Miata Mailing List: October 1995, Message #4
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   From: CBT!RMEL593@cinbell.attmail.com (Meldrum, Rob)
Subject: More on air horns
   Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 11:20:09 -0400

Maybe the subject on this should have been "Moron Air Horns."  Having 
followed the air horns thread for over six months, I thought I'd share my 
experience.  If you are in a rush and don't like learning from other 
people's errors, delete now...

In my younger days I had an MG Midget, and my best addition to it was a 
set of air horns.  I loved popping those bad boys and seeing offending 
truckers look around for the source.  So I knew I wanted to give The 
Lobster a better voice.

I was out getting an antenna for my wife's car, saw some really cool 
FIAMM air horns at Nationwise and the helpful guy there sold me on them 
(he uses them himself).  Having no clue what power they draw, I followed 
Drake Daum's advice and bought an in-line fuse to power them directly 
from the fuse block.  By the way, living in Cincinnati I have had the 
pleasure of seeing Drake's tricked-out Miata, and as I accumulate MSU's 
(Miata Spending Units), I struggle to replicate his best achievements.

I'll admit one critical fact right now.  I'm OK on the theory end of 
things, but I'm a mechanical klutz, which made the thirty-minute 
installation procedure an afternoon's effort.  If my writing seems a 
little discombobulated it's because of the numerous Homer Simpson 
headslaps I administered to myself (DOH!)

First off, back in March, Pete (Meoughta@aol.com) sent in a great 
write-up on locating spots to mount Hella air horns, compressor, relay, 
and how to wire everything.  Get it from the archives, it's worth the 
download.

I removed the plastic cover over the radiator, no problem.  Removed the 
old horn (to the left of the hood latch), with a 10mm socket wrench.  
Found the hole to the right of the hood latch, the larger air horn fit 
just right, so then I had to spend fifteen minutes in the basement 
scrounging up a discarded L-shaped angle iron, then had to bore out the 
holes with a drill bit so the bolts would fit, mounted it just so, and 
then realized that the air horn tubing mounted on the BOTTOM of the horn 
mount, and was unreachable once the horn was mounted.  DOH!  

So I unmounted the first horn, cut the tubing into two identical short 
lengths to reach both horns, with the remainder to go from the tubing Y 
connector back to the compressor, and then hooked up the tubing to the 
horn.  Remounted horn number one. One hour dead and gone, but hey, I've 
got the job half done, right?

Horn number two was a tighter squeeze, just need another angle bracket, 
which I DON"T HAVE!  I did find an old large hinge, cut off a section of 
that, and bent it to make a fine custom piece of metalwork to hang horn 
number two.  Yes, drilled it out, then found that I'd cut the tubing 
lengths just right for final locations, but not enough slack for 
preconnecting.  DOH!  However, with some knuckle-scraping and a few 
unkind words, I managed to get it connected and mounted.  Another hour 
donated to the love of my Miata.

Now to the relay.  Hey, FIAMM used a different numbering scheme than 
Hella, so I'm on my own here.  One on one, mano a mano with the 
instruction sheet which (conveniently enough) is written in German, 
French, Italian, Japanese, and English by (I'm guessing here) a Norwegian 
electrical engineer.  The most interesting thing about the installation 
was the identification of four wiring posts on the relay in the 
instructions, but FIVE posts on the relay itself!  Two of them shared the 
same number, so I did the wise thing and wired it up blindfolded.  
Actually, I just assumed that one number 87 post was as good as the 
other, and winged it.

Before final mounting, I thought I'd test the setup to see if my 
assumption worked.  YES!  Unfortunately, sounding air horns in an 
enclosed garage emphasizes the extreme volume of the new horns.  DOH!

All righty, then, mount the compressor to the left of the hood latch in 
that nice big hole.  Just maneuver that nut over the washer and onto the 
bolt, wiggle to get it seated, gently now...DOH!  The nut slipped out of 
my hand, and disappeared into the nether reaches behind the radiator.  
Didn't hear it land, couldn't find it in the plastic drain pan.  

Removed compressor and relay, put down hood.  Drove the car back and 
forth in the driveway.  Nothing.  It's gone.  Off to ACE hardware to get 
another bolt.  It's 10mm and 1.00 pitch I found out after lots of trail 
and error.  Back home, I reopened the hood.

Compressor mounted just fine, thank you.  Hooked up all the wires using 
old spade lug connectors left over from another project.  Looking very 
good now, using black wire for ground connections, red for power.  OK!

Wow, this relay is a tight squeeze, next to the compressor, hooking onto 
the old horn bolt location.  If I twist this thing and push it over --  
Sizzle, sizzle, electrical noises -- DOH!  I managed to push the HOT 
spade lug against the car metal.  Don't have the battery wire connected, 
you numbskull!  

Got the relay mounted, ran wire to the in-line fuse (thanks again, 
Drake), and to the unused connector for ABS (don't have that).  Used 
bright yellow wire ties to make everything neat and tidy.

Struggled to get the plastic cover over the radiator, and then the hood 
wouldn't shut.  I had put the cover over the latch that allows the hood 
to shut and open.  DOH!  Fixed that, and everything works great.

Lessons:  1)  FIAMM  kit comes without wires, spade lug connectors, good 
instructions, or mounting brackets and hardware.  I am sure the Crazy Red 
Italian whups it but good in the ease of installation category.

2)  Everything feels good and solid, built to last.  Haven't seen the 
other air horns, but I like the quality of FIAMM.

3)  If you do a lot of car work, you probably have everything you need, 
and this is indeed a half-hour job.  If you have one small tool box and a 
cardboard box of miscellaneous screws, bolts and nails, budget a couple 
of trips to the hardware store.

4)  Even frustrating incompetently-performed work on a Miata is fun, and 
makes the car a little more special to you.  The Lobster is now looking 
forward to an opportunity to SHOUT at some highway ne'er-do-wells.

Four hours spent, and I only caught the last ten minutes of Ohio State 
putting the hurt on Notre Dame.  Still and all, a project worth doing.  

The FIAMM's have a nice high-pitched two-tone sound (pleasant root and 
third of a major chord: A Major?  Have to check that out).  And I did 
figure out what FIAMM stands for.  Fix It Again, Miata Man.

Hope you laughed while you read this...



Robster and The Lobster

Rob Meldrum and '94 B, with MSSS, Red

Thinking, "Come on, you Cadillac, drift over a little more so I can blast 
you!"