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Cadillac Horn Mod

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    #31
    I'm a little late to my own party, but I did finally install the horns on my Lincoln:



    Like the English Chap, I managed without drilling any new holes, although some locations are currently less than ideal. My 20 amp circuit, however, has been sufficient so far. The Delco Remy horns are from '80s Cadillacs or Buicks - I can't recall at this point - so they ground through the mounting bolt. At some point in the '90s I believe they must've switched to a two wire setup. But the Lincoln's fenders are already grounded for the stock horns, so the single wire horns weren't a problem. It also made for simpler wiring. I grabbed the horn 'harness' from an '80s Eldorado to swap out with the stock wiring from the point of the header panel connector, near the factory engine bay relays. GM used a slightly larger wire than Ford, but since they're both 20 amp circuits I'm just going to run the stock wiring from the connector back and not worry too much about it.



    Three of four Delco Remy horns. The fourth note came from a different model Cadillac, and while it was still a one wire unit, the mounting bracket was a little different. They all had tabs to help locate them on the fender, and as I assume the English Chap did, I ground them off to make a flat surface for my own car.



    Right two horns. One is obscured by the header panel and battery, but you can see the mounting bolt just above the battery's positive terminal, as well as the green horn wire snaking through the fender.



    And the left two. The Eldorado harness just barely stretched between the horns mounted in this way.

    The stock notes are high 'A' on the passenger fender and low 'F' on the driver's side. Ford mounted horns from below, while GM liked to mount from above. Without drilling new holes, finding workable locations meant some compromises in orientation. I put the new 'A' and 'F' horns in their stock locations, but pointed forward instead of down. 'C' and 'D' were bolted to the header panel, with the 'D' horn being the only one to actually point down, but at the cost of being closest to the ground. Whether any of these locations or orientations cause shorter lifespans for the horns remains to be seen.

    Finally, just for the hell of it I pulled out my piano tuning app while testing each horn and took stock of where each one was relative to its nominal note. All four of the Delco Remy's were between 4-10 hertz sharp, and if I ever find myself with absolutely nothing to do one day I might try to tune them.

    C - 523 hz - I couldn't get a good reading on this one
    A - 440 hz - 450 hz actual
    F - 349 hz - 356 hz actual
    D - 294 hz - 290 hz, slightly flat
    1987 Lincoln Town Car - Signature, "Prudence"

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      #32
      Nice. =-) Around 1995 GM went to the metripak connectors and 2 wire connector showed up on the horns.

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        #33

        Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
        rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
        Originally posted by gadget73
        ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
        Originally posted by dmccaig
        Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

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          #34
          Where can you buy these from? I seemed to have missed that- or is it all junkyard finds?
          -Phil

          sigpic

          +1982 Ford LTD-S Police Car. Built 351w, Trickflow 11R 190 Heads, Holley Sniper EFI, RPM Intake+ Hyperspark dizzy, WR-AOD, Full exhaust headers to tails. 3.27 Trac-Lok Rear. Aluminum Police Driveshaft. Speedway Springs+Bilstein Shocks, Intermediate Brakes, HPP Steering Box.

          +2003 Acura CL Type S 6-speed

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            #35
            I got mine from the junkyard, though there are people on eBay and elsewhere who sell them, either as sets or individually. The sets look to be quite pricey, but if you keep the stock horns you only need to add the 'D' and 'C' horns, and of the two I think the 'D' is the better bang for your buck. Different GM cars ran different combinations of these horns, with what I assume were top trim models getting all four notes. In my searching the yards, the high 'C' horn seemed to be the rarest, which could be reflected in used prices online.
            1987 Lincoln Town Car - Signature, "Prudence"

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              #36
              Nice work Sounds good.
              ~David~

              My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
              My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

              Originally posted by ootdega
              My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

              Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
              But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

              Originally posted by gadget73
              my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




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