DIY Horn Upgrade Mod - Updated Jan 12

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keydiver said:
mwalsh said:
So, the big question....did Nissan take notice of what we've been up to in this thread and upgrade the horn for the 2012 model?

I changed out my 2012 "meep" yesterday for a set of Fiams. I also didn't bother disconnecting the coolant tank. I just flipped it up out of the way while I worked.
Yeah, that's how we do it at our upgrade clinics. I think OrientExpress told me they did the last one (December) in right around 10 minutes start to finish. Of course, that means they had the pig tail made up ahead of time.
 
I installed the Fiamm today. Thank you OrientExpress for your instructions. I used mwalsh's method of the using the existing bolt and the lower bolt since I did not have a bolt to connect to the existing bracket. Thank you mwalsh too. It is amazing how much louder the Fiamm is than the stock horn.
 
I installed 2 PIAA horns today, I ordered the 500HZ and 600HZ combo from amazon. I mounted the horns on a short galvanized construction strap from the local lumber yard. It turned out well and the sound is so much better.

I removed the bolts on the bottom cover but I could not find the security meep. There is limited room under the car if you do not have ramps. Oh well, At least I now have a real horn!
 
GlennD said:
I removed the bolts on the bottom cover but I could not find the security meep. There is limited room under the car if you do not have ramps. Oh well, At least I now have a real horn!
glenn,
security meep? means what?
 
The security system has a horn (meep) that is supposed to be in the fender area. I guess it is seperate so if the horn wire is cut the security system sill works.
 
After sounding the original horn at a driver encroaching on my lane to no avail my wife asked me to upgrade the horn.

Today at O'Reilly's for other reasons I noticed the Wolo 320-2T, which I now see others have installed. What drove me to buy them today was that I noticed the word FIAMM molded into the case. I'm wondering if these are in fact the El Grande's?
 
squirrelmeat said:
Today at O'Reilly's for other reasons I noticed the Wolo 320-2T, which I now see others have installed. What drove me to buy them today was that I noticed the word FIAMM molded into the case. I'm wondering if these are in fact the El Grande's?

It's pretty close and probably achieves the same effect. The only perceptible difference is that Wolo says the two horns are 400/480 Hz while FIAMM claims 400/500. They sound pretty much the same.
 
The alarm horn is in the right side fender area just behind the radiator air director flap. If you wanted, you could run a wire from the positive terminal of the alarm horn and tie it in to the positive terminal of the replaced horns so that the new horns would sound for both functions... I choose not to do so.

GlennD said:
The security system has a horn (meep) that is supposed to be in the fender area. I guess it is seperate so if the horn wire is cut the security system sill works.
 
I just got to use my upgraded horn in actioin. An SUV ran a red light and almost T-Boned the car in front of me. He was very lucky that he saw him coming...the guy was driving FAST! Don't want to think about what could have happened.
 
I'll just reiterate previous cautions to be very careful if you're going through from the top, as I did.

The aluminum fins on the condenser are EXTREMELY soft. Even though I was aware and took great pains to not damage them, my hand did brush slightly at one point. No real damage per-se but there is a visible spot on the once-pristine coils. Any contact with a metal tool, socket wrench, etc would leave a nasty mark.

To do it again I'd still do it through the top but thought I'd add the caution.
 
Nubo said:
I'll just reiterate previous cautions to be very careful if you're going through from the top, as I did.

The aluminum fins on the condenser are EXTREMELY soft. Even though I was aware and took great pains to not damage them, my hand did brush slightly at one point. No real damage per-se but there is a visible spot on the once-pristine coils. Any contact with a metal tool, socket wrench, etc would leave a nasty mark.

To do it again I'd still do it through the top but thought I'd add the caution.
Not to mention that if you drop a nut or bolt onto the radiator pan at the bottom by accident, it can be a bear trying to fish it out. It's happened to me and somebody else on this thread already. I'd still do the top down but I'd cover up the radiator first with a sheet or something.
 
Volusiano said:
Nubo said:
I'll just reiterate previous cautions to be very careful if you're going through from the top, as I did.

The aluminum fins on the condenser are EXTREMELY soft. Even though I was aware and took great pains to not damage them, my hand did brush slightly at one point. No real damage per-se but there is a visible spot on the once-pristine coils. Any contact with a metal tool, socket wrench, etc would leave a nasty mark.

To do it again I'd still do it through the top but thought I'd add the caution.
Not to mention that if you drop a nut or bolt onto the radiator pan at the bottom by accident, it can be a bear trying to fish it out. It's happened to me and somebody else on this thread already. I'd still do the top down but I'd cover up the radiator first with a sheet or something.

Of course, dropping the original horn's bracket bolt into that little radiator tray was the FIRST thing I did. :lol: A long thin magnetic screwdriver comes in real handy at times.
 
I finished the mod today - definitely NOT plug and play... but it works and it sounds good.

Here's my before/after video inspired by the original :)

http://youtu.be/Us1bzPFEjew" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
I did this mod today using the Fiamm El Grande horns - price is currently down to $14.22 at Amazon. In spite of all the excellent instructions and pictures, I still managed to make 2 rookie mistakes. Hopefully the next person can learn from them:

1. When I attached the included mounting brackets to the horns, I didn't realize that the two holes in each bracket are different sizes. The smaller hole needs to be used on the horn side because the existing bolts in the car only fit through the larger hole.

2. This is the biggie: my plan was to go in through the top because I don't have ramps or equivalent to raise up the front of the car. I made note of all the warnings about dropping a bolt into the abyss, but didn't think about this when removing the pop fasteners. Not one, but two of them went flying down into no man's land below. Uh oh, time to replan! :shock: :oops:

So I got down on the ground and removed the underbody panel to get those rogue fasteners out. Luckily I'm skinny and have long arms... ;) I removed all of the underbody fasteners and all bolts but the one in the rear. The first fastener from above was lying right on the panel, but the second required a little hunting: turns out it had bounced into the front bumper.

At this point, it was clear that even without ramps, going in through the bottom was going to be easier. The rest of the install was pretty straight forward, and the sound is 100% better now! :cool: I took lots of pictures as well as before and after video. Will try to post them in the next couple of days.

Thanks to everyone who posted instructions and tips!
 
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