The fitting coming out the back of our new to us Grover air horns (off of a firetruck, I am guessing) is 1/4in tubing. Will that be sufficient? If not, air hose isn't to forgiving to adapt around.
Also do you think there is enough air if I simply Tee into my existing foot valve? That is all 1/4in. I am just trying to KISS and not sacrifice volume.
Thanks,
John
I don't know how your bus is plumbed, but you do not want to come off the foot valve. For brake integrity, the horns should be fed from the auxiliary tank only. ΒΌ" tubing is plenty.
John, when you are saying foot valve are you talking about the brake pedal or the button for the stock air horns?
ROFL, you guys crack me up. I am SO sorry for not specifying which foot valve I am talking about. It would be entertaining (for about 1 mile) to hear everytime the brake was touched. LOL
Thank you for the replies....Let me explain better.
I am talking about the OEM air horn foot valve. It is fed from the AUX tank.
From what I can see 1/4in is all that they want. http://www.airhorns.com/installation.aspx (http://www.airhorns.com/installation.aspx) Basically I will Tee off after my valve (maybe two line so I make sure I have good flow all the way up there) and go from there. I really don't want to take the OEM horns out of the loop. Louder=Better IMHO.
Thanks,
John
Big tank with big line to horn short blast big noise!!!! I have a RR Switch Engine horn I'm running a 1 inch line to with a pup tank fed by a 3/8 line. Just let her build up between blast. Meant to wake up texting drivers in my lane?? Just a idea. check out inlet size of airhorn and that should tell you what you need. I'm sure the firetruck uses the same pressure as our coaches. Bob
Thanks, Bob. That is what I was thinking. Bigger the better. However, it only has an inlet of 1/4in, which surprised me. And their website says 1/4, so maybe just go with that?
Only push so much thru there. Just as long as the pressure is there. Make noise!.Bob
John, when testing the horns, I used an air spray nozzle that was less than 1/4". They seemed plenty load. You could try different setups with shop or bus air before installing them to see if you notice any difference. You could also call Grover to see what they say. I suspect that increased air flow will only increase volume to a certain point.
John ours is1/4 and works very well off the foot button.
Dave5Cs
Where is the stock air horn mounting location on MCI's? Mine didn't come with any, just an electric horn.
Brian
Ours is set up with 1/4" but has a separate line to each horn. One is a different pitch than the other. I can blow either one or both. I currently have a leak in the line to one of them and I can hear it hiss air right above my head when I blow that horn. It's still plenty loud, but one of these days I will have to take the wood headliner down and all the trim and lights and speakers and fix the leak, if only because I don't like air leaks anywhere. Will :)
Brian,
the stock air horns are in the left front accessory bay just below the access. tank.
I ll try to post a picture.
JC
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi582.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss267%2Flostagainphoto%2Fbusacctankcompartment.jpg&hash=c9ef258422cd8534a7fb1227b7b94aede779a4e6)
Yup, just under the driver's seat on my 5a. I removed them, cleaned them and re-plumbed it to a dash valve. They work fine now. I liked the rooftop trumpets that came with the bus, but the plumbing didn't work, probably cut, and I did not want to mess with the ceiling to get at it. However, I am sure the rooftop blast would have been less muffled.
John -
FYI, GMC mounted the OEM air horns under the front steps, pointing down. Can easily create a need for fresh underwear in the dawdling driver sitting alongside next to the front door at speed. . . or send an unsuspecting errant bicyclist into a fire hydrant. :o
Brian -
Do you not have an unknown button on the stainless left footrest, about where your heel would be on your 5C? If not, that's a rare "delete" on the factory build sheet!
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Thanks for the info/advice folks.
I will try it with 1/4 for now. I hope it works!
RJ, the only slight problem is these trumpets are about 3 feet long. They are big dudes. Actually they sound just like a foghorn. I have thought about putting one down there eventually. Never enough horns for me ;D ::) ;D
Thanks again, folks. I really appreciate it.
John
RJ, I have the button but it works the electric horn! I guess they used a Skinner valve to switch air for the air horns. Now I know what that little bracket is for...
Brian