Club 80-90 Forums

hey guys,

i fancy changing the horn, i would like a high pitched one, kind of like the ones in the Italian job (the real one!), i'm guessing that would mean italina, should i look at Fiat etc.

as always, budget is tight, and i'm not wanting something needing loads of work ie don't want a fancy air horn setup etc.

ideally a like for like swap would be the ideal.

cheers

Are there any breakers over your way ? If so rig up a couple of wires to give you power then pop over , see what they've got and try em before you part with your dosh.

Anything beyond the normal 'beep' type horn needs a relay (as I found). What you could do is fit the new horn as an alternative and have a push button on the dash that enables you to use either. I mention this as mine is like that - best of both worlds. I have an italian style one but blowed if I can remember what it came from - was out of a scrap yard. I had a Klaxon 'ooohghsaa' one which my lad loved but sadly it became damaged by rain etc.

A relay is a must though.

Passat dual tone horn here (from scrapper) with relay wired as per Carat wiring diagram. I got the extra plug for the back of the relay plate from a Mk2 Golf.

I've got a twin air horn. It took 30 minutes to fit and my van can now be heard from space.

Cheers guys, lots of options!

The ideal would be straight swap for now, if I can't get to know what manufacturer does them ie alfa, or beetle,karmann etc, looks like a visit to the scrapper with the jumpstart and some cable as suggested.

Just be careful as these powerful dual tones and high pitch mono's will be relayed as they use more power..

Martin

As Martin and I have both said. you'll probably need a relay otherwise the associated wiring (including that which runs through the steering column) can get hot and burn out. The stock horn (basically a Beetle one) is a simple affair and doesn't draw much current but most others do. This is why a straight swap doesn't usually work or if it does, won't for long. A 30amp relay (cheap as chips and often laying in peoples toolboxes) is easy enough to wire up and should allow you to fit almost anything - otherwise you'll be kind of limited in what you can fit in place of the stock one.

CovKid wrote:As Martin and I have both said. you'll probably need a relay otherwise the associated wiring (including that which runs through the steering column) can get hot and burn out. The stock horn (basically a Beetle one) is a simple affair and doesn't draw much current but most others do. This is why a straight swap doesn't usually work or if it does, won't for long. A 30amp relay (cheap as chips and often laying in peoples toolboxes) is easy enough to wire up and should allow you to fit almost anything - otherwise you'll be kind of limited in what you can fit in place of the stock one.

so if i get a relay, where does it go? next to the horn or under the steering cowling?

i'm not big on relays so i'm guessing maplins?

monkeyboysee wrote: so if i get a relay, where does it go? next to the horn or under the steering cowling?

i'm not big on relays so i'm guessing maplins?

Mine is next to the horn and is fed by the big dc line that feeds the headlamp relays.
I have this one -http://www.stebel.it/stebel2012/product ... PNEUMATICS

The compact size means you can tuck it up underneath the front out of the weather and still hear it.

This is the wiring for my air-horn but the lay-out will be the same. The new horn will just be where the air-horn compressor is.

monkeyboysee wrote: so if i get a relay, where does it go? next to the horn or under the steering cowling?

i'm not big on relays so i'm guessing maplins?

If you want chinese sh1t3, yes go to Maplins, otherwise pop to your local scrapper and get a VW number 53 relay, which will be Hella or equivalent.

Re. fitting, the factory circuit from the Carat (or any other CE1 based vehicle with a dual tone horn relay) places the relay in position 6, and makes the connection out to the horn on connector L. This won't be fitted in most T3's so would have to be obtained. Then you'd need the terminals so unless you've got an old harness from a Golf or whatever to use it all becomes a bit of a faff.

The alternative would simply be to find somewhere near the relay plate to fit it (or even attached, using a relay holder 161 937 501B). You'd then need to identify the brown/blue wire between the horn button and the horn itself, cut it at a convenient place, and move the ends onto the relay. I'd suggest cutting it a few inches away from where it leaves the plate on pin C15. (See diagram below.)

Button -> move to relay terminal 85
Horn -> move to relay terminal 87

Then connect the other two relay terminals:

Terminal 86 - Switched 12v ignition (Terminal 15)
Terminal 30 - Earth (yes earth NOT the vehicles terminal 30 aka battery positive)

Then you can connect your high-power horn in place of the old one. Some might say you want fatter wires for a bigger horn, if that's your bag then fine, when I fitted the Passat horns I used the piece of harness they were attached to and routed that straight back to the new connector L.

E D I T: Maybe a pic might help:


HTH

thnaks guys, some really good, intensive posts to go through there,

might wait a couple of days to go through them, once my eyes stop bleeding! haha

i was hoping on a quick changeover, but it looks like its a bit more involved. i think i'll get everything i need and it can go into the pile with the lights on buzzer and intermittent wipers, probably going to be a winter job.

cheers all