My Fiamm El Grande install

[NEexpat]

Just completed my Fiamm install. Wow, maybe because I'm used to the "meep meep" these are loud and well worth the $20 + change cost from Amazon.

Chose these over others because it is my understanding they draw less than 10 amps, so while there is a relay included, the less wiring, splicing, cutting, T-tapping I'm involved with the better. So I opted out of the relay. Others, don't take my advice, you do so at your own risk.

Several days ago I was hoping to ID the part number # for the female F connector on a Toyota premium horn install harness. I wanted that part to make my own harness. Well on my cyber travels I could plainly see that a lot of the "meep meep" horns, the flat round Denso's have that clip or one like it riveted to the back horn.

I went to the Pick and Pull got a horn off a Corolla drilled out the rivet got the clip home, dremeled off the plastic around the connector made my own harness and sealed it with some liquid tape.

I decided to just remove the bumper cover as well as the black, spacer clipped above the radiator, there is a threaded hole to left of the horn bolt that I used for the second horn

Anyway, quite simple really, the hardest part is taking off the cover and replacing it. I painted the brackets flat black, taped off both ends though, the bracket acts as the ground on these setups so that metal on metal has to be a good clean surface contact.

I liked the little grills over the mouth of the horns. I just didn't care for them being shiny silver, so removed them and painted them black as well.

53609

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Thanks again Yarisworld!

Cheers.

[CTScott]

Nice! That's a resourceful way of getting your hands on that elusive connector.

[LugNut]

After reading this and many other threads here on louder horns, I just ordered the set, FIAMM 74100 El Grande, for just under $20. Added a few other little things I needed to get free shipping on Amazon.

Keeping the OEM wiring, relay, and hopefully the 10A fuse, as well as decent two-tone, louder than stock without being obnoxious (or illegal ... but do like those train horns!), and mounting location were key factors in my choice. But, of course, so was the sound produced:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsBHUm6adC8

Thanks for the info! I'll likely make a custom jumper, but time will tell.

The current housings are shown as red, so I'll likely paint them black. And will remove/recycle those grilles which are there for looks (and would very slightly reduce the sound level, but also slightly increase the reverberation if still installed).

What drove the need for this mod, and the dash cam, was a guy who almost hit me while backing up in his 3/4 ton pickup down a street. He apparently couldn't see me, nor hear me laying on the Yaris's horn despite his windows being open.

[CoryM]

I bought my car as a rebuilt and the OE horn was not only damaged, but the wiring was also damaged. Making the already mild OE horn just plain sad. I went for the El Grande as well and highly recommend it. It has a nice sound, and one that is not out of place for a Yaris (no point honking and having people looking for the truck instead of you). It's definitely loud enough to get people's attention which is the whole point of a horn.

I did use relays and HEAVY gauge wiring to ensure I am getting maximum sound levels out of the horn. It's pretty loud, but would have to compare to one spliced into the OE harness to see if there is a difference.

Cheers.

[nookandcrannycar]

or illegal ... but do like those train horns!)

My grandfather always drove a Lincoln or a Cadillac during my lifetime. Whenever he got a new one, he'd take it to a guy he knew who would install a horn that sounded like a Southern Pacific locomotive (if it was illegal, I don't think he knew it was :iono:, or perhaps he didnb't want to know :eek:) . He loved trains. One of my favorite 'grandpa memories' was, at 5 years old, sitting up on a hill on a friend's ranch (just the two of us, for most of an afternoon) watching trains go by and counting the different types of cars.

[shepd]

Depends on how your laws are written where you, but in some places, you can have a horn as loud as you would like (well, 194 dB is the law) so long as you ONLY *EVER* use it to inform other drivers of an emergency situation.

[nookandcrannycar]

(well, 194 dB is the law)

:eek:

so long as you ONLY *EVER* use it to inform other drivers of an emergency situation.

