Fitting a Stebel Nautilus horn

Has any one tried to fit one of these Stebel Nautilus Compact Dual-Tone 12-Volt Air Horns and if so where have you located it

Regards

Nigel

 

I Did It!!!!

Well after almost getting put into a guardrail by a cager the other day and realizing that no one inside a cage can hear the Viffer's pitiful excuse for a horn, I took the challenge of mounting a Stebel Nautilus Compact Dual-Tone 12-Volt Air Horn on a 6th Gen VFR. The challenge part was mounting where it would not interfere with any suspension movement or require any other modifications of body work or panels. I'm sure some of you out there can make a better mounts but this ought to give you some inspiration.

I think I have found the only spot short of mounting it to the outside like a big rig that you can hear all 139db of this beauty.

Check out these pics if you're interested:

 

I'm loving my new toy... you should have seen the look on my coworkers face this morning when I honked at him in the parking lot. That is, after he came back down to earth from about jumping out of his skin. :decision:

 

The horns aim at the frame and seem to deflect off and toward the front of the bike. I'm sure I'm losing some volume but mounting near the stock horn location wasn't an option due to suspension movement. All I know is you can hear it clearly inside a running vehicle with windows rolled up and radio on. I too was initially concerned about the placement but when you're talking about 139db it can apparently overcome a less than ideal mounting location.

 

About a pound - pound and a half, shipping weight packaging and all was 2.0 lbs.

 

I fitted a Stebel Nautilus horn to my VFR 800

Well the task is done and the previous posts have given me the idea.

Here are some photographs:

http://www.advancedmotorcycletraining.com/product_reviews_nautilus_horn.htm

Video of the sound:
http://www.advancedmotorcycletraining.com/07082007(001).html
Hope this helps

Regards

Nigel

ps
These horns are the business......

 

I just bought a stebel for my bike as well. I'll take pictures as I install it. Did both of you guys leave your stock horn hooked up as well so that they both go? Did you both use a relay? Thanks!

 

Funny that this topic came up. I have a Stebel running off a relay (it comes with one and it should be used). I mounted it inside the front cowl, but it filled up with water, and on Saturday my horn got stuck on. :redface:

Very embarrasing and I had to pull over and pull the fuse until I could take the relay out and replace it. I put the new one inside a balloon and zip tied it shut nice and tight around the wires....

 

Whoa! That's wierd! I'll make sure to weatherproof my relay. Do you have a wiring diagram for how you hooked up the relay? Which position did you mount the horn in? (videobike, or onesided) Also, I have a powerlet mounted on the left side below the handlebars...will that be in the way of mounting the horn? I like the way that videobike's is mounted.

Btw... thanks guys for posting this stuff. I don't think I would have been adventurous enough to buy a horn not knowing if it would fit on the bike or not.

 

Here is the writeup I did on my install. I'm not sure if it was the best way to do it but I couldn't get anything better worked out...

http://vfrworld.com/forums/modifications/17567-stebel-nautilus-air-horn-install-5th-gen-vfr.html

 

I put it in place of the stock horn on my '02.

Not too hard - separated the compressor and mounted it on the frame close to where the blue connector is on the left side. Ran a hose from the compressor to the trumpet.

Trumpet is unobstructed facing front, pointed down slightly for water drainage.

Works GREAT!

Takes a 5/16" barbed brass fitting to mount the hose to the trumpet; a 2" (or so) insulated conduit bracket bolted to the frame to hold the compressor; and I had to make a bracket to mount the trumpet (you could probably use the flat metal bracket on the stock horn - bend it and epoxy it) - bolts right up, no other mod necessary.

 

That's exactly how I wanted to mount mine, but when I had it in place it really seemed like the trumpet could hit my fender if the fork was fullly compressed. I wonder if clearance is different between a 5th gen and a 6th gen, or if I just didn't work at it long enough... :smile:

 

I decided against the Nautilus (just too big) and went for the Stebil Magnum instead. This was a simple job and is mounted just above the OE horn without the need for a relay.

Ok, its not quite as loud as the Nautilus but still knocks idiot cyclists off their steeds with fright! (Hey - its better than me riding over the top of them!!)

 

Well, I got my nautilus today and took the plastics off. I'll do an oil change while I've got it apart. After trying a few things, it looks like the whole horn will fit great mounted to the inner fairing on the left side. I will finish the install on Saturday when I have time to do a good job and take clear pictures of everything.

 

Finally done...

Well, I finally did my air horn install. It took me a little longer because I wanted to run the power out of my auxiliary fuse box, but my fuse box had the power supply straight from the battery when I bought the bike. I wanted a relay in place so that the fuse box would only have power when the key was on. While I did this, I wired the autocom to the fuse box too. While I had the fairings off, I did an oil change. It took me all day to do everything!

I put heat shrink on all my electrical connections and left my stock horn hooked up just to create as much noise as possible when the horn is needed. It fits easily, and works great!

 

I got the Stebel Nautilus but mine is mounted on the fairing bracket just forward of the radiator and about level with the LF turn signal. Mine's powered but a horn relay from Eastern Beaver Company and I've had no problems other than a (VERY RARE) feeling of guilt when I've scared some brain donor cager into spilling their coffee as they swerve back out of my lane...

 

Do you have any pictures of your mounting? Glad to hear that it's working!

 

Here's the down and dirty on the Stebel:

Seperate the plastic "horn" section from the compressor via a good whack on the bottom of the compressor with a rubber mallet.

Mount the horn section up under the steering stem in the airstream pointing forward. Mount the compressor at some convenient area under the fairing. Connect the output spigot of the compressor to the intake opening of the horn (you need a barbed plumbing connector and an "O" ring).

The horn and the compressor don't have to be directly connected to work fantastically.

Works like a champ!