Hi, I'm Carl, I reside in the fridged state of Minnesota. My mom gave me the horn she pulled from her old 1940 Ford 3/4 ton. (with a '53 flathead) I have no idea if it was stock or not, If anyone knows please tell me. Anyway I want to put this horn on my '90 F-150. I would perfer to be able to switch from stock horns and the big horn with a switch, maybe one switch for each set, so I can have any combo of horns. The big horn is almost 12 inches long, and at the end of the bell, about 4 inches across. I would like to bolt the horn onto my fiberglass visor, so it can be heard better, I don't know if that would cause any problems, such as wind, debris or noise (too loud?) I am not too sure about how to go about wiring this all. I can put the switchs I'm thinking about in the cab. Let me know if you want or need any more information. Thanks everyone for any advice you can give me.

Links to the horn pics.
Guts
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/vantss/3455a8bf.jpg
Side
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/vantss/9c0dc7b6.jpg
Top angle
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/vantss/2d8b89c8.jpg

 

That looks like an "ooga" horn, or possibly a siren. That would probably be plenty loud mounted under the hood somewhere, and it would be easier to wire under there too. I'd get a momentary switch inside the cab, and run that to a relay which would switch power driectly from the battery to the horn (with a fuse of course). As far as wiring the horn itself, I really don't know anything about how it should be hooked up.

 

I only see 2 wires. One should be power, the other ground. Have you tested it to see if it works? The simplest way would be as EPNC said, just one momentary switch. Might want to clean that BUGGER up too. LOL.

 

if you want to to "replace" your current horns, you could just uhook one of the wires running to them and hook that wire up to a relay switch. Then run the ground, power, and horn wires. That would allow you to use your stock button on the steering wheel. that is what i did with my air horns. good luck

 

You might want to find out if that horn requires 6V or 12V to operate. The last 1940 Ford truck I worked on was 6V positive ground. If you hook it up to 12V negative ground, it might be a problem.

Phil

1999 Expedition EB 5.4L
1994 F-150 xtracab 300-6
1960 F100 Custom Cab 223-6
1946 1 1/2 ton dump V-8 flathead
1940 1 1/2 ton dump V-8 flathead (former Fire truck)
1946 1 1/2 ton flatbed V-8 flathead

 

The horn you have there is the stock horn, but it's not the type that makes the old-time 'AHOOOOGA' sound. The ooga horns have a motor that drives a toothed cam against a pin in the diaphragm, whereas yours has the simple electromagnetic buzzer mechanism that is still used in all of today's electric car horns. This horn, when working properly, should be lower in pitch than your stock horn, but not as loud as a stock F-150 horn.

 

I've tested the horn on a 12 volt system, only for a very short burst (cause it's very loud when you are only a few feet away). I will try to figure out if it runs on 6 volts. I am planning to sand and re-paint the horn, black, chrome-like paint, or I might match it red to my truck. The horn seems to make one solid tone, but like I said, I've never had it on for very long. The "buzzer" is a bit larger than any car/truck horn I've seen, so I'm hoping it will be louder than my stock horns, age might be a factor for loudness though. Thanks for the idea or running a separate circuit, I might end up doing that.

 

I can't wait to hear from you when you get your vehicle inspection and they tell you to hit the HORN, LOL.

 

this is a great idea. I think I might order up an old horn and hook it up.

Ryan

 

It's definitely 6 volt. You have a 1940's Delco-Remy horn, standard on all Fords of the day. I've owned nearly 2 dozen of these, and run properly on 6 volts it will not be as loud as a modern little stock -FIAMM+ horn on the F-150. Acoustics technology has come a long way and resonator horns are typically 6-10 dB louder than these old conical jobs. The slightly-tapered conical megaphone on these older horns is of limited acoustic value. Even current 12V horns that use this design are not that loud, a good example is the "Ocean Liner" novelty horn made by Wolo. What a piece of crap that horn is. I think I can fart louder. Not a cheap horn either, JC Whitney gets like $50 for them.

The magnets are physically bigger on the older horns because steel laminate technology was not as good, and insulation was thicker. The same size electromagnet today with modern formvar type wire and a 12V supply is more powerful for its size. Don't operate your 1940 horn on 12 volts without a proper current-limiting resistor because it won't last very long at twice the voltage.

 

Well, airraid, I'm a little disappointed. But thanks for the history lesson on the horn. I am glad to know for sure what voltage it runs at. Too bad it isn't going to be as loud as I had hoped. I think I might still use it, perhaps as more or a novelty than a highway horn (or something like that). As long as it looks loud, right? (I prefer function over looks actually) Does anyone know if this horn on the outside of the truck, mounted on a fiberglass visor; would cause wind resistance problems? I'd hate for the horn to rip off going down the highway.

 

Modern car horns are very loud for their size, and to get a louder tone at the same pitch as your stock horns or lower, you have to go to compressed air. There simply aren't any horns available that are louder and only require 12VDC. The 'ooga' type horns are even less loud, though they make up for it a bit with their very distinctive tone.

I'm not sure about your wind resistance issue. The horn will certainly be a bug and snow scoop, as well as an air scoop, but whether or not it will rip off or significantly impact your MPG I can't say. I suppose it depends on exactly how you mount it.

 

You can get a air horn set up to work on your truck. They make all the noise you need.

 

Mount a train horn up under the bed. That will wake people up.

 

I just received a set of the 4 black plastic Buell horns for review. These are the horns that have been made popular by the hornblasters.com site, though they are NOT the ones being used to blast bystanders in the Hornblasters "Terror on the Streets" videos (that horn is a Nathan K3LA).

The plastic Buell horns are $200, pretty durable, and would make a decent upgrade over a stock Ford horn. Make no mistake, these horns cannot compete with a real locomotive horn, though some eBay sellers would like you to believe they are the loudest thing on the planet. Hornblasters' website claims these plastic horns are 4dB louder than the tugboat horn I take to truck shows. I've since found that this is far from the truth. The Kahlenberg D-2 tug horn measures 5dB louder--more than a factor of 3 in acoustic output power. This is comparing the two trumpets of the D-2 to all four trumpets of the Buells! I put the largest Buell horn on top of them to show the size difference:

http://www.shiphorns.com/blasters.html

In short, the hornblasters 4-horn setup is a usable road horn, though I would personally advice running lower than 100psi pressure or using fewer than all 4 trumpets in a city/residential area. A city/highway switch to go between stock electric and the air horns is always the best option.