the horn goes beep beep beep! (hopefully)

So, one of the more curious options that seems to inflict itself upon earlier fwd corollas is the ever desirable automatic horn delete feature, wherein it stops being well..... Horny. It inflicts both the 101 and the 103 currently in my stead. I suspect the 103 is due to an accident prior to my acquisition of the specimen that bent some things in some places. Nothing major, but I'm pretty sure Toyota didn't design them with kinked radiator supports.

This malady also affects my dear miyuki, whom I am quite fond of, and would actually like to repair this on. Since it would (at least by feel) seem like the switch in the steering wheel is solid and I am not fond of the idea of pulling a 22 year old airbag- I am going to assume it is good. Knowing that this car had ALSO suffered a front impact prior to my adoption, my guess is its probably broken the horn somehow. Stupid Toyota.

Now assuming you've read all of that and not gone off to fetch some snacks or have dental surgery or something more interesting, I do have a point here. If I was to wander into my local salvage yard with a box of tools, where might I find the loudest berkeleying horn possible? I considered dual hellatones, or a train horn, but considering that would cost more than the car and probably make me divorced, that's out. So my next best plan is to pull one (or more) horns from the salvage and make the loudest goddamn corolla I can. Why? because I am seriously overtired of almost dying on every drive because people assume that by driving a small wagon, I am not human, and am therefore not occupying any space on the road. I aim to get noticed.

TLDR- I want a really berkeleying loud horn for the wagon. I wanna get it at the junkyard. What would be the best to steal it from?

I've heard that late 70's Cadillacs have a pretty imposing horn. My WAG that anything domestic in the Malaise era would work for your needs.

I've been comtemplating buying an electric air horn fromm this guy: Stebel Engineered Sounds but he never has the "Big Boy" in stock

Here is some previous chatter you might find relevant.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/loudest-horn-atlanta-traffic/74026/page1/

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/i-want-a-manly-horn-for-gustav/47944/page1/

Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this.

It's extremely loud.

At least throw a jumper on the current one and check before you spend real dollars.

Late 80's Buick Park Avenue dual tone horns.

Go all out and wire up two sets!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gm9Fyi8KJd0

The Hella Supertone horns that I have in my Sentra aren't really very expensive; only $55.

http://www.amazon.com/Hella-SuperTone-Horn-Kit-118/dp/B000CRZXPI

mazdeuce wrote: At least throw a jumper on the current one and check before you spend real dollars.

Oh I plan to, I'm just thinking ahead.

My Caddy is a triple tone setup, you'll need some room to package it. Two trumpets and a snail.

I've done this. I think I ended up with something from a Mercury Montego, but I just grabbed a bunch of horns off Big American Boats. Cost me $5 for five, then I tested them all on a battery and installed the most obnoxious. Save yourself some trouble, bring a 12v battery and do tests in the field before removing the horns

I was thinking of trying to fit one of these on my motorcycle. 139db, $43, sounds like a cross between a train and an ocean liner.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=stebel+nautilus+compact+horn&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3093695841&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2567681729890301636&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_37wyz0c77b_b

mndsm wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: At least throw a jumper on the current one and check before you spend real dollars.

Oh I plan to, I'm just thinking ahead.

My Corolla FX16 horns have had issues. Sometimes its a bad ground at the horn itself. However, when you get them to work you need to turn off the car to hear it. The horns are terrible on that vintage Corolla.

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Looks like HF has a 135dB two tone on sale for $15 right now (#40134). Have no experience with either one, so just identifying a potentially cheaper option that based on the listed volume should be louder.

My truck has two horny buttons on the wheel. I would love to keep the friendly stock horn hooked up to one button, you know for when you just want to say "Hi!", and hook up a "wake the berkeley up" horn to the other one. That would be completely awesome. This would probably be a huge pain in the ass to set up, I have never attempted anything harder than installing a new stereo (as far as electrical systems on my cars).

Oddly my gf has a 2010 corolla and the horn stopped working about 4 months ago. While I'm in there I might upgrade her horn situation

EastCoastMojo wrote: My truck has two horny buttons on the wheel. I would love to keep the friendly stock horn hooked up to one button, you know for when you just want to say "Hi!", and hook up a "wake the berkeley up" horn to the other one. That would be completely awesome. This would probably be a huge pain in the ass to set up, I have never attempted anything harder than installing a new stereo (as far as electrical systems on my cars).

Actually, it's pretty easy to do. Air horns have a slight delay, so if you hook up both a stock and an air horn you get "meep" on a quick tap and "meepPHWAAAAAAOOOONK!" if you hold it.

ahhh 2 horn buttons... my old Volvo 1800S had a regular horn in the wheel center, and a small stalk opposite the directional signal stalk that operated a "country" horn

http://wolo-mfg.com/horns.html

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Had one of those on my old Nissan Hardbody. I replaced the original because it sounded like the road runner from the Warner Bros cartoons. For some reason, people were always cutting me off in that truck, and "meep meep" really wasn't all that satisfying.

This, on the other hand, sounds about like the air horn on a dump truck. Not only did offending BMW drivers quickly return to their own lanes after a short blast, its also good for clearing your hooligan friends and their dirty blue jeans off the hood of your vehicle. The only hitch is a normal horn lead won't carry enough juice to get the full effect. We ended up wiring a toggle switch to the horn buttons on the steering wheel and powering the horn through that toggle switch directly off the battery. (Hope that makes sense)

You'll have a blast with it. Honestly, dollar for dollar, I've never gotten more enjoyment from any vehicle-related purchase.

EDIT: BTW - I had a dash mounted switch that went from the genteel meep horn to the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAT horn. It generally stayed in the "angry" position.

