O.K., I'll give you the "straight skinny" on adding a 2nd horn to your HHR!!
I completed my install today myself with:a soldering iron,solder,shrink tubing,a pass.side silverado horn(with plug,and pigtail of wiring),black electrictal tape,some 1/4in. convoluted tubing,a straight screwdriver and a metric wrench!
After hearing that you have to take the front bumper off and rework the car, I'll admit I was not willing to go thru all that work just to add a horn!! But, I put the HHR up on the lift(a set of jackstands would also work just fine!) and discovered that you can remove 1 screw from beneath the car (on the drivers front corner) along with pulling the plastic push retainer-with a pair of pliers, along with just 1 screw on the underside front of the drivers side wheelwell and another plastic push retainer, and gain access to the horn and it's wiring, as well as the fog and side marker lights!! no need to remove anything!! the plastic will bend enough,to get enough room to: strip the covering from the horn power and ground wire,and solder your additional wiring to it. You then cover your splice with shrink tubing, tape over it for added safety, and then put your new wiring in the convoluted tubing for factory-like protection and looks!! there are a few openly accessable bolts nearby to bolt your 2nd horn to,and you now have a real horn to get those "P.P.Cruisers" out of your way!!! I've blown the horn 'til the 'ol lady yelps, and had no breaker or fuze failures to report!!

What a way to make an impact w/ your first post! Jump right in w/ both feet.

Me either and they both work like a champ and loud
you guys make taking the front bumper off like a big deal,,, it really isnt.

and i didnt completely remove it though i could. i just got it loose and leaned it down out of my way and didnt need a lift or hurt my back or anything

Welcome! And great "how-to" for a first post!

But.

We need sound clips... :D (yeah, tough crowd, I know...)

i would like to put a PA in one so you can yell at the old people and tell them to Move B***H! LOl

That's easy enough...

cool im bout to add air horns to mine this will save me from removing the bumper

If I remove the wire completly and route it to my airhorn compressor, do you think the fuse will handle the suggested 20 amp load?

Basically, I need to know what gauge wire is going to the stock horn. Is it thick or thin? That will tell how much current it can handle, so I will know if it is enough for the air horn compressor.

I'd be real suprised if the tiny gauge wire-about an 18 gauge could support the starting load of the compressor to power the air horns-let alone the constant load of running the compressor! But!-- you can utilize the existing horn wire as a trigger to an add on horn relay, that you power through a fused connection directly from the battery (starter battery terminal),thereby drawing virtually no power from the existing horn wiring or overloading the horn switch. It would mean you need to buy a 40 amp horn relay-with it's own plug. and then wiring the power from a battery hot source in the engine compartment,(protected by a fuse or inline circut breaker!) and trigger the relay with the switched power from the existing horn power wire to activate the new power circut you established thru the relay! I know this may sound like rocket science,but in reality, you'd have about$15.00 in the new relay power system and I can provide you with the terminals on a generic relay and where they go to. How bad do you want air horns?!!

I already have the relay wired in, and a separate button to use for the airhorns. My only problem has been finding a power supply in the engine compartment. I have tried the post for power steering and jump starting the car, as well as all of the empty spots in the fuse box. Using the power off the starter motor is a great idea (I was planning on running a line from the battery). I have not looked at the starter yet-how accessable is it?

I realize I will have to run a line to the new radio I plan on installing if I want to use the internal amp in it, but it would be nice not to have to run the wire into the engine compartment also.

:smile: Last week added a pair of small horns that were purchased from Wasrshawsky for around $20. After hookup, they were loud enough, but kind of a flat tone. As an experiment, also later installed the original HHR horn, so now have THREE horns! Sound is loud and tone is great. A small relay came with the pair of new horns, which was not used. We just spliced into the wire for the 2 new horns and used the factory plug for the HHR horn. So far, no problems and when holding the horn on for a few seconds, observed the headlghts and they did not dim.

To install, we used Streetrodderbn's method, pulling down the inner front fender panel on driver's side. The whole process took about an hour, including time to jack up the car, install jack stands, pull loose the panel, test and then later install the 3rd (HHR) horn and pop the panel back into place. Us guys from Ohio know how to handle this type of installation, don't we Streetrodder? (And we don't pull front bumpers either).

