DIY Horn Upgrade Mod - Updated Jan 12

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I finished installing the Stebel Compact air horn (same one Randy bought). Just want to drop a few tips here to share from my experience with rookie mistakes. I managed to drop the nut and bolt that came with the horn while trying to put it on (very easy to drop those), and the nut fell into the radiator well. Once it's fallen in there, it's very hard to get out. Took me a LONG time to try to get it out. Finally the thing that worked was to have it seen in between the 2 layers of radiator, then put in a long skinny stick with a big glob of duct tape at the end to stick to it and fish it out. To prevent this in the first place, maybe line the bottom with a sheet and cover up the radiator so the nut can't fall into its cracks in the first place.

You better have a different, stronger bracket for the Stebel horn ready, because the OEM bracket is very flimsy. I got lucky I found something in my garage to use. But I wasn't prepared at all with a new/good bracket. If you don't have your own custom bracket, there's actually a nearby bracket built-in just to the right and a little bit more to the front that's part of the Nissan chassis. You can try to see if that one is usable for your horn or not. It wasn't usable for me because the hole is too small for the bolt I need for my horn.

After installing the horn, I tried it out and only got the high tone. I had to read the manual again and it says the horn must be within 15 degrees of being vertical. So I kinda had to straighten it out by force on the bracket. But after it's kinda straight enough, then I got both the low tone and high tone.
 
Any thoughts about putting the original horn on a separate circuit so that you can still alert pedestrians without giving them a heart attack?
 
To Volusiano and others,
If this helps...I used a different more stiff "L-bracket" when installing my Stebel because otherwise the horn is too wobbly on the stock bracket. I had a 2" Stanley L-bracket that I drilled out and used. You can install the bolt and nut for the horn on the bracket outside the car and then install it inside the car using the single bolt to attach it where the previous bracket went.

The horn can then be attached to its own nut/bolt by dropping it on top of its loosened bolt/nut and tightening it to secure it (it doesn't have to go through a hole in the horn but actually clamps to the horn top).

Using the new L-bracket made the horn much stiffer and less prone to bobbing on the thinner bracket that the old horn was mounted to....

There's only one horn switch on the steering wheel, so if you wanted to keep the original horn you would have to rig up a second switch...
 
Sorry, rawhog, but it isn't practical to go from underneath unless you have a way of raising up the front wheels off the ground (and I don't)...I did scope it out, but there just isn't enough clearance for me to get under there when the car isn't raised; not to mention it isn't that great for your back if you have to lay on a creeper or on the concrete floor...I would do it from the top if I had to do it over again...
 
Herm said:
Any thoughts about putting the original horn on a separate circuit so that you can still alert pedestrians without giving them a heart attack?
That's a great idea ! But ... how do you activate it ?
 
Dropping nuts, bolts, washers, etc. is the age old bane of any mechanic. I always have a telescoping magnet to retrieve the errant part... It is however, easier to change the horn from the underside of the car. use quality ramps...
 
If you use one of the Nautilus horns, they have an integrated motor air-pump and air horn.

The upshot is that it doesn't come on right away. On my motorcycle, a quick "toot" activates just the stock whimpy motorcycle horn.. enough for "Hi There, or 'scuse me."

If I hold the horn for more than a brief tap, the Nautilus spins up and asserts itself in a more assertive/vulgar way. :)

So, built-in delay by having a combination of mechanical buzzer and air horn. Highly recommended. Relay required.
 
Randy said:
Sorry, rawhog, but it isn't practical to go from underneath unless you have a way of raising up the front wheels off the ground (and I don't)...I did scope it out, but there just isn't enough clearance for me to get under there when the car isn't raised; not to mention it isn't that great for your back if you have to lay on a creeper or on the concrete floor...I would do it from the top if I had to do it over again...
I have the ramp but since I could just put the coolant box out of the way easily without having to disconnect the hoses, I decided to approach it from the top because I don't like having to get up and down all the times and work on my back from the bottom. I'd say either approaches have advantages and drawbacks. If you don't have the ramp then I agree the top approach is probably easier.

You can easily drop your nuts and bolts from the bottom just as well. It's just that if they land on the floor then it's more easily retrievable if you're at the bottom. But if you manage to drop them inside the radiator well like I did (which can happen just as easily even if you work from the bottom), you cannot retrieve it from the bottom. You can only retrieve it from the top like I did, which means you gotta go through the trouble of opening up from the top as well. The lesson learned is to use something to cover up the radiator side so nothing can fall into it in the first place.