Sweet. I now have another project on my list.

kazoospec wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Had one of those on my old Nissan Hardbody. I replaced the original because it sounded like the road runner from the Warner Bros cartoons. For some reason, people were always cutting me off in that truck, and "meep meep" really wasn't all that satisfying. This, on the other hand, sounds about like the air horn on a dump truck. Not only did offending BMW drivers quickly return to their own lanes after a short blast, its also good for clearing your hooligan friends and their dirty blue jeans off the hood of your vehicle. The only hitch is a normal horn lead won't carry enough juice to get the full effect. We ended up wiring a toggle switch to the horn buttons on the steering wheel and powering the horn through that toggle switch directly off the battery. (Hope that makes sense) You'll have a blast with it. Honestly, dollar for dollar, I've never gotten more enjoyment from any vehicle-related purchase. EDIT: BTW - I had a dash mounted switch that went from the genteel meep horn to the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAT horn. It generally stayed in the "angry" position.

You should probably learn about relays, it'll make life easier and less likely to be filled with burning.

Toyman01 wrote: For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

I had that horn or one very similar to it (same brand) on my old motorcycle, installed by the previous owner. It would definitely get drivers' attention.

And to the OP, don't feel bad that your Corolla has wimpy horns, I just got a used Lexus LS and it has a pretty wimpy horn too. Must just be a Toyota thing. I should probably get one of these from HF and put it on the LS.

Keith Tanner wrote:

kazoospec wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Had one of those on my old Nissan Hardbody. I replaced the original because it sounded like the road runner from the Warner Bros cartoons. For some reason, people were always cutting me off in that truck, and "meep meep" really wasn't all that satisfying. This, on the other hand, sounds about like the air horn on a dump truck. Not only did offending BMW drivers quickly return to their own lanes after a short blast, its also good for clearing your hooligan friends and their dirty blue jeans off the hood of your vehicle. The only hitch is a normal horn lead won't carry enough juice to get the full effect. We ended up wiring a toggle switch to the horn buttons on the steering wheel and powering the horn through that toggle switch directly off the battery. (Hope that makes sense) You'll have a blast with it. Honestly, dollar for dollar, I've never gotten more enjoyment from any vehicle-related purchase. EDIT: BTW - I had a dash mounted switch that went from the genteel meep horn to the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAT horn. It generally stayed in the "angry" position.

You should probably learn about relays, it'll make life easier and less likely to be filled with burning.

This. Use wire from existing horn to energise a relay. Use relay to energise horn. I want to say the horn came with a relay, but I won't swear to that.

So, I should just spend the 40$ and buy that ridiculous 140db nautilus. Hm. Ok. Pending the investigation under the hood (hopefully tomorrow) that may happen. Then it's off to the lighting department!

Keith Tanner wrote:

kazoospec wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Had one of those on my old Nissan Hardbody. I replaced the original because it sounded like the road runner from the Warner Bros cartoons. For some reason, people were always cutting me off in that truck, and "meep meep" really wasn't all that satisfying. This, on the other hand, sounds about like the air horn on a dump truck. Not only did offending BMW drivers quickly return to their own lanes after a short blast, its also good for clearing your hooligan friends and their dirty blue jeans off the hood of your vehicle. The only hitch is a normal horn lead won't carry enough juice to get the full effect. We ended up wiring a toggle switch to the horn buttons on the steering wheel and powering the horn through that toggle switch directly off the battery. (Hope that makes sense) You'll have a blast with it. Honestly, dollar for dollar, I've never gotten more enjoyment from any vehicle-related purchase. EDIT: BTW - I had a dash mounted switch that went from the genteel meep horn to the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAT horn. It generally stayed in the "angry" position.

You should probably learn about relays, it'll make life easier and less likely to be filled with burning.

This. Use wire from existing horn to energise a relay. Use relay to energise horn. I want to say the horn came with a relay, but I won't swear to that.

Here's a pretty good before and after on a Harley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUbQtRbjKhM

Toyman01 wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote:

kazoospec wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Caddy for junk horns. For new, go to HF and get this. It's extremely loud.

Had one of those on my old Nissan Hardbody. I replaced the original because it sounded like the road runner from the Warner Bros cartoons. For some reason, people were always cutting me off in that truck, and "meep meep" really wasn't all that satisfying. This, on the other hand, sounds about like the air horn on a dump truck. Not only did offending BMW drivers quickly return to their own lanes after a short blast, its also good for clearing your hooligan friends and their dirty blue jeans off the hood of your vehicle. The only hitch is a normal horn lead won't carry enough juice to get the full effect. We ended up wiring a toggle switch to the horn buttons on the steering wheel and powering the horn through that toggle switch directly off the battery. (Hope that makes sense) You'll have a blast with it. Honestly, dollar for dollar, I've never gotten more enjoyment from any vehicle-related purchase. EDIT: BTW - I had a dash mounted switch that went from the genteel meep horn to the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAT horn. It generally stayed in the "angry" position.

You should probably learn about relays, it'll make life easier and less likely to be filled with burning.

This. Use wire from existing horn to energise a relay. Use relay to energise horn. I want to say the horn came with a relay, but I won't swear to that. Here's a pretty good before and after on a Harley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUbQtRbjKhM

Pretty sure that's what we did. I probably just didn't describe it right. It worked well, and there was no burning.

I found a set of Fiamm Serie 3000 horns from an older Maserati on fleaBay for cheap. I want to install them in my Alfa 164 to get that oh-so-Italian sound. Here's a sound clip from someone who installed these in an Eclipse.

https://youtu.be/X2Lj5pqhEzc?t=7s