Train horns

[Snake]

Finally! Sorry it took me so long to get this posted up, but it took forever to get things planned out, and then once things were installed, I had a busy week and didn't have time to post.

Where to go?
Ebay, hornblasters.com, or gogodiesel.com for parts/packages. For fittings, you can't go wrong with suicidedoors.com. The have EVERYTHING and don't charge you for shipping, even if its going to be at your house in 2 days. I used all three and can't say enough good things about Matt at hornblasters or Doug at gogodiesel.

What to buy?
Horns
Compressor
Air tank
Pressure switch
Solenoid valve
Air line
Wire (10 ga power, 14 ga for remote trigger wire, and 14 ga black ground wire)
Fittings for air line
Pressure gauge

What I went with:
Horns--Nathan K3HA on custom mounts
Compressor--Viair 480C (100% duty cycle, 200 PSI working pressure)
Airtank--7 gallon with six 1/2" ports and two 1/4" ports
Pressure switch--Viair 165/200 PSI (turns compressor on when tank drops to 165 PSI and off when tank reaches 200 PSI)
Air line--1/2" DOT brake line
Wire--20' of 10 ga red, 50' spool of red 14 ga red (lots of extra for future projects), 10' of 14 ga black
Inline fuse holder for 10 ga power wire with 30A fuse
Fittings--way too many to list, but if you need help sorting this out I'll be happy to help. What you'll need truly depends on how you're designing your system and what size air line you're going to run.
Pressure gauge-- 0-300 PSI with 1/4" threads from Home Depot
Custom brackets to mount horns and tank

Planning your project
First thing you need to figure out is what you're going to use and where its going to go. Hornblasters and Direct Injection Performance (gogodiesel.com) sell package deals that can fit most budgets. I liked what I saw, but wanted to upgrade some components so I pieced my system together. For example, I wanted a great compressor, not just a good one. I wanted 1/2" air line, not 1/4" or 3/8". I wanted the biggest tank I could mount on the underside of my truck. You get the idea.........

On a side note, get a 100% duty cycle compressor. What is this? It refers to the amount of time a compressor can be operated in a given time period at 100 PSI and at a standard ambient temperature of 72 degrees F. Duty cycle is figured out this way: Compressor On Time / (Compressor On Time + Compressor Off Time) = Duty Cycle % As an example, a compressor that is rated for 25% duty cycle means that the compressor can be operated at:
100 PSI @ 72 degrees F for 10 minutes ON and 30 minutes OFF
A 33% duty cycle compressor can be operated 15 minutes ON and 30 minutes OFF.
A 100% duty cycle compressor is rated for continuous duty (no OFF time needed).

Horns love air and you'll want to use the largest line you can find, but they'll still be really loud with 1/4" line.

Allright, so you've decided what components you're using and you know where they're going. Now for the fun stuff.

Mount your components. After I got my horns, I realized they were too wide to put under the truck in stock form. So I did some research came up with an idea. Remove the bells from the manifold and make 3/8" plates to drill and tap for air fittings. The air chamber in the bells is too shallow to drill and tap directly, and I've saved the bells by not drilling into them (should I decide to sell at a future time). I had to get in touch with a machine shop in my area for this and it set me back $75, which was a bargain for what I got. The air hole was drilled and tapped for a 1/4" thread. First two pictures are of the fitting (1/2" push to connect with 1/4" male NPT 90 degree elbow) and the air chamber of the bell. No way to mount it directly, so I had the plate in picture 3 machined.