And what is that? Do share.

 

Post #13...oh, nevermind...Listen for me at the Dragon

 

Posted pics of my install here if anyone care: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...940#post762940

 

I'm confused, is that a horn or a siren?

 

It's a 100watt electric horn/siren/PA system...you've heard it before...listen when a fire truck blasts through an intersection next time...louder than F#$K

 

You may be right Sid, It is louder than Shonet

 

I wish that I would have known about this. How was installation? And do you mind sharing a price? I can always add on or just dream.

 

Were can i find a horn that sounds very euro and ferrari sounding.

 

Sure...if you do a search for Whelen siren, you can find information regarding this unit. As long as you don't get the siren unit, it should be legal. The system consists of the electric horn and the amp/PA circuitry. The horn is roughly 10" x 10" x 4" so find a spot for it is tough. As I have the AGS intake, I placed it where the air box was facing up. Even with the hood closed, it's loud as hell. The PA is great for yelling across the highway

 

I'm so jealous right now. I was so happy with my new horn, but now I want yours. And I have always dreamed of having a PA so that I could yell at people "use your blinker" and "get off your cell phone" and "stay in your lane!"

Did you do the install yourself and was it difficult besides finding a space for it? And would you mind sharing the price?

 

I have been enamored by the air horns the Italian sports cars used in the 80's (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, etc...) and I bought a 20 year old set of trumpet air horns from an old Maserati for $160 on eBay a few months ago and brought them to Victor at MiniWorks to install for me. He said he would need to make a custom bracket, so I left the horns and compressor with him and, after numerous voicemail messages, he is not returning any of my calls.
I have no idea why, but after 5 months of this, I gave up and bought a new set of horns and figured I would do it myself.

I've since learned the manufacturer of these horns is Fiamm, so I bought another set of electric horns from a Ferrari Scuderia for $60, but when they arrived, they are just oridinary horns, sounding very much like the horns the Mini already has. So I re-sold those on eBay and found a new set of horns from Fiamm available, brand new in a package for about $20 and that included tubing, relay and dual trumpets (pvc though, not metal like the previous Maserati's that Victor is still in possesion of).

So, I got them mounted and wired up and they sound exactly like what I was wanting. Check it out:

I had to find a place to mount them where they would not hit the headlights or the headlight washers - with a little help of some L-Brackets from ACE Hardware, it was pretty easy:


I had to drill a hole for the tubing:

Found the perfect place for the compressor to go:



Used an existing hole at the bottom of this plastic housing surrounding the ABS to run the horn wiring to/from the compressor:


Tied the wires up along the way:


Used wire-taps to keep the original horn wiring intact, but disconnected the stock horns and left them mounted in place. So if I ever sell the car or change my mind, all I have to do is plug them back in:


Now I really feel like a fool when I realized I could have purchased similar horns from the Harbor Freight Tools store down the street from my house for $12.99:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40134
or, the exact same Fiamm horns from JCWhitney for $27.99:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...002553/c-10101

 

Original Poster:

You are talking about these!

http://www.minspeed.net/PIAASH.htm

Sending you a PM just incase you miss it.

 

Those horns look interesting but 500 and 600hz sound like they are on the low end of the audio spectrum. The horns I was looking for have a high pitch to them. They are two different tones working together. If you've ever seen CannonBall Run II, there is a white/red Lambo in the beginning that is messing with the cops and it honks it horn and that is the exact tonality I am referring to that all Italian super cars had in the 80s.

I don't think you can generate this sound with an electric horn. It's a very unique sound that I believe requires air being blown through trumpets to achieve.

Here is an audio file of an actual Lambo horn, and this is exactly what mine sounds like:
http://www.sounddogs.com/previews/22...UNDDOGS_Au.mp3

and a short video clip of one honking:
http://www.careyholzman.com/untitled.wmv

 

I too installed the PIAAs - The PIAAs are a good and balanced compromise - louder than stock, nice sounding and clean install. I had air horns but there is so little room in the engine compartment that set-up location is a compromise. Eventually the compressor just corroded and thats why I went to the PIAAs.

 

I can attest that Sid's set-up is louder than FiretrUCK . I heard his set-up at the Dragon, we are talking heart attack here.

 

No compromise in my engine compartment or I would have never installed the air horns, either. I was actually quite surprised how easy it was to find a location for them. I could have placed them downward in the plastic area by the ABS, or I could have placed them facing each side if I wanted to remove my bumper, but as you can tell from my pics above, I faced them straight forward and, more importantly, I got the sound of an air horn, which was of penultimate desires. The electric horns just don't have the tone I was looking for. Again, I was going for Italian Super Car sound, not a train or a firetruck.

But to each his own. That's why I love MINIs so much. We customize them uniquely to make them our own one-of-a-kind creations. Hard to do that with just about any other car.