> Nice pics, looked like fun.
Hell yes.
> Makes me want to swap my 2WD '97 for a 4WD
Do it! :) Living in CT (where snow is a significant factor) I don't
understand why they make 2WD pickups.
> In one picture <http://www.pbase.com/radon220/image/69574269>, that's a
> serious horn attached to the underside of the hood.
Hehehe yes it is.... just ask the guys who experienced it!
> I've been
> contemplating putting a more truck-sounding horn into my '97, any
> special tips on swapping out a stock horn for a monster like that, or is
> it pretty straight-forward?
There's several options. For a REAL horn, you need on-board air
(compressor, tank, air lines, and a switch - whether it's electrical
like mine or a mechanical foot-pedal or pull-chain). If you're willing
to lose 15-30 decibels and raise the tone a bit, you can get one of
the horn/compressor combos. Basically, the compressor fires up fast
and blows directly through the horn... no tank involved, no need for
on-board air. Personally I think these sound sissy... but at ~115db
they're better than stock!
> Or did you install that in addition to the
> stock horn, and have a special switch for it, saving it for drivers who
> can't hear the stock horn, or deserve a bigger blast for whatever reason?
Precisely. Plus, if I get pulled over for being too loud, I can play
dumb and say "no ociffer, my stock horn works just fine, see??"
Here's the text flowchart of my air/horn setup. VIAIR 200 series
Compressor mounted to underside of bed (behind diver's seat), switched
by an adjustable 100psi pressure switch (pressure drops 5psi,
compressor turns on). Compressor pumps directly into 2gal air tank,
mounted to frame rail underneath driver door (2gal is not enough for
real air tools... I'll add more soon). 3/8" flexible air line runs
from tank to underside of hood connecting to my electric air switch.
The air switch is plummed with hard lines directly to the horn (you
get the fastest horn response this way). I have a cab switch for the
compressor, but it runs directly from the battery (~25amp draw when
running), and a nice little somewhat hidden horn switch mounted behind
the steering wheel. I never looked into what kind of draw the
electrical switch takes versus what the stock horn buttons can
handle... but I bet it would work, and you could just snip the wire
below the steering column (or in the engine compartment) and hook your
electric air switch to it. That's the easy part... getting the
on-board air setup with all the fittings the way you want them and
mounting everything nice and solidly is what's time-consuming. I'll
post more pictures of mine when I get some time.
The other half of the reason I installed the on-board air is for beach
driving (and off-roading). It's nice to have fully inflated tires in a
fraction of the time those cig-lighter pumps manage.
:)
Don in CT
89 Dakota Convertible 318 NV3500 4x4, deafening bad drivers since 9/06
74 Dart Sport 340
pbase.com/radon220/mopars/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 01 2006 - 10:33:46 EST