Fritz45

my air horns came with a relay too i was wondering why it would be needed, i think ima wire it without the relay

my air horns came with a relay too i was wondering why it would be needed, i think ima wire it without the relay

The Relay is provided as a control component. Meaning, most control circuits are limited in current and fused protected anywhere from 5 to 20 amps. Your air horn may require more current than this control circuit can provide. So, the relay is intended to transfer power directly from your battery, through the control circuit of the horn switch on your steering wheel. Remember to also fuse the source circuit to that rated of your air horn.

If you connect your air horn directly, without the relay, you may be risking blowing the control circuit fuse. As with some of the other members are experiencing.

However, I have not analyzed the circuit yet, so I am not completely certain if the circuit is protected by a replaceable fuse or not. I have recently found some circuits to be protected by a "Fuseable link" type or "reset-able" component, which, when tripped, will reset itself after some time. These are very expensive components, which is why they only use them on limited basis.

Anyone added a "oogah" horn yet??
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029XGYG/104-6667666-0963148?v=glance&n=15684181

Anyone added a "oogah" horn yet??


:confused: Why would anyone want to?:confused: Those need to be reserved for the VW Beatles - the old style Beatles!

:confused: Why would anyone want to?:confused: Those need to be reserved for the VW Beatles - the old style Beatles!

Just wondering. I have a 1930 Model A Ford that has one, but of course it came with it.

Wouldn't it make less noise that the current horn on the HHR? :confused:

Wouldn't it make less noise that the current horn on the HHR? :confused:

I dont think my HHR horn is that bad..


Of couse there is always Hornbalsters.com

I don't think the HHR horn is that bad also. I rarely use it so I don't see a point in upgading the horn myself. I have better uses for the money. But if my memory serves me correctly I though oogah horns were pretty weak. :confused: I still want one of those recordable horns that SIHHR found so I can make it play Move Bi*ch. ;) That would be worth it if the horn is loud enough. :lol:

Gee, Capt H, Just put a couple speakers and a public service, cop, siren on it. Then you'de have a 100 or 200 watt air horn and PA. And if you felt real brave, 4 or 5 siren tones. That would sure wake the dead.:nuts:

just to add info.......

installed the horns without the relay, changed the horn fuse under the hood to 35 amp

works great with no problems

without going into s lot of electrical/electronic theory(because I am to lazy to look up the links for it)ther is a caution to OVERFUSING circuits.. and I think 35 amps is a bit over...

The best way to do it, confirmed by a Chevy mechanic, is with a 20 amp fuse, relay and have the main power draw from the post next to the fuse box closest to the firewall (this also goes to the power steering pump). I had problems when I grounded it to the studs for the strut, even though this is where the factory says to ground the car when you jump it. I went right to a bracket on the engine block and have had no problems at all.

Also, I ran another 10 gauge line from here to the interior and use it to power my GPS, map light, and aux plugs for my radar detector.

this was my very first mod. I did it after having the car 2 days. I had a Dodge Ram horn. Doesnt sound overly beefy but it does sound a lot better toned.

this was my very first mod. I did it after having the car 2 days. I had a Dodge Ram horn. Doesnt sound overly beefy but it does sound a lot better toned.


Glad to hear you say that you like the ram horn.... I am the Bosch Engineer for those. Did you have any trouble fitting the ram horn into the stock HHR location? Im thinking about cobbling together a triple Bosch horn for LUHHRCH. but I have to wait until the weather gets nice enough here in Michigan so that I can get down there without being covered with road salt

Glad to hear you say that you like the ram horn.... I am the Bosch Engineer for those. Did you have any trouble fitting the ram horn into the stock HHR location? Im thinking about cobbling together a triple Bosch horn for LUHHRCH. but I have to wait until the weather gets nice enough here in Michigan so that I can get down there without being covered with road salt

I left the factory horn in place and just tapped into the horn wire. I Didn't even have to drill a hole to mount it. If i remember correctly there are two holes that are perfect for this mod. Thats at least what I used it for.

Also if you have to replace your headlamp assemblies, you will have to remove the front bumper.

Can the wires be traced back into the engine compartment so that they can be spliced into there? That way a second horn could be added in the compartment area without the removal of anything.

Can the wires be traced back into the engine compartment so that they can be spliced into there? That way a second horn could be added in the compartment area without the removal of anything.

That's what I had done.

ivtech
Where are they? What colors are they? Post this info and we will not have to peak inside the fender to figure it out.