:laugh:. Different jurisdictions....different definitions of emergency situation? I've been in the slow lane on the freeway or a multi lane in each direction surface street going the limit or 5MPH under and many of those times had idiots (sorry...mostly young....I hope I wasn't like that at that age :eek:) start to bear down on me and at the last second move to the next lane (without signaling :rolleyes:) on the left, barely missing the rear left corner of my Yaris and then driving as close to me as poissible...then as soon as they pass me..they center themselves in their new lane :rolleyes:.....if only for a few seconds before moving on to another lane without signaling :rolleyes:. I only sometimes do it, but honking in such a situation FEELS appropriate :laugh: (I looked it up recently....doesn't seem as though appropriate).

[shepd]

Don't worry, I put air horns on my previous car because the city installed a bunch of roundabouts but didn't do much educate drivers on how to use them. It is amazing how, when the horn is loud enough, you can guarantee you will see brake lights!

I consider any situation that could cause an accident an emergency. Never had an issue yet, even used my air horn within a few feet of a cop car when I was being cut off, no response.

So, as far as anecdotal evidence goes, go for it. Just keep the honking for dealing with dangerous drivers. It's people that get air horns and use them to scare pedestrians who are assholes. :)

[nookandcrannycar]

Don't worry, I put air horns on my previous car because the city installed a bunch of roundabouts but didn't do much educate drivers on how to use them. It is amazing how, when the horn is loud enough, you can guarantee you will see brake lights!

I consider any situation that could cause an accident an emergency. Never had an issue yet, even used my air horn within a few feet of a cop car when I was being cut off, no response.

So, as far as anecdotal evidence goes, go for it. Just keep the honking for dealing with dangerous drivers. It's people that get air horns and use them to scare pedestrians who are assholes. :)

:thumbsup:

Many places (but not all) in my county.....one rarely has to be concerned about more than an occasional pedestrian.....because there aren't very many of them.

[LugNut]

Just got the El Grande's in from Amazon:

The red on them are just decorative plastic covers, and fell off both mine easily. The factory had applied one small dab of caulk-like glue to hold each cover on, but each had failed. No problemo, due to the below.

The grilles came off easily via prying carefully with a tiny flat screwdriver. The grilles are chromed, thin steel.

A traditional car "horn" is actually a combination of a sound source ("speaker", "voice-coil", etc.) and its expansion horn. This set seem to have conventional sound sources in galvanized steel housings, but the attached horns are black plastic instead of the traditional painted-black steel. But they sound fine, and hopefully will last many years.

I bench-tested each "horn" -- HI and LO notes, each with the red plastic thingy and the discharge grille on and off, separately. No matter what the combination, the horns sounded about the same. The human ear is not that sensitive to slight sound level changes, though, and electronic test equipment in a reverberant room probably would show a slight change in loudness and sound-spectrum distribution.

Bottom line -- nice sounding horns, for cheap! They give that big, American car sound. I'll install the set this weekend, hopefully, without the red covers and grilles. And like in the good pictures above, with the shiny steel facing backward so only the black horns are visible through the Yari's grille.

[LugNut]

Well, that was easy! And they sound great. :thumbup:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=786&pictureid=6071

I painted the two steel mounting brackets flat black, except where they mated with the horns and the body (for ground). Also made a custom Y-splitter using 18-gauge wire -- the OEM green wire is dinky; even smaller.

Worst parts of the jobs were 1) didn't have a proper thread/length SI/metric bolt for the second horn (on left), so had to retap that hole to 1/4 in. SAE, and 2) the little plastic push-pin retainers for the bumper cover (seven, I think) were very brittle from age, especially the two in the wheelwells (one each). I'll put them on my long term to-buy list; was able to reuse the old ones for now.

It was a bit unnerving pulling the bumper cover off their tabbed mounts to the front fenders, but went fine. As others say, there's no need to remove the 10mm screws from underneath, just gently tilt the cover forward. I wedged my rubber mallet's head right in the middle between the cover and the actual steel bumper to hold the cover forward.

As done above by another psoter, I also removed the black plastic cover over the bolt holes so that I didn't have to make a cut-out in it for the new second bolt. Removing this snap-on cover was interesting -- I ended up using a little flat screwdriver to push the two tiny retaining tabs inward while applying gentle pressure to pull each tab out. Do both end tabs first to reduce twisting the last one. And remember to reinstall this black cover before the bumper cover. :redface:

[shepd]

Well, in the mountains, the law is lower than 194 dB. :D

[nortonfb]

The mountains of Kitchner?
Must have missed that.