By the way, the wiring kit is worth the $20 I paid for it for the convenience of not having to build one up.

On the horn, I wish it had come with a tube to cover the air intake. I don't have any one handy that fits so now I have to go find one.
 
leafnode said:
After a week and a half of ownership, today I almost got taken out by motorhome drifting into my lane! I laid on the horn, and to my surprise, I couldn't hear it, let alone the knucklehead motorhome driver!

I'm now researching horn upgrade options and will soon have this pitiful stock horn replaced! Yikes!

So I finally selected and installed the horn upgrade. Went with an Italian compact electric air horn from http://www.griotsgarage.com

Sounds great!

Installation was a breeze from the bottom; no lift or Jack's required. In fact, you don't even have to completely removed the bottom cover to get enough access o to the horn.

Here's a link to hear how it sounds - http://www.griotsgarage.com/text/sounds/77839CompactHorn.mp3

Cheers
 
I installed the Fiamm El Grande ordered from Amazon with the link provided. Thanks so much for the instructions and photos - they were very helpful. I used my Rhino ramps and went in from the bottom. I had all the parts to make the pigtail as shown. Couldn't find my loctite so I just tightened as much as I could.

I found that after installation the unit could wobble quite a bit on the mount, so I strapped it to the pillar with some zip ties and pulled it snug.

The horn sounds great! Thanks for the postings. :)
 
Thank you for the detailed instructions! The install went smoothly and now I can find my car with the remote in a parking lot. (main reason for installing :lol: )

With small hands I can get away from not having to remove the fluid reservoir.

IMG_1260.jpg


As for the horns, I use two zip ties to wrap both horns together so they don't wobble as much. I also mounted the bolt on the metal frame right above the original horn so I don't have to remove it.

IMG_1265.jpg


The install was quick and easy.

One note - the wire connector has a little nub that you need to squeeze as you pull out.
 
Received my FIAMM El Grande horns yesterday from Amazon (since no local parts store had it). Have to borrow a neighbor's car ramps now so I can come in from below...or maybe I'll be bold and try Lanzer's approach ;)
 
Well after almost getting hit twice this week I did the FIAMM 74100 El Grande - Twin Horn upgrade from Amazon, ordered yesterday after afternoon and had them today. $16.60 delivered no tax or freight. I did the top install and just moved the tank to the side. it took about 20 minutes once the pigtail was made, make sure you go by the auto supply and get the wire and adaptors before you start. Horns sound great! :eek:
 
1051 said:
z0ner said:
1051 said:
Horns sound great! :eek:

Yes, those FIAMM's sure do. Nice easy mod and a big thanks to all who posted pics and tips.


Yes a big thanks to everyone who posted pics and tips!!

I did mine also, this afternoon. Since I have ramps handy, I went in thru the bottom. I used a self-made, heavier steel bracket for mounting, for stability. The sound is MUCHO better than that squeaky little toy horn Nissan is using.
 
Randy said:
I finished installing my Stebel Compact air horn today. As many others have done, I did the install from the top. I removed the black plastic trim piece at the top and the water bottle. I had to replace the stock bracket because it moved too much due to the weight of the horn. So I put in a stout L-bracket and it worked much better. The wiring kit I purchased from Amazon was indeed a plug and play thing, with no additional wiring or spade lugs, etc. needed. Below are some audio samples...It is a much nicer louder horn....Look out for my car now!!!!

I just ordered a Stebel Nautilus Compact Tuning Horn. According to the wiring diagram, in the LEAF service manual, there is a horn relay already there.

Do I need to install a different relay or will the original work?

horn.jpg
 
hatuey said:
I just ordered a Stebel Nautilus Compact Tuning Horn. According to the wiring diagram, in the LEAF service manual, there is a horn relay already there.

Do I need to install a different relay or will the original work?
When you receive the Stebel horn, you'll find a warning that clearly says that the horn uses almost 20A and requires its own 30A relay, or else you'll risk ruining your horn switch and possibly ignite the wiring if you use the smaller factory relay. The Nissan factory relay is only rated at 10A, so it won't be adequate to carry the 20A load the Stebel horn will require for sure. The load of the old horn will be utilized as the switch for the Stebel 30A relay.
 
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