DIY Horn Upgrade Mod - Updated Jan 12

[Leafboy]

Take off the plastic cover above the front grill. A few plastic fasteners is all that is needed to remove it. Very easy. You can then see very well.

 

[sp4rk]

Take off the plastic cover above the front grill. A few plastic fasteners is all that is needed to remove it. Very easy. You can then see very well.

Sorry, you mean a plastic cover that is on the front of the car or - open the hood and remove one from within the hood?

 

[thankyouOB]

when my car got rear-ended I also asked them to install the Fiamms.
they did so. sounds great.
instead of the application shown in this thread, they put it closer to the center, a tad to the left-hand side.

i dont know what it is fastened to.
i gave them the pigtails.

 

[soareyes]

Sorry, you mean a plastic cover that is on the front of the car or - open the hood and remove one from within the hood?

It is the one you get to by opening the hood. This picture shows what the engine bay looks like with that panel removed:

 

[Nubo]

Take off the plastic cover above the front grill. A few plastic fasteners is all that is needed to remove it. Very easy. You can then see very well.

Sorry, you mean a plastic cover that is on the front of the car or - open the hood and remove one from within the hood?

Review the first post on page 1 of this thread. That should make it clear which plastic piece gets removed first. Then also moving (not disconnecting) the coolant tank as shown, will give you a complete view of the radiator (and horn) area.

 

[Leafboy]

Take off the plastic cover above the front grill. A few plastic fasteners is all that is needed to remove it. Very easy. You can then see very well.

Sorry, you mean a plastic cover that is on the front of the car or - open the hood and remove one from within the hood?

Yes, as others have stated, the one under the hood.

 

[sp4rk]

They probably kept it! Go back and raise hell.

So I went back ...

Ask what had happened ... they asked the mechanic ... who apparently claimed that he HAD installed both of them; one where you can see it, the other, way over to the "right".

Service and I looked for it. Where?

Then I pressed the horn button a couple of times and asked the service rep if he thought he heard one horn or two ... "erm, one."

So I am bringing the car back in Tuesday (they were v busy given it's a Saturday and this is NOT important ) ... to have them "find" the "lost" horn.

Back at home, with a flashlight, I looked at the one I can see and it looks like no extension wire going anywhere but I am really not sure I know what I am looking for.

Nor am I stupid!

Ok, this ended well. Mis-communication ... I brought them the FIAMM. They thought I wanted the stock HORN replaced with one of the FIAMM's and the alarm confirmation horn with the other FIAMM.

So, they did a great job of putting it back the way it was supposed to be ... and now it works as it's supposed to.

Wooof!

Thanks to all for the advice.

 

[Nubo]

They probably kept it! Go back and raise hell.

So I went back ...

Ask what had happened ... they asked the mechanic ... who apparently claimed that he HAD installed both of them; one where you can see it, the other, way over to the "right".

Service and I looked for it. Where?

Then I pressed the horn button a couple of times and asked the service rep if he thought he heard one horn or two ... "erm, one."

So I am bringing the car back in Tuesday (they were v busy given it's a Saturday and this is NOT important ) ... to have them "find" the "lost" horn.

Back at home, with a flashlight, I looked at the one I can see and it looks like no extension wire going anywhere but I am really not sure I know what I am looking for.

Nor am I stupid!

Ok, this ended well. Mis-communication ... I brought them the FIAMM. They thought I wanted the stock HORN replaced with one of the FIAMM's and the alarm confirmation horn with the other FIAMM.

So, they did a great job of putting it back the way it was supposed to be ... and now it works as it's supposed to.

Wooof!

Thanks to all for the advice.

So does the alarm beep still work? The VSP? Was it working with the Fiamm?. Given how quiet the alarm beep is, I just wonder if the impedence is the same.

 

[DaveEV]

Installed my Fiamms yesterday.

Not all that impressed.

Sound quality isn't all that great - definitely deeper than the stock horn, but kind of sounds like they aren't getting enough power - a bit raspy.

Did anyone try using the relay to trigger them? I did manage to reverse the leads on my first test and fried the horn fuse. Whoops!

I opted to bend the included brackets away from the mounting post using the stock bolt after enlarging the mounting holes a bit instead of mounting on the end of the stock bracket with a bolt/nut. When mounted on the end of the stock bracket the horns bounce around quite a bit due to the weight of the horns and the length of the bracket.

 

[TomT]

I still like the horn pair I used when I did my upgrade. Doesn't need an extra relay, is easy to install, and has a great, commanding sound. Some have used the 500/600 Hz. version instead, liking the higher pitched European sound...

http://www.amazon.com/85110-115db-400HZ-500HZ-Sports/dp/B00067BWBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316303127&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Installed my Fiamms yesterday.
Not all that impressed.

 

[Leafboy]

Still love my Lincoln Towncar horns!!

I still like the horn pair I used when I did my upgrade. Doesn't need an extra relay, is easy to install, and has a great, commanding sound. Some have used the 500/600 Hz. version instead, liking the higher pitched European sound...

http://www.amazon.com/85110-115db-400HZ-500HZ-Sports/dp/B00067BWBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316303127&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Installed my Fiamms yesterday.
Not all that impressed.

 

[TomT]

The 400/500 version sounds much like that!

Still love my Lincoln Towncar horns!!

I still like the horn pair I used when I did my upgrade. Doesn't need an extra relay, is easy to install, and has a great, commanding sound. Some have used the 500/600 Hz. version instead, liking the higher pitched European sound...

http://www.amazon.com/85110-115db-400HZ-500HZ-Sports/dp/B00067BWBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316303127&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Installed my Fiamms yesterday.
Not all that impressed.

 

[RedMapleLeaf]

Hey OrientExpress,

I reread your original post several times and got the courage to install the Fiamms. When to my local Canadian Tire and picked up a set for 30 bucks and had them installed in a couple of hours. They sound great, and way better than stock. The 10A PnP was a real bonus.

Thanks again for the super original post w/photos.

Renny

 

[dfwcre8tive]

We installed our new horn a few months ago following the instructions posted on this thread. Thanks for all of the information! The new horn is much better and a big improvement.

 

[braineo]

Thanks for the thread, the pictures and all the suggestions. Today I replaced the horn with a Fiam and have a few tidbits of additional info on the job. Did it from the top and after having to replace the bolt (1st one stripped) it is a 20mm 8 x 1.25 metric thread easily found at Lowes. I noticed that the Y connector shouldn't have a plastic cover (after connecting the bolt) but found a male connector without the plastic cover at Pep Boys. Used a plastic cutting board to protect the radiator fins (and my knuckles) was a great idea, but not remembering to take it out after putting everything back together was not to bright. Used loctite to keep that bolt tight.

Almost went crazy trying to unscrew the ground bolt on the original speaker... until rereding the thread found that was the wrong one to take out.

Should have paid more attention to the posts... at least the horn does blow!

 

[TomT]

I wonder if the 2013 has the same cheap, crappy horn?

 

[Ingineer]

I wonder if the 2013 has the same cheap, crappy horn?

Yes.

-Phil

 

[mwalsh]

I wonder if the 2013 has the same cheap, crappy horn?

Yes.

-Phil

So I guess the engineers are only listening to us when it comes to some of the smaller things. :?

 

[gascant]

I wonder if the 2013 has the same cheap, crappy horn?

Yes.

-Phil

And it didn't appear to be accessible from above anymore from my casual observation.

 

[OrientExpress]

I wonder if the 2013 has the same cheap, crappy horn?

And the new heat pump radiator has some additional baffling around it, so getting at the horn will be different. As soon as I update a 13, I'll update this DIY.