[LugNut]

On using train-like air horns on the road, here's the first few hits that came up on my Google search:

http://thelawdictionary.org/article/truck-air-horn-laws/

http://forums.officer.com/t89150/

http://www.tenfourmagazine.com/2013/06/ask-the-law/ask-the-law-june-2013/

So I read them as saying legal to own/install, but not to use on the road. But :w00t: !

[tomm9050]

Is there any way to make the turn signal indicator louder?

[invader166]

Is there any way to make the turn signal indicator louder?

Would be nice, but what's the point?

People hardly ever use them anymore these days. :mad:

[LugNut]

Is there any way to make the turn signal indicator louder?

Used to be that the "flasher" could be replaced with a louder, heavy-duty version meant for when towing a trailer (and thus needing to power its signals too). It's a relay for the indicators and the hazards, and for old US cars was in a small steel can that looks like a big capacitor. Should be under the dash. Yari have such?

[CoryM]

Is there any way to make the turn signal indicator louder?

If it helps, I've installed an LED in the dash that flashed with the signals for a guy who was forgetting to turn his off. Not on a Yaris, but you could do similar. The Yaris doesn't use the old style flasher relay, so can't swap it with a louder one.

[nookandcrannycar]

People hardly ever use them anymore these days. :mad:

This ^^^^^.....and it is worse here, IMO, than in the other large metros in the U.S. and Canada. The drivers are worse (than here) in parts of Florida, but they use their turn signals more often :biggrin:.

[LugNut]

Used to be that the "flasher" ... Yari have such?

From RockAuto.com, for my 2007, they do have flasher relays but they are in plastic rectangular housings instead of round metal. One brand calls them "Lighting control modules", but RockAuto lists them under "flashers" in their electrical category. Expensive! I don't see one specifically listed as heavy duty -- check each manufacturer's website and/or e-mail them to learn about their sound. Then let us know, please!

[LugNut]

One hit when searching for "Toyota","flasher", and "louder" says there is, for at least one model, as separate piezoelectric speaker that's connected to the flasher. Anyone have a PDF of the indicators and hazards circuits for the Yaris online?

[LugNut]

Flasher mystery solved! Pic soon.

[NEexpat]

In one of my earliest posts I mentioned two complaints I have with the Yaris.

First, I wished the driver side seat rails were 2 inches longer, (couldn't care less about passenger side since I never sit there) and second, I wished the directional clicker relay was louder.

Looking forward to your solution.

Cheers.

[LugNut]

No separate speaker, etc. -- it is the flasher that makes the sound. Here's mine (from through the dash, left of the LHD steering column); its the tan rectangle to the right of the pink and blue ones at the bottom of the board:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=786&pictureid=6072

Inverted, but its markings start as "Flasher" and "Denso". You (too) have to remove the little hopper that tilts out to see it. Open the hopper, pull up to detach the snap-on hinge, then lower the hopper to get its two retainer tabs out of the slots in the dash shown.

So ... how to make it louder. I'm not finding a "heavy duty" version yet. I do see "loud" flashers "for Toyota" on eBay and Amazon, but they obviously are not plug-and-play for the Yaris. Anyone find otherwise? If so, what/where?

One solution might be to just replace the hopper with a screen or grille. Removing the cover from the flasher would help too, but the relays might then be exposed -- not safe for people nor from dust, etc.

[LugNut]

Just found another reason to make the flasher much louder -- by reviewing a sample video, my new dashcam can't pick up the sound the flasher produces! That could be important. I can hear in the video clip, fairly well, my keyring banging against the steering column though.

[LugNut]

I've fired-off an e-mail to one of the flasher-makers about this loudness topic.

[LugNut]

Heard back from their customer service rep that they don't make a louder turn signal flasher. No response yet to my request that the idea be forwarded to their design staff. Via a web search, I do see people selling small add-on buzzers that require modifying the OEM flasher.

Back on the the louder horns, they do have a significant negative. The too-easy panic button on the OEM key fob now results in extremely loud accidential soundings.

I've just posted a way to reduce them, though:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=770334#post770334