Freeway Blaster - Installation

Gert said:

Have you had a look at Freeway Blaster horns WITH PICTURES! ?

Click to expand...

I went and looked through that thread, thanks for that Gert. My installation is much simpler because I am just going to unplug the OEM horn and plug in the Freeway Blaster. On my bike, the OEM horn is directly behind the radiator on the left side of bike. In fact, it's almost touching the radiator and the mounting bracket goes straight up (to somewhere).

But now if I just unbolt the old (with one nut at the horn end of bracket) and bolt on the new, I'll have to bend the clamp upward (toward the bottom of gas tank) to make room for the thickness of the new horn. I'm just wondering if someone has done this (bending the mounting bracket upward), or fabricated a new bracket, or.......

I really don;t want to have to take the fairing off and gas tank and everything that fellow in link thread did, if I can get away without doing so.

richlandrick said:

This is one of those times when fretting over the installation matters. Air horns are prone to failure when positioned so that air flows over the opening of the horn. It's usually discussed in the instructions and an improper installation voids the warranty.

I spoke to the Fiamm distributor years ago. He suggested the air horns were not really suitable for motorcycles because of the possibility of failure and recommended their magnetic horns which are almost as loud as the air horns.

Horns need to be two things. Loud and reliable. Most people are not going to know their horn has failed until they need it and it doesn't work.

Click to expand...

I hear you, Rick, and as I was looking up under the bike trying to figure this out, I was holding the new horn in different positions and calculating OEM wire length (i.e. how far can I rotate it and still have OEM connectors plug into the horn). Because I want the horn opening to face at 45 deg downward to avoid as much splash and whatever else might try to enter the opening. Now, this horn will be mounted (at OEM location) behind the radiator so that gives some protection from the elements, however much or however little.

I ordered it and have it, so I might as well install it. And of course the OEM horn will be saved if needed.

Sometimes little stuff like this intimidates the hades out of me until one day I'll just say "Dang it! It's going IN!", then I'll stop procrastinating and do it however much it takes. BUT... I still would like to hear any and all suggestions about what people have done and /or what they think about this.

I had the same thought as Nicad. I'm not convinced the factory wire can bring the amps to drive the horn properly.

A relay and a heavier wire solves that forever, although it is a little more work. A relay is just a heavy duty switch, triggered by the wimpy wimpy switch (the horn button). A standard automotive 4 pin relay works fine. Do a google search for 4 pin automotive relay and then click on images. There will be 800 diagrams for how to hook it up. It's really paint by numbers.

One wire goes to ground (pin 85)

One wire goes to hot (pin 30) (the positive terminal of the battery, or some circuit that goes on with the key.) This needs to be a substantial wire to carry the amps. I would guess 14 or 16 gauge would work fine. One way or another, this wire should have a fuse in it. In line fuse holders are cheap.

One wire goes to the horn (pin 87). This one should also be beefy to carry the amps. Then the horn is connected to ground, either with a 2nd wire, or through the mounting bracket (grounded through the frame.)

And the 4th connection is the trigger (pin 86) which should be the horn button.

hth