How To - Upgrade the Horn

[campbell_p30]

I have read many of the discussions but no-one (as far as I can see) has done a 'how to' guide.

The horn I selected was a pair of Stebel Magnum electromagnetic hi/low horn. STEBEL S.p.a. for details and sample sound.

I purchased mine from ebay HORN MAGNUM DOUBLE MINI ROVER COOPER LOUD FORD 11452136 - eBay Mini, Classic Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 10-Sep-07 12:08:13 BST)
for £17.26 including postage. The kit includes mounting brackets and relay.

Additional items required:
1x 20amp in line fuse holder and fuse
2x packs of 27amp cable (must be rated 20amp or higher)
7x Push on connectors (blue) and
1x Piggie back terminal (blue)
5x fork connector (red in picture - no blue left) (for earth connections x3, battery x1 and horn socket connection x1)

All from Halfords

To get started you need to remove the front bumper and to save time I have used CivicSports pictures/comments from his Fog Light install guide - Thanks

CivicSport - "First Remove the flaps under bumper, One Screw Two Studs (both sides)








Then undo the screw and stud for the arch cover and carefully unclip cover to wing. (Both Sides) ** See last comment in post before removing**

I did not remove fully and only detached from the front up to the top of the wheel arch.



Then remove two bolts and two studs on the underside of the bumper and the screw at the top of the bumper behind the arch cover, then gently prise off bumper, its just clipped across the top.
NOTE: If you already have fog lights installed you may need to remove the 2 bolts holding them in place and disconnect wiring. (I removed them but am unsure if you can get the bumper off without removing them)

The bolt is found through the inside of the 2 holes under the bumper and you need to reach about 8" to get to the bolt. (one on each side). I had no socket extension so used my flexible screwdriver attachment in order to reach it (No.10 socket)




If you have headlight washers you will need to detach pipework and cap to avoid loosing all your washer fluid." (again I did not detach the pipework and just rested the bumper on some blankets at the front of the car)

You can see one of the original horns on the right hand side (the second is hidden on the left side).

I decided to place the relay at the top of the engine bay in front of the fuse box so that if anything goes wrong in the future I may not need to remove the bumper again.



Wiring the relay:
No.30 - I fitted the 20amp fuse close to the battery with one end to the positive terminal and the other to No.30 on the relay. (I connected the power last once all the rest of the wiring was completed)

No.85 - Another short wire connected No.85 on the relay to the earth point beside the battery.

No.87 - I fed a wire from No.87 down to the first of the two horns.

No.86 - Finally I fed a wire from No.86 down to the horn area for connection to the original horn wiring (More on this later).



I removed the original horn and reused the mounting bracket to attach the first replacement horn. Before attaching the horn I wired one horn terminal to the earth point (just above and to the right of the horn) and using the piggie-back connector attached the wire from No.87 to the second horn terminal. I then connected a second wire to the piggie-back connector and fed the wire across the front on the car to the second horn position.

The second horn is located behind some plastic but you can still detach the mount and reuse.




Again connect one wire to the earth point (above and to the left) and the other to the wire fed through from the first horn.

Make sure your horns are mounted at the correct angle (see instructions with horn) and tighten all bolts/nuts etc.

The final connection relates to the switch from the horn on the steering wheel to activate the new horns.

To prevent having to chop up the original wiring I tested the two points connected to the original horn. There is a long thin socket and a smaller square socket.



The square socket is the trigger from the horn and therefore should be connected to your wire leading to No.86 on the relay. The easiest method of connecting was to use a fork connector and stick one of the spikes into the square socket. It was a good solid connection but I also taped it up to make sure it did not come apart.

At this point you should connect the live wire from No.30 to the positive connector on the battery.

Test the horn (no need for ignition on) - If both horns sound correctly you just need to tidy up any loose wiring either with cable ties or tape.



Reverse the process for replacing the bumper taking care not to trap the pipe for the headlight washers (if fitted) and reconnect wiring/bolt in the foglights (if fitted).

The only difficulty I had with refitting was the wheel arches - make sure that the black plastic strip at the front edge of the wheel arch (bottom 6 inches) is behind the bumper before attaching the arch otherwise the arch does not fit flush. (Probably best to pay special attention when removing it first and replace the same way!)

Hope this helps anyone wanting to get rid of their 'girly horn'

[Bog]

Great how to, might give this a go myself!

[campbell_p30]

Couldn't edit my 'How to' but forgot to mention that the original connector plugged into the second horn is no longer required with this wiring setup and should just be taped up.

[hgt]

Just fitted new horns, thought I would mention a couple of points.
You don't need to remove the fog lights there is plenty of room to unplug them when you drop the bumper down.
Also you don't need to wire in a relay or any extra wiring, the existing horns are fed via a 25amp fuse and a hefty relay already, so all you have to do is connect the existing wires to the + terminal on the new horns and connect the - terminal to the nearest ground which is the bolt holding the horn brackets.
This mod is well worth doing as I believe the alarm sounds the horns and doesn't have a separate siren like other cars.
Thanks for the information on how to remove the bumper Campbell P30

[harleyfatboy]

Cambell .... Well done , very informative and im sure there will be a few takers ....But all that just to change a horn.... either scream out the window or run em over man ....better things to do ....ON A STEEL HORSE I RIDE

[Dimplyred]

I removed both my bumpers to fit splitters, it's not too bad a job.

Great 'how too', btw, campbell.

[tissot]

do i need to reconnect the battery to make safe all fuse?