Modern Vespa

Installing a pair of loud horns on my 400 has been tops on my priority list since i got my bike and i finally installed a pair of Stebel Magnums today. i had a pair of them on my last scoot but i simply used the stock wires then. but thanks to you guys at MV here, i realised the importance of using thick wires, a fuse and a relay and followed everything to a t.

it took me nearly four hours but glad I took my time because the eardrum breakers worked the very first time, and they are clearly louder than the ones on my old bike.

one of the reasons could be that i mounted them in the open and not behind all the plastic panels. the horns are bolted behind the "eye sockets", ie, the headlight housings. i drilled a 6mm hole at the back of each housing and bolted the horns behind them, without using any of the supplied metal tabs.

this location is ideal (i think) for the 125, 250 and 400 models as the horns don't obstruct the complicated suspensions, the sound is not confined, they're impossible to steal as the nut is hidden and are mounted high enough to avoid detection and damage by puddle splashes.

i did have to modify the horn terminals slightly thought, as they are parallel with the mounting bolts and would've hit the back of the eye sockets, i had to bend them 90 degrees and make the holes on the silver horn covers bigger so that they could accommodate the bent tabs and plugs.

Getting the original horn wires out, i had to remove one screw at the bottom that holds the belly panel, bend it out slightly and pull out the connectors with a pair of pliers. by using the original horn wires to power the stebel relay, there are actually two relays in the system but i could hardly detect any lag so that's fine.

at last i can have a peace of mind.

by the way, in the process, i learnt that to change one itty bitty light bulb on the MP3 400, you need to remove:

1. The badge
2. The screw behind the badge
3. The Y-shaped panel the screw is securing
4. The 8 screws securing the radiator panel
5. The four big screws securing the entire headlight assembly


PHEW!

I did the same mod today and it works great. It took me about an hour and a half thanks to the Tupperware removal video. Thanks MV forum members!

Excellent work! Wish you could do mine....

Shouldn't the horn be pointing down so it doesn't collect water?

Well since this op was from 2008 and Chillicrab hasn't posted since 2009 it may be a long wait for an answer. But yeah the horn should not be facing up like that I would think.

Mine (which I did yesterday)'does face down. It would be muffled if it faced up because it is located behind the headlights.

But without the collected water, how do you get that cool glugging/gargling horn sound?