Replacing the woossy horn...

Audio, Electronics and Lighting questions and answers
Silvia
Racing Driver
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:42 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Moffat Beach QLD.

Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Silvia » Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:51 pm

I'd like to replace my horn with something a bit more muscular, though maybe not air horns. Can someone suggest an off the shelf item that sounds better and louder - and that I can install myself on a NB 2002? No electrical skill at all :cry:
Silver Nomad
2002 NB8C

User avatar
hks_kansei
Speed Racer
Posts: 6154
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:43 am
Vehicle: NB8A
Location: Victoria

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby hks_kansei » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:02 pm

Autobarn sell a disc horn made by Narva, if you buy the low tone it's (as the name suggests) lower in tone than the OEM.
Costs about $12

Fitting is as simple as removing one OEM horn (NB has 2) drilling the bracket hole slightly bigger, bolting new horn on.

The only wiring is that you'll need to run a single wire from one terminal (negative) on the new horn and have it ground on the car's body somewhere (metal)

The positive plug fits directly onto the positive of the new horn



It's easy to do, just a little annoying since it's fairly tight down where the horns are.
1999 Mazda MX5 - 1989 Honda CT110 (for sale) - 1994 Mazda 626 wagon (GF's)

Silvia
Racing Driver
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:42 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Moffat Beach QLD.

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Silvia » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:11 pm

Thanks. Are the stock horns different.....is there one it's better to remove?
Silver Nomad
2002 NB8C

User avatar
hks_kansei
Speed Racer
Posts: 6154
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:43 am
Vehicle: NB8A
Location: Victoria

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby hks_kansei » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:15 pm

Nope, the two stock ones are the same.

Just pick whichever's easiest to reach.
1999 Mazda MX5 - 1989 Honda CT110 (for sale) - 1994 Mazda 626 wagon (GF's)

Silvia
Racing Driver
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:42 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Moffat Beach QLD.

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Silvia » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 pm

Thanks...sounds good , hopefully :D
Silver Nomad
2002 NB8C

User avatar
hks_kansei
Speed Racer
Posts: 6154
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:43 am
Vehicle: NB8A
Location: Victoria

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby hks_kansei » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:42 pm

It's not much louder than stock, but it's deeper, so sounds less pansy.
1999 Mazda MX5 - 1989 Honda CT110 (for sale) - 1994 Mazda 626 wagon (GF's)

Silvia
Racing Driver
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:42 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Moffat Beach QLD.

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Silvia » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:52 pm

Would it be better to replace both with a high and low combination perhaps?
Silver Nomad
2002 NB8C

User avatar
japester
Driver
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:56 am
Vehicle: NB8A
Location: Melbourne, western burbs

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby japester » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:07 pm

I replaced mine with an air horn a few weeks ago. Off the shelf item from repco.

Took an hour or so to install. Just used the stock wiring, as it doesn't draw that much extra current. Sounds a lot better too :P

One extra bolt hole to mount the compressor, and then just mounted the horns onto the existing supports.

User avatar
Old Dude
Racing Driver
Posts: 1166
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:06 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Gold Coast

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Old Dude » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:17 pm

"Everybody dies......, but not everybody lives" ;-)

MX 5 2001 Grace Green
NB8B

User avatar
Hammer
Speed Racer
Posts: 2849
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: NB SP
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Hammer » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:34 pm

I've got a Stebel Nautilus Compact Dual Air Horn fitted on my NB8B and I love it. It's compact and responsive (unlike air horns of old which where slow to build up air).

Here's a thread that shows how to fit then on: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=30505

Here's what it sounds like on an MX5



H@mmer - 1994 Clubman | 2002 SP
Image
GO TOPLESS!!!

User avatar
Okibi
Speed Racer
Posts: 10899
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: NB SE
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Okibi » Tue Dec 06, 2011 2:46 am

Upgrading the horn is one of the first mods many Americans do, the Stebel Nautilus seem popular.
If you had access to a car like this, would you take it back right away? Neither would I.

User avatar
green_comet
Car Detailing Guru
Posts: 1848
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 1:41 am
Vehicle: NA8
Location: Melbourne

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby green_comet » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:48 am

A cheap and easy option is to goto a wreckers, and pull the horn from a Holden Astra/Vectra. They have very loud two tone horns, and most wreckers wont even charge you for them. Wire it up with a simple 30amp relay and you have yourself a cheap, good sounding, and very loud horn. That's what im running on mine.

Image


Image


Here is the finished product, the video doesn't really show just how loud they are, but I can assure you that you wont be dissapointed. Best of all it cost me about $10 to do.



User avatar
TonyMax
Driver
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:26 pm
Vehicle: NA6
Location: ACT

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby TonyMax » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:11 am



http://db.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catalogu ... maint=2095

I've pulled these out of the bike and put them into the MX5. The wiring for the second one was even already there so all I needed was a bolt to mount the second one with the correct thread (ours only came with one horn).

Shop around the price varied wildly I ended up getting several sets of these for under $50 each.

Cheers,


Tony
~the artist formerly known as MizMac~

Silvia
Racing Driver
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:42 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Moffat Beach QLD.

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Silvia » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:04 am

Seems the horns on the NB8B are under the alloy plate over the radiator and this is rivetted to the front bumper as well as bolted on. No obvious access from underneath either. Am I supposed to drill out the rivets and somehow replace them later?
Silver Nomad
2002 NB8C

Apu
Speed Racer
Posts: 2399
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:04 pm
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: North West, NSW

Re: Replacing the woossy horn...

Postby Apu » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:15 am

I just took off the undertray and swapped the horns from under the car...with a lot of cursing and swearing of course.


Return to “MX5 Audio, Electronics & Lighting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 110 guests