nico
02-06-2011, 11:22 AM
For whatever reason, all my old riding buddies used to add all kinds of electrical doo-dads to their battery-equipped machines. Everything from LED lights to radios and even 12-volt outlets, they tried it. I was always riding my 250R and couldn't join in on the fun, but now I have a 450ER...
I got bored the other day and was scrounging some left-over parts and decided to have some fun. Keep in mind that there is no sensible reason to have horns on a sport atv, but I have already had fun with it cruising the neighborhood and expect to have the same fun in camp at the dunes. On top of that, everyone that has seen my 450R has asked what the extra billet button is for.
For anyone interested in duplicating the setup, I used both horns from an 85 Chevy C10. I custom bent, reshaped and trimmed the brackets to attach to existing under-hood bolts on the 450R, via custom aluminum spacers. I also used a Ride Engineering billet kill button, because I had one laying around. Any cheapo push-button could be used. The electrical wiring was just as simple. One 12-ga lead coming from the battery through the switch and then to the powered lead of the GM horn harnesses. I grounded the horns through their new mounting brackets. Typically, dual horns use a relay to get full power, but for short honks, this setup seems adequate, and very loud. As always, I made sure to use good quality wire, good terminals and heat-shrink all connections.
I was worried about the trumpets facing into each other, but with no GM sheetmetal around them, it's plenty loud. I also don't really like the staggered mounting, but with the asymetrical horns, it was necessary to squeeze them under the factory hood.
Like I said, there is no sensible reason to add a horn to a sport atv, but this was a fun and inexpensive project that is a conversation piece, and you never know when a horn might be handy to get someone or something's attention on the trail or in the dunes.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/nico250/Horns.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/nico250/HornButton.jpg
I got bored the other day and was scrounging some left-over parts and decided to have some fun. Keep in mind that there is no sensible reason to have horns on a sport atv, but I have already had fun with it cruising the neighborhood and expect to have the same fun in camp at the dunes. On top of that, everyone that has seen my 450R has asked what the extra billet button is for.
For anyone interested in duplicating the setup, I used both horns from an 85 Chevy C10. I custom bent, reshaped and trimmed the brackets to attach to existing under-hood bolts on the 450R, via custom aluminum spacers. I also used a Ride Engineering billet kill button, because I had one laying around. Any cheapo push-button could be used. The electrical wiring was just as simple. One 12-ga lead coming from the battery through the switch and then to the powered lead of the GM horn harnesses. I grounded the horns through their new mounting brackets. Typically, dual horns use a relay to get full power, but for short honks, this setup seems adequate, and very loud. As always, I made sure to use good quality wire, good terminals and heat-shrink all connections.
I was worried about the trumpets facing into each other, but with no GM sheetmetal around them, it's plenty loud. I also don't really like the staggered mounting, but with the asymetrical horns, it was necessary to squeeze them under the factory hood.
Like I said, there is no sensible reason to add a horn to a sport atv, but this was a fun and inexpensive project that is a conversation piece, and you never know when a horn might be handy to get someone or something's attention on the trail or in the dunes.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/nico250/Horns.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/nico250/HornButton.jpg