hopefully put them in my future Metro.

Those suckers are huge though, one is 13 inches long and the other is 18 inches long and they're pretty big in diameter. I had to bring my truck to an auto body shop just to have them mounted under the hood of my big F150 because I didn't know how the #*$% I was going to get them in there. When I get a Metro it's going to be about four times the challenge I'm guessing...

[DanMan7]

Hey Andrgo I just noticed your signature...thanks for including me as one of the people who convinced you to get a Geo. I haven't regretted my purchase. These small cars are so hard to find at least here in CA...ones in good shape that is. I've only spent a total of around $1800 altogether on it, and it's well worth it. I've driven 40 miles since I put in the newer engine and the fuel gauge has only moved about a sixteenth of an inch ( I estimate it's only used around 1 gallon for 40 miles so far). Much better than the 25mpg or so it got with 2 bad cylinders.

I used to own a 1980 F100 that I put in dual air horns in it, with their own electric air compressor. Those things were loud. When I hit the horn, people didn't know where it was coming from. Although I also had a PA system in it too so I could yell at people as I went down the road...LOL..It was a lot of fun.

I still have yet to install air horns in my 1973 F250 I bought after selling my other truck. I'm also going to install loud dual horns in my Metro soon. I will when I find the time, and when the weather is better around here.