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Click for one long blast | Click for two short blasts |
Ever since I saw the movie Cannonball Run back when I was young, I've always loved the great sound of the European car horns. When that Lamborghini Countach pulled up (with the two gorgeous women driving) and added the "1" in front of the 55 mph speed limit sign, they honked their horn as they took off. They also honked when passing the cops as they toyed with the woefully inadequate cop cars :-). So, ever since then I've been trying to find something similar for my Supra... then I met Larry :-)
We (me and the rest of the PacNW chapter) met Larry (alias "The Cool Larry") Anderson during the '97 SOGI Vegas meet. In a quirk of fate, Larry just happened to honk his horn and oh my God he had the horns! We all couldn't believe it. He sounded exactly like an Italian sports car. No more electric twangy "beep-beep" horns, but a true compressor powered pair of air horns. I was hooked.
I took it upon myself to find those horns if it was the last thing I did :-)...
Well, after literally months of searching based on a part number that Larry got from some old instructions he found, I finally did find those horns and I decided to put it all down in writing so that the knowledge wasn't lost to history.
Part Information
The part number Larry gave me, 3PB-003-001, I found out (after much heartache) was the German part number (read: jeez!). Finally, a store in Pennsylvania broke the code. Here is the information necessary to order this part:
And here are the pictures of the correct packaging should you see it in the store:
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Hella Horn Kit (Front) | Hella Horn Kit (Back) |
Installation
Installation of the kit can be a little tricky depending on the model year Supra it's installed into. Especially the final location of the compressor. There are very small, but nonetheless important, details which can make or break a perfect install here. For example, the '91 and '92 Supras had a change to the power steering cooler rack which can get in the way of my location for the compressor. I was not able to mount my compressor in the same location as Larry did on his '87. Thus, some small customizing should be expected with this modification.
After a lot of trial-and-error and playing with the compressor I was finally able to mount it using a Radio Shack universal bracket kit bracket on the passenger side hood bump stop bolt. Note that the bracket holes had to be Dremel'd slightly larger to accept the larger diameter bolt. The horns can be mounted, using the supplied brackets, in the stock mounting locations. Again, though, Dremel'ing was necessary in order to widen the holes on one side in order to use the stock bolts:
One thing I kept in mind while doing this was that I was planning on installing an HKS Intercooler in the near future. Thus, I tried to keep everything out of the way of any of the new hardware which would be going in. Specifically, I made sure that the horns were mounted behind the bumper's center support brace since I knew that the HKS I/C didn't break that plane once installed. It took a little more effort and tinkering, but I did it. You can see the final installation below:
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Electrically, these horns couldn't be easier to install. The kit comes with a relay which is designed to power the compressor via a direct power feed off the battery and is triggered by a signal from the stock horn switch. Through experience from Larry it's been deemed unnecessary for horn installations on Supras. The stock Supra relay and circuit is more than adequate to power the Hella compressor. So, simply snip one of the stock plugs (I chose the one at the very end) and splice in a wire with a standard female spade connector on one end (long enough to reach to your desired compressor mount location). The grounding can be handled one of two ways. First, via the bolt the compressor is hung by. This bolt is in direct contact with the compressor chassis and is thus chassis grounded. I chose to avoid this since it's a rather sloppy way (electrically speaking) to ground anything and grounded the compressor via the ground spade connector and a tongue connector attached to one of the pop-up headlamp mounting bolts as seen below:
Everything was fully insulated using silicone tape which cures and provides a watertight bond much more secure than electrical tape. I wrapped the air hoses with standard electrical harness wrap to protect it and make it blend in much more naturally with the stock electronics. You can see that below:
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All-in-all I'm very happy with the quality of these horns so far and the quality of the sound is outstanding. I'd guess that they're at least 30% louder than the stock horns and the tone will definately get someone's attention :-) That's one dream down with a whole bunch still to go! :-)
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