anyone running air horns?

[67cst]

im thinking about putting an air horn setup in my 71 4x4. i think it would be fun to scare the crap out of my buddies or old people driving 10 miles an hour UNDER the speed limit...just curious if anyone has done it and what works good, forsure ill round up some real horns of an old semi, the kits you can buy sound like $hit...

thanks, Derek

[7T2]

Air horns (the kind you're talking about) are kind of a pain because they require a pretty substantial air supply for them to work. Keep your eyes peeled for a set of horns off an old 30's - 40's semi or delivery truck at swap meets. I picked up a set of two horns a year or two ago and they are plenty loud. The difference is they're electric rather than air powered. The technology of both is similar (a vibrating diaphragm attached to a horn bell), but the electric ones will work off your battery. In fact, a lot of the older ones are 6 volt, so they are even louder when you power them via 12 volt. There also is no lag like there is for an air horn.

I'm still on the lookout for a nice set of train horns (not much is louder than those, that's available to the public anyway), but those are BIG bucks, and not too practical for on-road use.

[67cst]

thanks 7t2, ill keep an eye out for the ones you spoke of, but if i come across some that are air powered ill find a way to make them work

[72 CustomCamper]

My dad installed a set on his 84 pickup. For the air supply he used an air ride compresser from a Caddy. For an air tank we made one out of 4" pvc pipe and 2 end caps. Before anybody says anything about using pvc, we pressured tested it for 2 weeks at 165 psi. The pressure regular he hooked up is set for 100 psi so no problems...


Chuck

[1969 GMC]

Originally Posted by 7T2

I'm still on the lookout for a nice set of train horns (not much is louder than those, that's available to the public anyway), but those are BIG bucks, and not too practical for on-road use.

Yeah, I went to a farm auction last week, this farmer had one in his barn for some reason and it sold for around $500. It was about the size of a roll of paper towels.

[farmaller]

A word of Caution about train horns, Some states are dealing out heavy fines for the use of a train horn on a motor vehical.
I'll do some digging and see if I can find the artical about it.
I had a set of truck air horns mounted under the hood of my flatbed with the air tank mounted under the bed and a cheap 12 volt comp mounted in the side box, I used the original air valve and mounted a guage under the dash, sure worked good for scaring people sitting at green lights, they would just about bust there neck looking in the mirror see the big truck and only find a 1/2 ton pickup sitting behind them.